Usually in our monthly inspiration slot on Love My Dress, we create a styling guide that may focus on a specific colour scheme, a current design trend, or how to take a certain kind of space and style it up. This time around though we thought it would be cool to give a little insight into how we, as event designers, work with a real-life brief. To show exactly how we take that inspiration and mood-board full of pretty pictures and turn it into an all-singing, all-dancing event.
This is the design concept behind a wedding we delivered for our clients just a few weeks back and was such a fun one to work on for the Pocketful of Dreams team. We had the most adventurous and fearless couple who pretty much let us go wild with our design ideas and a superb team of suppliers helping us to make it happen.
THE BRIEF
They wanted a bold and memorable wedding day that celebrated their own unique style and shared passion for music. It was to be laidback and fun with glamorous styling to make a big statement without any obvious rustic woodland references. Our bride’s exact words were “I may be getting married outdoors but I am no woodland fairy”, so after working with the two of them to understand a little more about their own unique personal style and influences – which included everything from Vivienne Westwood to music festivals – we had a fairly clear idea where to go with our design concept.
THE SETTING
Set in Wasing Woodland, an ancient woodland in a leafy glade, located in Berkshire – this was a low-fi setting without fuss or constraint. The glade provided the perfect scene for alfresco dining, boasting a ramshackle wooden bar, stage area, tiered dancefloor space and plenty of open space for dining. But whilst it was low-fi and rustic, our challenge was to turn it into something magical, special and as far from the woodland nymph aesthetic as we could get.
THE CONCEPT
We had a few key words guiding our concept: Opulent, Glamorous, Unique, Memorable, Bold and Fun.
Our design embodied the bold and dramatic wedding our clients envisaged, embracing their shared passions. An opulent celebration with decadent and baroque-inspired statement details, featuring a glamorous and intriguing combination of props, with a fun twist. Ultimately creating that true wow-factor, party ambience that revelled in the unique outdoor setting yet styled it in an unexpected and exciting fashion.
And so Decadent Disco was born…
Image Credits: 1. Our Love in October 2. Occasio Productions 3. Classical Tents 4. Unmissable Japan 5. Reveal 6. Style Me Pretty 7. Curious Sofa 8. Elizabeth Anne Designs 9. Style Me Pretty 10. Feature Shoot 11. Vazetti 12. Tumblr
THE CEREMONY
DESIGN CHALLENGE: Make the Folly look dramatic and special!
The Folly area of the Wasing estate is a much more manicured setting than the woodland but still had a simple rustic charm to it. Our challenge was to add dramatic and bold touches that would make the space interesting and the perfect setting for their vows.
THE DESIGN: Our design including commissioning bespoke red velvet drapes to hang across the beautiful tree in the centre of the space, acting as the main showstopping focal point. Simple wooden chairs lined the aisle whilst two huge oversized floral urns on plinths flanked the spot where they said their vows. To dress the licensed pagoda structure we added lots of church candles in hurricane lanterns interspersed with faux hydrangea heads for a dash of colour.
Image Credits: 1. The Knot 2. Style Me Pretty 3. Colin Cowie 4&5. Withycombe Fair
And here’s just a few iPhone snapshots of how the space looked on the day…
THE RECEPTION
DESIGN CHALLENGE: Create an elegant banquet in the woods with everyone around one table. With glamorous styling that makes a big statement without veering into an obvious woodland nymph aesthetic.
THE DESIGN: Our clients wanted to ensure the reception had the gravitas it deserved. With a simple wedding breakfast of fish and chips followed by a variety of mini-cheesecakes they wanted the styling to feel really special and considered with one key requirement: having all their friends and family sat around one table was a really big deal for them.
We created a U-shaped refectory layout with ghost chiavari chairs, luxurious silver linens and one long lace table topper to make the most of the long-flowing table set-up. The place settings included red baroque napkins bound up in custom-designed belly bands which doubled as the name placements. The table decor included silver candelabras dressed with flowing foliage flowers and fruit, and paint-dipped candles. With further huge bowls of overflowing florals and fruit to create that real feasting ambience. A final added touch was a number of red, cut-glass, wine decanters running across the tables. Table numbers were simply custom-printed numbers in baroque silver frames.
