The days of having to trying to piece together corresponding wedding items that match your color and style are coming to an end. In comes the trend of branding your event so that the design is exclusively yours while keeping things cohesive across the board. If you are unfamiliar with this trend, you are in for a treat because we have invited our local branding expert Carey Galliani from The Idea Emporium to "school us" on what it all means!
How did branding become a trend in weddings?
Like most traditions, weddings have evolved over the years. When our grandmothers got married they wore white dresses and carried flowers and were in love. When our mothers got married they took those customs and added some personality in the form of a set of colors that would make appearances throughout the celebration. When our sisters got married the wedding environment changed once again with the popular addition of a theme or motif (if you’ve attended a wedding in the last year odds are pretty good it featured purple, mason jars, burlap or peacock feathers- the largest trends of 2012). And now we stand on the precipice of the next big thing to introduce itself into the wedding world…event branding.
Okay, what is branding exactly?
Branding in the business world is a term you may already be familiar with. It’s the biggest ambassador of a business, more than a logo it’s the face of a company. A well-rounded brand includes at least one logo, a carefully crafted color palette and specifically outlined typefaces (or fonts) all of which used together create the brand. Each piece of collateral produced for the company (product, promotional pieces, business cards, packaging, etc.) features the company’s “face”. So how does this apply to your wedding?
What does it mean to brand a wedding?
As any bride or groom can tell you there are a million tiny pieces that go into a wedding. The big stuff you’ve been warned about; the flowers, the linens, the rentals… but what about the tiny touches? This is where custom event branding can take your wedding to the next level. Event branding ensures that all of the bits and pieces, from the table numbers to the thank you cards and from the invitation to the cocktail napkins & matchbooks are cohesive, impressive, and most importantly say something about you.
“In a world of mass production, wouldn’t it be nice for your wedding to be a breath of fresh air that looks and feels like an authentic representation of your relationship?” explained Carey Galliani, owner of wedding design company, The Idea Emporium. “Custom branding gives our clients the opportunity to show their personalities through their event details. This year I had the opportunity to design a dinosaur theme wedding. White roses, calligraphy and tuxedos are beautiful, but wouldn’t be a fit at all for that couple. So we took the dinosaur inspiration and ran with it bringing in sophisticated prehistoric touches that were a true representation of the couple. The best part was hearing how “them” their wedding was and their guests felt the same.”
How do couples get started?
Branding your wedding is a two-step process; the creation of the brand and the creation of the wedding pieces that utilize that brand. Just like a company, your brand will include a color palette (good news…you can have more than 2 colors), logo and typefaces. It will also feature a monogram for you and your future spouse and graphic patterns to compliment the look.
What does wedding branding look like?
Here are a few examples of a brand board for a couple that outlines their patterns, color palette, logo/mongram & typography or fonts, etc.
Brand Board Example #1
