So you're planning your wedding - congratulations on your engagement!  You have wedding dreams, a Pinterest board or ten (with a zillion pins on each) and a potential colour palette.  You have followed dozens of wedding suppliers on Instagram but you have no idea how to pull the whole look together or where to get those copper centrepieces you have seen!  You have probably never thought of hiring a wedding stylist, maybe you didn't even know these fairy godparents who could make your Pinterest dreams come true and save you a bunch of money, headaches and stress even existed?  Who you gonna call?!

I worked with Lesley from The Rustic Wedding Company on this boho-chic styled shoot so spoke to her to find out more.  All photography by Magda K.

What does a wedding stylist do & how can you help?

"Wedding stylists are quite often designers by trade or have some kind of artistic background before entering the wedding industry.  They will get to know you as a couple, learn about your unique personalities and chat in depth about what you are trying to achieve.  They will create and develop original design concepts and pull together ideas in moodboards for you - long before implementing them & installing it all at your chosen venue.  There is quite a big difference between someone who turns up to a venue and decorates it with props they hire out to a proper “stylist” who will create a bespoke design from scratch for you."

What is the starting point?

"We quite often start the booking process having a chat about the type of styling you are looking for, when you need it and where your venue is.  At a face to face consultation we’ll talk about colours, textures, styles, moods and themes and we’ll take down plenty of notes along the way.  We’ll then go back to our studio and create a personalised styling plan for you which outlines what you can expect from us on the day – it will be full of inspirational images, venue measurements and will have your chosen colour palette intertwined throughout.

When you are happy with the design we’ll send a couple of copies in the post for you to show your other wedding suppliers.  Your florist and cake designer in particular will be very keen to see this styling plan as it will give details of everything they will need to know about the style and vibe of your day for them to create something that will complement it.

Once the styling plan is finalised it is then down to us to make it come alive.  We will hand make items, sources rare objects, gather stationery items together and contact florists.  We’ll arrange a date & time to set up directly with your venue so that you don’t have to worry about co-ordinating everybody and we’ll arrive on site to install the styling and take it all down without any fuss."

Here is a styling plan we recently created for a wedding inspiration photo shoot:

What if we have already bought items or want to hand make our wedding decor?

Sometimes we come across couples who are quite artistic themselves and already have a great idea of how they want their wedding day to look.  In this instance we’ll happily go with your ideas, help you to develop them further or simply aid you on the day to set it all up.

It can be very stressful to set up a full wedding the day before and sometimes there just isn’t time on the morning of the wedding for the bridal party to do it all themselves as well as taking the time to get ready and actually partake in the morning celebrations.

How can you save clients money?

Lots of people believe that by D.I.Y-ing your own wedding you will in turn save lots of money.  Unfortunately this is a bit of a delusion as more often than not you will actually end up spending more money than you anticipated to create the look you desire.  Wedding stylists have a huge stock of decorative items to hand or know other people in the wedding industry who can help for a discounted cost.  Why spend £20 on one lantern for your centrepiece when your stylist can include them for much much less and you haven’t got the worry of what you are going to do with it after the wedding is over.

Here at The Rustic Wedding Company; we will work hard to find items that nobody else has got, we trawl through antique shops looking for vintage gems and will happily search the web for the perfect candlestick or vase – we even make some props ourselves so they truly are bespoke to your day.  We want to produce the best look that we can for you so will be realistic about costs and what is achievable within your budget.  We will also save you time, stress and the worry of doing it all yourself.

How do I pick the right wedding stylist for me?

Picking the right wedding stylist for you is so important. If you are opting for bespoke styling services and design work, you really need to make sure that you choose someone who you can work well with. It must be someone who understands your own interpretation of style and your own personal vibe.

HOW MUCH CAN WE EXPECT A WEDDING STYLIST TO COST US?

Bespoke styling work can range anywhere from £500 - £10000, all depending on the budget available and the type of styling that you are looking for. If you choose a good stylist they will always try their best to work within your own personal budget and might even be able to save you a few pennies along the way!

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