Why You Should Approach Your Wedding Planning Process Like You’re Hunting for Vintage Finds
Okay. Hear me out. As a wedding stationery designer who wore a vintage wedding dress to her wedding, I think certain parts of this process can be applied to your planning journey - to make it feel more unique, more timeless, more you. There can be so much pressure to follow trends and check things off your bridal to-do-list. But you’re not like every other bride, so let’s make your planning process one-of-a-kind! Here’s why you should consider this approach:
Rather than following trends and finding a dress online that anyone else could have, bringing this approach means you are focusing on things being one-of-a-kind. My dress had these beautiful lace eyelet flower details on the shoulder, and a sage green layer underneath that literally made it look like the ocean. It wasn’t a “traditional” wedding dress but it was so me, and I loved that. It’s less about the knee-jerk, cookie-cutter approach to weddings - where you are just doing what everyone else is doing and getting things to get them -and more about what feels like it is meant for you. While this can apply to how you find your dress, this can also apply to how you make decisions, how you source your goodie bag items, etc. Be unique not just for the sake of being unique - but because your love story is unique too, and it deserves to be celebrated in its own unique way.
The process. While you can certainly approach looking for your dress and planning your wedding in the traditional way - scouring Pinterest and bridal sites for the perfect fit - there is nothing like the thrill of the hunt in a Vintage, thrift or consignment shop. It gets you into your body, it’s tactile, you get to touch and feel and relate to things. It’s delightful! What if you brought this tactile, slow, natural approach to your planning? What if you sourced photos for your moodboard from the real world, like your favorite restaurants and art museums and decor stores, rather than scrolling on Pinterest for hours? What if you got vendor recommendations from that friend of a friend who also got married in Newport a few years ago, rather than reaching out to random people on Wedding Wire? What if you took your time, trusted the process, and let inspiration arrive into your life, rather than searching so hard for it?
A focus on storytelling. I loved my vintage wedding dress because it came with a story - not just in how I found it, but also in the life it lived before me, and even the life it lived on my wedding day. Yes, it ripped! But that’s now woven into the story of the dress, that I will always remember, and my guests will, too. Similarly, you have imperfect and ancient parts of your story that you can weave into your wedding that make it feel like yours. You could put family heirlooms on every table, or tell the story of how you met at your ceremony, or play your father’s favorite song as you walk down the aisle, instead of stressing over following bridal trends and aesthetics. You could be your one-of-a-kind self, instead of the bride you think you are supposed to be. You could be yourself, not only on your wedding day, but all along the way.