10 Ways to Brand your Wedding

Wedding branding is becoming increasingly popular, and it’s a great way of building the character of your big day and sharing this experience with your guests. It definitely makes the day more memorable and in no way turns your wedding into a corporate event, if that’s what you’re thinking!

You might start thinking about ways of branding quite early on in the planning process, or you might be branding as you go along without even realising it. We’re probably all guilty of branding without knowing it! But with some of the simple tips below, the natural process of selecting wedding colours, themes, flowers etc can be given a little more direction in order to create the perfect brand of yourselves.

Branding can be an ongoing process in the early stages of planning, as and when ideas start coming to you, especially if it’s something you haven’t particularly considered previously. But it’s definitely something you should start brainstorming ideas for very early on (pre-planning stage) if branding your wedding is the direction you’d like to head in.

I’ve put together 10 ways of branding your wedding, and how they all tie together. I’ll also be covering my own experience in my next post, so watch this space!

1. Values

Start by possibly discussing your values as a couple; what are the most important things to you both? Is it your family, is it food, is it travelling?

For Ronan and I, family is a huge part of us; so is religion, traditions, the great outdoors, and to top it off, we are pretty much a couple of old souls stuck in the body of a 26 and 29 year old. Not to mention we both have a VERY sweet tooth and this simply had to play a part!

2. Themes

What kind of theme(s) would you like to incorporate, if any? Your themes can encompass your values and can be emphasised throughout the day through the various other methods of branding discussed below. You may decide to keep a single theme, or you can use one theme in the church or other religious venue, and another for the reception, it’s entirely up to you and how subtle or adventurous you want to be!

3. Use a Logo

Perhaps the most common place to start, and first thing that comes to mind when branding. Using a logo is becoming increasingly popular to add a distinct and unique character to your wedding day and can be incorporated in a variety of ways; from using a wax seal on your invitations, to being embroidered on your dress or on the groom’s cuff-links.

This not only adds a personal touch to your very personal items for the biggest day of your life, but also shares a little bit of the personal touch with your guests and makes them feel a part of something very personal.

4. Location and Time of Year

The location you choose and the time of year can be a reflection of your core values and themes.

For example, if holidays/travelling is quite central to you both as a couple, then perhaps a destination wedding during the summertime is a good way of incorporating this, albeit a little cliché. You might be huge Christmas people and decide to throw a Christmas themed wedding in December, within a large stately home filled with fire places and candles to create that perfect cosy winter backdrop. Either way, the location and time of year is essential to revealing a lot about what’s central to you as a couple, and can therefore aid in creating the perfect brand for you.

5. Colours

Your colour scheme is something you will decide very early on as it impacts quite a few other elements such as the décor and flowers. It’s probably the colour you want your bridesmaids to wear, and can also be influenced by the time of year and location.

Winter weddings in manor houses might bring out the traditional festive colours of dark green or wine red, while summer destination weddings may reflect the bright coral reef or pastel blue skies.

6. Font

The font you choose will also mirror the type of style and theme you are trying to get across. A more formal and traditional Christmas wedding might stick to sans-serif and traditional calligraphy styles, while an informal summer destination wedding may want to choose modern calligraphy styles and hand writing fonts.

Pick around 2 different styles of font, max, one to accentuate the headings and another to write a bit more information.

7. Décor and Flowers and Fabrics

These three can perhaps tie in altogether. The texture and feel of a fabric can influence the aesthetics of your wedding, giving it a touch of elegance or perhaps a rustic edge. You choose. The fabrics you select will play a part in the décor; for example, chiffon or satin chair sashes, or wooden log slices for centrepieces.

Flowers are an enormous part of the wedding décor; the type of flowers and arrangements are also indicative of your personality as a couple. Choosing the type of flowers you want to use can be heavily influenced by the time of year, location, or theme of the wedding. For example, a summer wedding may bring about a vast array of flowers, whereas a spring wedding may focus on a particular flower in bloom at that time. Autumnal weddings may emphasise autumn leaves and winter weddings might only decorate in bare branches or Christmas trees!

8. Food and Cake

The type of food you go for can be a major indicator of your culture, traditions, and preferences as a couple. Weddings all around the world indicate the typical traditional food of that country and culture. Of course, there are less traditional ways of incorporating informal food into your catering these days, and it is all down to personal preference to you as a couple. Sweet carts, doughnut stands etc are all becoming increasingly popular as well; with the help of Pinterest you can be inspired to come up with your own unique and creative food stand that can become an essential part of your branding.

The cake is an extremely important part of the day, not only for its symbolic significance of celebration, but it combines aesthetic with taste which can speak volumes about you both and become crucial to branding your wedding. The type of sponge you choose is going to be unique to what you both like, not what any of your guests will like, and the way it is decorated will also fit in with your theme and possibly the overall décor.

9. Dress code

Weddings will traditionally follow a formal attire, and formal attire is dependent on culture and country. But you can mention a dress code on your invites and this could be to stick to a specific colour range or style of dress. Your brand can also shine through the style of outfits the bride and groom wear, and also the style of outfits worn by both parties. You can tell your bridal or bridegroom parties to opt for flowy gowns and specific colours, a type of neckline, sleeves or no sleeves, distinct jewellery, button holes, cuff-links etc. They all play a part in illustrating your unique brand as a couple. Play around with what you think suits you two and your overall theme, best. The world is your oyster!

10. Social media

Finally, the best way to market and develop your unique wedding brand is through the use of social media. This could be anything such as creating a hashtag specific to you as a couple which could be something as simple as your names; just make sure you do your research and create a hashtag that isn’t already in use. You could also create a wedding website or an Instagram account to post updates and build the excitement leading up to your big day, while revealing your branding in small ways.

Above all, remember to just have fun and don’t get too serious about it!!

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