More than just a colour palette – How to find your wedding style

Would you like to find your wedding style? From Pinterest boards full of inspiration to choosing the venue, flowers and table settings, it can feel overwhelming to create a cohesive theme when the possibilities are endless. But the most beautiful weddings are rarely the ones that follow the most trends.

It often starts in the same way. A saved post on Instagram. A Pinterest board that quickly fills up with hundreds of images. A floral arch from Italy, a long table in Provence, a modern city wedding in Copenhagen and a romantic dinner under a glass canopy. Suddenly, there’s more inspiration than ever, but also more decisions than you might have expected. Because how do you actually know which style feels right when everything is so beautiful? The answer is simpler than you might think.

Many people start their planning by choosing colours, flowers or decorations. But often those decisions come much later.

The first thing you really need to think about is where you want to get married. Do you dream of an intimate wedding at home, an elegant country house in the countryside, or a destination wedding by the Mediterranean? Perhaps there’s a place that means a little bit more to you – where you got engaged, spent your first holiday together, or always return to.

Once the venue is decided, the character of the wedding begins to take shape. The next step is about the atmosphere. How do you want the day to feel? Do you want your guests to feel as though they’ve been invited to a relaxed summer party where dinner flows into dancing under the open sky? Or do you envisage a stylish evening with candlelight, a classic table setting and a more elegant atmosphere?

Once you’ve decided on the venue and then the atmosphere, the rest of the planning becomes much simpler. The choice of flowers, colours, materials and decorations is no longer a series of isolated decisions; they become a natural extension of the story you want to create. This is also when the overarching theme begins to emerge.

One of the most common mistakes is trying to alter a venue to fit an idea you’ve seen on social media.

But often, it’s exactly the opposite. The most beautiful overall effect is created when you let the venue set the tone. An old manor house, an industrial venue, a greenhouse or a seaside wedding already has its own character. By enhancing what’s already there, the result is both more natural and more exclusive. A summer wedding by the sea may not need hundreds of floral arrangements when the view already does the job. And a modern town hall wedding can feel just as elegant with a minimalist style where the materials speak for themselves.

It’s easy to think that a well-planned wedding is all about grand installations and lavish decorations. But often it’s the small details that bring the whole thing together.

When the same feel is reflected in the invitations, the floral arrangements, the table settings, the menu cards and the signage, the wedding feels harmonious, even if no guest can quite put their finger on why. It’s not about everything matching perfectly. It’s about everything coming together. A limited colour palette, a few recurring materials and a clear design language often go a long way.

Pinterest and Instagram have changed the way we plan our weddings, and it’s easier than ever to find ideas from all over the world and be inspired by stunning settings and details.

At the same time, it’s also easy to feel that you have to do everything. Champagne walls, large floral installations, bespoke menus, signature drinks, photo booths. But a personalised wedding is rarely about how many details you manage to include. It’s about choosing the details that actually mean something to you.

Perhaps you’ll serve your favourite dessert from the restaurant where you had your first date. Perhaps you’ll play the song you always come back to when travelling together. Or maybe you’ll wear a piece of jewellery that’s been passed down through the generations. It’s often these stories that both you and your guests will remember.

Perhaps the most important realisation of all is that you don’t need to invent a wedding style – you probably already have one.

Think about how you live together. What kinds of settings do you feel at home in? What does your home look like? Which restaurants do you choose when celebrating something special, and how do you set the table when you invite family and friends round? Perhaps there’s already a colour palette, a design style or a certain feel that you keep coming back to, without even realising it.

Your wedding day doesn’t have to be something completely new. Instead, it can be an extension of who you already are – just a little more dressed up.

In an age where trends come and go, it’s easy to feel like you need to keep up. One year, butter-yellow details and organic floral arrangements dominate; the next, bold colours and maximalism are everywhere. Inspiration is brilliant, but it doesn’t have to dictate your choices.

When you look back at your wedding photos in ten or twenty years’ time, you’re unlikely to be thinking about which trend was most popular at the time. You’ll remember how it felt to lock eyes during the ceremony, the laughter around the dinner table, and that balmy summer evening when the party carried on long after sunset.

That’s where the common thread lies. Not in the colours, the flowers or the decorations, but in the feeling you created together. And it’s that feeling that makes a wedding both personal and unforgettable.

5 tips for finding your own wedding style

1. Create an inspiration folder together, not separately. Collect images over a few weeks and then look through them together. You’ll often quickly discover which settings, colours and styles keep cropping up, and what you both actually like.
2. Choose three words to describe the day. Should the wedding feel romantic, modern and relaxed? Or elegant, intimate and lively? These three words will serve as a simple guide when making decisions on everything from the venue to the flowers and table settings.
3. Prioritise the overall picture over individual details. A single decoration or trend rarely makes a wedding. When materials, colours and styles come together, it creates a sense of well-thought-out design that is evident throughout the day.
4. Don’t be afraid to leave things out. You don’t need to have everything you see on social media. The most memorable weddings are often those where every detail has a thought behind it, rather than trying to cram in every trend.
5. Start with who you are, not what’s popular. The best wedding style is the one that feels natural to you. When you plan based on your personality, your interests and the way you interact with each other, the day will feel both more personal and more memorable for everyone there.