From April Baytan Designs… With so many options and endless inspiration, planning and designing your perfect wedding day is a challenging task for many couples. Too often, couples don’t know how to navigate the initial process, they get discouraged and start to reject their own personal taste and style, and fall into planning a wedding not curated to them—leading them to give in and more often than not try to replicate a beautiful wedding they’ve come across instead of creating their own authentic day. So how should one start? Along with stunning imagery from Mariel V Photo and a film from Hitmaker Films, we have some tips below for you today.
First – a quick look at how this gorgeous day came together in this sweet clip put together by Hitmaker Films.
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You, your lifestyle, and your relationship are more than enough. Inspiration to create and design a beautiful wedding doesn’t have to go any further. Before you even hire any wedding vendors, the best thing to do is take some good quality time and reflect on yourselves and your relationship. Let your relationship and who you are as a couple be the desired inspiration to help guide you in designing your special day. What things do you enjoy? How would you describe yourselves and style as a couple? What wonderful memories do you have that you want to incorporate into your wedding somehow? Once you gather your thoughts and have a good grasp on the things that make your relationship unique and brings the both of you joy, you can then make the step towards finding a wedding planner or designer that’s right for you.
Yes, the actual planning of your perfect wedding can be difficult, especially if you haven’t planned one before. Wedding planners are such a great resource to help you execute your wedding vision, keep expenses within a reasonable budget, and ensure your event runs smoothly. But don’t just pick a planner or designer that you know will do a good job, pick someone who you actually like to be around. Planning a wedding with someone you actually enjoy and naturally click with is a lot less stressful than one who doesn’t understand you and planning a wedding with someone who’s easy to be around is actually a lot of fun! The more you feel like you can be yourself around your planner or designer, the more your planner or designer will get a better sense of who you are and what vendors would be best to partner with.
Once you have your planner and designer, you’re more than likely going to be shown their preferred vendor list – don’t dismiss these! No, you don’t have to use people off of your planner’s preferred vendor list if you absolutely don’t want to, but there are a lot of advantages to hiring vendors who are familiar with each other. When you select vendors who enjoy working together, you’re hiring a team of professionals who not only want to do a great job for you, but also for one another. Vendors who love working together will go the extra mile to help one another and also want to elevate each other’s work when possible. Not only does this benefit you and create beautiful content for your photographer, but it also helps with easy communication throughout the planning process as well as positive energy and smooth logistics on your actual wedding day.
Here’s an example of how Floral and Event Designer, April Baytan Designs, together with close friend and talented Photographer, Mariel V Photo, put together a beautiful wedding design by simply using a couple’s lifestyle as inspiration.
Our couple loved growing up in the very diverse and eclectic city of San Francisco and wanted their personal style and love for their beloved city to be the inspiration for their wedding design. Their modern yet sophisticated “city by the water” wedding takes place in San Francisco and draws direct inspiration from the city’s environment. A color palette filled with shades of blue and grey reminiscent of the city’s tall concrete and glass buildings, surrounding blue ocean, and often present fog served as the foundation for the rest of the design. Glass-like textures were used such as sleek ghost chairs from The Chiavari Guys and our bride’s earrings and fluid artistic gestures of gorgeous water-stroked details from paper goods by S Libbrecht Studios and cake by Paper Heart Patisserie.
To keep the couple’s modern day style at the very forefront, April Baytan Designs put together garden style floral pieces in a neutral palette of white and cream and paired them with other neutral details, such as a charcoal grey linen from La Tavola Linen, simple and classic tabletop items from Aracely Cafe and the most light and airy silk ribbon from Frou Frou Chic. Last but not least, for a stylish and grand statement, the couple’s modern and uber chic style was showcased with a show stopping blue tulle wedding gown and effortless second white option by Carol Hanna Bridal demonstrating endless amounts of texture and movement which went together perfectly with effortless hair and makeup by CSM Lash.
Photographer: Mariel V | Videography: Hit Maker Films | Floral & Event Design: April Baytan | Wedding Dress: Carol Hannah | Cake: Paper Heart Patisserie | Hair & Makeup: Csm Lash | Chairs: The Chiavari Guys | Linen: BBJ La Tavola | Paper Goods: Shelby Libbrecht Studio | Restaurant & Event Space: Aracely Cafe | Ribbon: Frou Frou Chic