The Massive Influence of Interior Decorating on Wedding Design

Recently, I was honored to plan an event for a jet-setting couple with homes throughout the country. While my bride had not spent years obsessing over her wedding, she had spent countless hours designing her homes. Her Pinterest boards were overflowing with design and décor ideas, many with a luxurious mix of custom finishes. The couple’s primary residence was fitted with a large dining table made of heavy wood, surrounded by light-colored chairs. They favored stone and marble over acrylic and glass, and their accent pieces were sleek and nature based, as opposed to glitz and glam. Instead of flowers and vases, I found many pots and trees embellishing their dining area. This space was one of the couple’s favorite rooms, and thus became the aesthetic baseline for how I designed their wedding.

I began by sourcing tables topped with heavy wood, supported by modern metal bases. In place of the towering florals I tend to favor, our design team dressed them with big stone pots filled with moss, rocks, and orchids. Ivory leather chairs were placed around the tables, offsetting the smoked glassware and tiled bone charger plates. In lieu of drapes, we installed temporary walls wrapped with an agate print and intermixed those with moss walls that beautifully tied into the centerpieces and towering trees that climbed upwards of 14-feet high. The space was softened with glamorous chandeliers, and if guests didn’t know better, they would think that these pieces came directly from the couple’s home, which was very much the point! Loved ones were being invited into a milestone of their life together, and we wanted everyone to feel at home and comfortable.

Read this short list of decorating suggestions to help guide you when speaking with your event designer and other wedding-planning professionals.

Consider Your Home

When designing from a residential standpoint, be sure to share photos of your own home with your wedding planner. It is important for him/her to understand what colors you live with – and love – on a day-to-day basis. Also worth noting is the scale of the pieces you like to surround yourselves with. Do you prefer large, overstuffed sofas, or do you lean towards clean lines and minimalistic accent pieces? Which stores do you frequent when it comes to furniture buying?

Daydream

The next step in designing from a residential perspective is to think about how you would live if there were no spending limits or daily responsibilities. Are you high-rise in the big city people? Or would you prefer to be tucked away in the mountains? Your ideal setting may be removed from how you actually live; however, when designing your wedding day, you’ll want to bring elements of both together in a way that feels harmonious.

Find Inspiration While Vacationing

Hotels and resorts are the midway point between how we live on a day-to-day basis and how we celebrate. We travel so that we can experience a new life for a short period of time. What are your favorite vacation resorts and places to stay? Certain hospitality brands are much more modern than others. A W Hotels or a Virgin Hotels property, for instance, is a very different type of luxury than a Four Seasons resort. Help your planner understand what you love about your favorite vacation properties and why.

Make Time to Discuss

Once you have shared this information with your planner and you have given him/her time to research and think creatively, meet with him/her to discuss ideas. Likely, a distinct pattern will have emerged; colors, textures, and statements will begin to appear. A wedding is a heightened celebration, and I encourage you to pull from the top aspirational ideas for your event. This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment!

The gift of the pandemic was that it inspired us to retreat into our homes and reinforced our commitment to living beautifully. Now that everyone has a keener eye for design elements, I expect this trend to continue well into the future. Enjoy!

This expert advice article was originally published in the Winter 2022 issue of Inside Weddings magazine. To order a copy of the Winter 2022 issue, visit our library of Inside Weddings back issues available for purchase.

Opening photo by Nicole Hernandez Photography; Planning & Design by Andrea Eppolito Events. This article was originally featured in our Winter 2022 issue