My sisters and I have been been doing a lot of research for one of my sisters' upcoming wedding, which will be taking place later on this year. As I'm sure a lot of you are aware, there's a lot of details to be considered with wedding planning, and there's always new ideas to look at; different things to try and a lot of researching and running around! One big part of the planning is looking at the wedding decor, which actual covers a big range of things, like table decor, stage decorations, flowers, chair coverings, favour boxes etc etc.
My sister managed to get us a few tickets to a wedding exhibition which was taking place in Wanstead this weekend. Although it mainly catered to English brides, the services which were being offered were still quite useful and applicable for an Asian wedding, and has some interesting ideas to look at.
Above are the table centrepieces which were one display, which had a very pretty spring theme to it. I loved how it mixed the pink and the green together well on the background of white, and how unusual the centrepiece for the table looked, which mixed crystal hangings, flowers and thick stalks.
Below is the actual table settings, which had various favour boxes, napkin settings and examples of ribbons and petals to decorate the table. I do like how this look went well with the table centrepiece without looking too cluttered, although it may not be to everyone's tastes.
These were some brightly colour cakes amongst the collection on display. The best bit was tasting the samples (I took the chocolate sponge one, for necessary...um..chocolate tasting and because I'm a bit of a chocolate fiend). Again, there were some very pretty cakes, and some that didn't appeal so much (the yellow one, while showed some adventurousness, wasn't something that any of us could imaging wanting! The cupcakes looked scrumptious though (although we weren't allowed to taste any).
Another big trend I've noticed in weddings over the last few years is chair decorations, which can be as simple as a brightly coloured ribbon to match the colour scheme, to ornate embellishments at the back of the chair to add to the decor. The ideas used here were catered more to the English style weddings - the decorator even stated that the ivy chairs were their most popular. These did look very pretty, but I imagine that these flowers would probably get drowned in a traditional Asian wedding setting with lots of colour. It did give us some ideas of what colours went with the chairs and what looked nice overall, though.
I think this was probably the best part of the exhibition, the flowers! I'm a huge flower fan, having grown up for years with a mum who's a avid gardener. These were some of the bouquets and corsages on display, which were again, in a very spring-y collection of peachy orange, creams and various pinks. I think that the theme in these flower bouquets was simplicity - that is, sticking to a single colour and not making it too OTT, which worked because of the light colours. However, this is, again, something I'm not sure will go with an Asian wedding unless the outfit specifically requires light coloured flowers.
Here were some table centrepiece ideas using flowers, although I've seen some of these ideas before, they were quite tastefully done, although again, these were quite simple in arrangements. I liked how artful the flowers in the bowl looked with the long grass-leaves, although I wouldn't have picked this idea, seeing them in this way made me see how it can look pretty and creative.
My sisters and I quite liked this one with floating candles and gerbera flowers, and silver gravel at the bottom of the bowl. I've seen a similar idea to this used in a mehndi, and I think this is a lovely idea, it's quite simple and sweet, and looks great when the candles are lit in the evening.
There were also other alternatives to table centrepieces, such as this feathery one which I found a bit extravagant and colourful for my tastes, but definitely made a statement!
Overall, there was a range of ideas to look at, some which we had seen before from other vendors and some which looked different and fresh. I liked the spring theme best, although it wasn't really ideal for the kind of wedding that my sisters and I are researching for, which is a bit more traditional-looking! We did get a few tips from photographers and those nice cake ladies, and it allowed us to see a glimpse of what is available and how wide the scope is in the wedding market.
More research ideas and results to be posted soon!