When you start planning your wedding, you are essentially starting to build a brand. Most people aren't trained for that, which is why overwhelm starts setting in! As a professional graphic designer, allow me to help you :)
Photo Credit: Bluella Photography
With so many ideas in your head, it can be hard to keep a consistent look and feel throughout your wedding. I can help guide you in your wedding aesthetic to realize your dream theme, or brand, so you look put together and impressively cohesive. Just as major brands have their own unique look, feel, and personality, your wedding collateral from your invitations to your favor tags will all adhere to your own unique style, known as your wedding brand. Think of it as your theme that will be sprinkled all throughout your wedding experience, charming you and your guests every step of the way, from the initial opening of the invitations to the reading of your programs to the final closure of the thank you cards.
One of the first things I recommend my clients do is simplify and focus your theme. Write down a few key words that you feel best describe what your wedding would ideally look like, and keep the list short and sweet, no more than 3–5 words. For example, if you like the outdoors you may want to narrow your key words down to "rustic, outdoorsy, organic, and lighthearted". Once you have these keywords, you can move on to the second step: your colors!
Colors set the whole vibe and tone of your wedding and should be chosen carefully. Sometimes this means deciding which is more important to you: using your favorite color, or producing the look and feel you want. Ideally, these would match, but not always. Consider the first example—if you want an outdoorsy wedding but your favorite color is neon yellow, this might not work successfully (of course there are always exceptions, but in general, this is the case). You may want to consider a golden yellow or daisy yellow in conjunction with some more earthy colors and materials to go along with your keywords. Yellow is a lighthearted color, but neon yellow isn't a color often found in the natural world, so toning it down and making a smart and intentional compromise between your favorite color and setting the tone of your wedding will create a happy medium that results in more cohesive look and feel.
The third element of a wedding brand involves typography, or the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. Unfortunately, most people do not have a fundamental understanding or opportunity to regularly practice typography, which tends to make their typographical projects less successful. This is where a good graphic designer could really offer some value and help! It's important to trust your designer in their typography choices because they are trained to evaluate each selection with reason and logic behind it. We don't just randomly select a font and move things around on a page, we carefully consider the options with regard to your keywords and vision, and execute the project accordingly. For more information, visit this link!
The last step of creating a wedding brand involves the applications in which it will be used—the invitations, signs, programs, gifts, thank you cards, etc. There is so much that happens both off screen and on screen, meaning that your design must be able to translate from digital to print at a range of sizes and on a range of materials. We can create mockups so you can get a general idea of what the final project will look like, but nothing will substitute for that finished, tangible piece you hold in your hands. For example, a logo must appear clearly at a small scale (such as a gift tag on your favors) as well as on a large scale (such as a sign or banner), so generally it is best to go with a simple shape or logotype and not get too carried away with unnecessary flourishes or graphic elements. Think simple, clear, and clean :)
As you can probably tell, creating a wedding brand (or brand in general) is a lot like putting together a complex puzzle. Without the right skills and materials, it can be very difficult to establish this on your own, which is why I created my business to help you with all of this behind-the-scenes work, so you can showcase your brand with confidence :) If you have any other questions please feel free to ask me! :)