For the table plan we used these beautiful ornate wooden screens, dressed with a trailing foliage garland and oversized tags representing a specific section of the table. The delicious mini-cheesecakes were displayed on silver cakestands placed on a styled dessert station complete with baroque frames and red velvet draping as a backdrop.
Image Credits: 1. Style Me Pretty 2. Classical Tents 3. Wayfair 4. Elizabeth Messina 5. Etsy 6. Jose Villa 7. Event Prop Hire 8. Style Me Pretty 9. Style Me Pretty
A few snapshots from the reception…
THE PARTY
DESIGN CHALLENGE: Create a wow factor party space that is striking and unexpected against the woodland backdrop, a fun and playful area incorporating dancefloor, stage and chillout zone.
THE DESIGN: This space was without doubt the most fun to design and it was incredible watching our design unfold across the set-up days onsite. Made all the more rewarding when we heard the gasps of delight from guests as they entered the party zone and watched them frantically snapping away pictures of it all.
Our design included 15ft red velvet drapes hanging within the trees, to create a dramatic effect and to screen certain areas from view, such as the portable toilets. These were uplit and looked sensational on the day. Further drama and decadence was added with ornate chandeliers hanging from the trees alongside a plethora of different sized disco balls and Tom Dixon lights. A final lighting piece was added to one of the main focal point trees in the space, using rope lighting which was added in straight lines to show the drama and scale of the woodland trees.
For the chill-out zone we brought in some rather stunning, elegant red-velvet furniture to provide a welcoming space to rest those dancing-feet. The bar and staging areas were created using the rustic wooden structures onsite which had a little Pocketful of Dreams sparkle added to them, of course. This included silver Mylar curtain and a bespoke handcrafted mylar garland which bounced the light around all night long, with a marquee disco light providing the perfect punch. The bar was covered in a specialist glitter fabric to add that level of glamour needed, whilst our favourite decor prop – the spray-painted pineapple – had to make an appearance too. The Mighty Booth added that final level of fun and a wildly hilarious guestbook for our couple to treasure.
Image Credits: 1. Our Love in October 2. Unmissable Japan 3. Oakwood Events 4. Fiona Leahy 5. Event Prop Hire 6. BBrown 7. Party Packs 8. Electro Signs 9. Pressloft 10.The Mighty Booth
And our final little peek into how this design unfolded on the day…
It was an epic event and one we thoroughly relished being a part of. I do hope you’ve enjoyed this little insight into the life of an event designer, the design however is only one element of the whole service we offer our clients, we also source and commission all the suppliers, ensuring everyone is fully briefed on what we’re trying to achieve, managing everyone in the lead up to the day (including dealing with last-minute issues such as wet-weather plans!) as well as attending for set-up, co-ordination and breakdown.
Behind-the-scenes there’s a massive team of people making an event like this happen, we call them our dream team (cheesy I know but it has to be done!) and we feel privileged to be part of that team. As they say ‘teamwork makes the dream work’.
Here’s the team that helped us make it happen…
- Planning and Design: Pocketful of Dreams
- Venue: Wasing Woodland
- Tents: 10×15 Structures
- Production Team: Doug Hunt Sound & Light
- Photographer: Matt Parry Photography
- Florist: Ruby & Grace
- Caterer: The Pot Kiln Anywhere
- Cheesescakes: The English Cheesecake Company
- Chillout Furniture Hire: Event Prop Hire
- Linen Hire: Speciality Linens
- Mirror Ball Hire: IA Sound & Light
- Chandeliers Hire & Install: Oakwood Events
- Photo Booth: The Mighty Booth
- DISCO Sign Hire: Electro Signs
- Portable Toilet Hire: Loos 4 Dos
- Transport: Charismatic Cars anWeavaway Travel
Michelle & Vicki xx
Michelle and Vicki are Creative Event Designers at Pocketful of Dreams – they are passionate about designing, styling and delivering unique weddings, tailored to your own personal story. You can read more about Michelle and Vicki on our About Page.
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Michelle loves to embrace life and it’s many adventures and is a strong believer in healthy body, healthy mind. When she’s not planning show-stopping weddings she loves long walks with her little dog Alfie, meditating and devising new green smoothie concoctions.
