Happy Thursday! Aletha is with us today with another fresh perspective on the event design process and, as always, lots of inspiration! Bring together some of Michigan’s finest for a photo shoot and the results are rich with color, bold textures and wedding savvy. Pearls Events, Telltale Photography, Stems Event Design, Events by I. Candy, MiraBella Confections, The B.O.B.—check out these results!

While choosing your ceremony and reception venues in a large part in planning your wedding, designing the event to reflect you as a couple is even more time consuming. As a wedding planner, I often hear “The church carpet is blue!” or “The ballroom is very casual, but we are not.” Using décor items such as linens, contemporary backdrops, aisle runners, and flowers, I believe your guests will hardly notice the venue and instead focus on the details that you’ve worked hard on.

I recently gathered a team of professionals from West Michigan for a photo shoot—photographer, floral designer, cake designer, and myself, an event designer—to test this theory out. We drew together a bold color palette, modern china and flatware, exquisite florals and fun paper products and brought the design to two distinctly different locations, a loft and a barn. We utilized a standard eight-foot table and the modern banquet chairs from the loft at the barn to keep the look consistent.

We draped the table in lavender satin and kept the flowers low to accommodate the modern lamps. The china and flatware are clean and contemporary. Our designers crafted custom table numbers, place cards, menus, and lamps to go with the color palette. We photographed the same table at the two very different locations—the first is a loft space in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the second is a traditional barn in Holland, Michigan. The design is crisp, bold and fun and works in both locations, although it is quite unexpected and even more fresh in the barn. Ultimately, we all agreed that, no matter the location, any design can look phenomenal.

I encourage you to design your event so that it reflects you as a couple, and not the venue of choice. Often, brides believe that if they are having their ceremony at a traditional church, they should forgo their contemporary style. Or if they are celebrating their marriage in a tent in their parent’s backyard, they need to keep it casual. On the contrary, I believe the unexpected details your guests will discover throughout the day will be more memorable than anything else.

Tags: best of midwest weddings, destination wedding, event planning, michigan wedding, pearls events