WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER USING A CREATIVE WEDDING STYLIST OVER A PLANNER…
I’ve had a few wedding couples in recent years that have told me they needed a Creative Wedding Stylist/Designer rather than a Wedding Planner and worked with me, rather than a planner who includes ‘styling’ on their service list. Let’s look into which Wedding Pro might be best for you…
What is a wedding stylist?
In a nutshell, a Wedding Stylist takes care of all of the aesthetic elements of a wedding - from coming up with a design vision that might stem from YOUR inspo board, to suggesting a scheme that is sympathetic to your venue, time of year and current trends etc. The stylist will then normally pull together decor, props, furniture, lighting, signage and details etc to bring it all to life on your wedding day.
Wedding stylist vs Wedding planner
If you identify with any of the following statements, working with a Wedding Stylist might be more your bag:
Is this you?
You love spreadsheets
You’re super organised in your home or work life already
You like knowing what’s happening and being in control, particularly when it comes to budgets
You enjoy planning stuff and don’t find it stressful
Planning your wedding gets you excited for it
These things might indicate that you might actually enjoy the planning and organising of your own wedding. Things like researching, sourcing and contacting your venue, music, caterers and the like. You might work in a similar role at work or in your business and can do this type of thing standing on your head. Where you might want or need some expertise is with the creative, aesthetic bits - wedding venue styling and wedding venue decorations.
https://popculturememphis.com/fringe-installationsbenefits of working with a wedding stylist…
Unfortunately, a lot of couples don’t realise the benefit of working with a wedding stylist UNTIL they’re knee-deep in the stress of trying to set up their wedding venue decorations the night, or morning of their wedding. And actually, a lot of people haven’t even HEARD of the term ‘Wedding Stylist’ either! So hopefully I’ll demystify that for you a little bit…
I had a family member who realised just how much she needed and wanted a Wedding stylist whilst she was sweating and lugging boxes of decor up several flights of stairs on the day before her wedding, setting up tables, stringing lights and hanging decor. Her actual words were ‘I wish I had paid someone to do this’.
Setting up wedding decorations can be HUGELY PHYSICAL and often involves multiple trips up and down ladders and stairs. On some wedding set-ups days I easily clock up over 16k steps! This is not really what you want the day before your wedding - going into the day feeling knackered and stiff! That’s why I believe working with a wedding stylist is the best investment you can make if you’re getting married and want a knock-out wedding.
As well as offering full styling packages, I also have Design Packages that include a Set-up add-on, for those that want to do most of the work themselves but not have to dress the space the day before, or morning of their wedding.
https://greenweddingshoes.com/married-under-rainbow-florals-grass-room/DO YOU NEED help with WEDDING STYLIng?
Some signs you might need help making your wedding venue pop -
You haven’t designed and dressed a large scale event before and don’t fancy the wedding being your first time attempting it
You haven’t got the time to put into all the creative details and elements you want in the lead up (details take a good eye which is created with years of design experience)
You want it look to amazing but don’t have the experience or confidence or tools to take it on yourself
You want your guests to feel great and remember your day (which is completely influenced by the environment they are in)
With a Wedding Styling Package you can get a range of help from designing your whole day through to helping set up all your decor and styling on the day, and in-between options of design + sourcing hires and suppliers. I’d highly recommend working with a professional from the very first design stages of your wedding (during the venue scouting stage if possible! Stylists can be INVALUABLE in helping you pick a space that is going to work for your ideas, and general vibe as a couple!)
WHY I’M NOT A wedding planner
I’ve planned and organised so many events over the years (particularly with my past events company Lemonade and Laughing Gas). I can plan them standing on my head, and to be honest, there is a fair bit of cross over with some of my wedding styling clients - I feature crockery, cutlery, glassware, furniture hire and lighting in my design plans because it all feeds into the aesthetic result, but I don’t market myself as a Planner who styles... Why? Because there are numerous brilliant planners out there and my USP and what I’m passionate about is design and styling.
A planner might organise your band, caterers and guest admin - but I believe my time is better spent on the stuff that a couple might not be able to do (or have experience in) i.e. the creative stuff. Venues also commonly have on site co-ordinators or event managers who can do a lot of the supplier-suggesting stuff as part of the venue hire package anyway…
Not every stylist has a Theatre Design Degree, experience working for the best immersive theatre company in the world (Punchdrunk) or a background making experiential sets for public events with a side helping of Interior Design training…🖐🏼
Yes, I’ve got technical training in design but it’s the experiences over the last 15 years - not necessarily in the wedding industry but in the arts and creative industry, that have shaped my brain and process over the years - and you won’t find that unique killer combo with every wedding stylist or planner you meet…
Fancy some help on your UK wedding?
I love working with wedding couples at all stages of their journey. Even if you want a design plan to help you DIY a wedding, I’d recommend my virtual Design My Wedding Packages with three varying levels of support (starting at £150) with a VIP support level too, where I take a look at your venue, your budget, pull together your ‘likes’ and inspiration and give you a design plan, access to my Little Black Book and logistic/installation plan to do it yourself.
For full details of my Wedding Styling services for all budgets, check out my Wedding Styling Levels available for UK couples.