It’s All in the Details!
Amanda Rossi
Amanda is my second cousin! She is one of the most thoughtful people you will meet. She is truly a supporter, and an encourager. She loves to make people feel special.
Amanda has the gift of having an eye for detail! If you are planning a wedding, you will definitely find this post to be helpful! If you are planning any event, this post is sure to give you help!
"Wedding Planning? It's all in the Details!"
Details. I am all about the details! When it comes to planning a special event, I firmly believe that the recipe for success is in the thought out, personalized little details. Whether a wedding, bridal shower, baby shower, hosting a dinner or a special event honoring someone you love- you can’t go wrong by adding that extra little “wow” factor!
I am a very "detailed" oriented person. I have always had a love for all things personalized, monogramed, and synchronized! I hoard personalized stationery (hello, Etsy), and I would monogram every article of clothing if I was a millionaire. I have an eye for the little details, sometimes to a fault! So as a recent Bride, I planned my wedding around my love for details! After all, it's not every day that you get to express who you really are... so when it came to planning our wedding, I knew I wanted the little personal touches to be the highlight of our big day.
With that said, wedding planning in general can be a bit overwhelming- ask any Bride. With Social Media and Pinterest at your fingertips, it can quickly turn into a plethora of ideas and “must haves” that are not always needed or necessary. Trust me- it can become very overwhelming, very quickly. As I started to plan, I realized that you don't have to have every new trend for your wedding to be amazing. Sometimes keeping it simple and classic is the recipe for success. I am no wedding planner or event planning expert (far from it!), but I am going to highlight some simple steps that helped me create a wedding day of my detailed dreams.
Step One: Pick a Location, Size of your Guest List and Venue (this relates to details, promise!)
Last November, my husband and I "tied the knot" at a small, intimate wedding in Key West, Florida. When it came time to plan our wedding, I knew our day was going to be different than the “norm”. I was never one of those girls that dreamed of my wedding growing up, I wish I was! I never thought too much about it, other than I knew I wanted to someday get married in the Florida Keys.
Growing up, I was very blessed to have Grandparents who had a home in the Keys… and even more blessed that they shared their beautiful home with their grandchildren. I have wonderful memories from my childhood, teen years and my twenties of time spent with my family, friends and my now husband in the Florida Keys. When my Granddad passed away a few years ago, I always felt a special closeness to him when visiting our beloved Florida Keys. When my now husband, Phil, popped the question, I knew right away that I wanted to say “I Do” in the Keys.
I knew that the location of our wedding would determine the size of our guest list. A destination wedding often means less family and friends are able to share your special day. My husband and I both agreed from the start that we wanted a more intimate setting for our wedding day. We knew that we really wanted to be able to spend quality time with each of our guests on our wedding day. Yes, we realized that meant sacrificing having everyone we love in attendance, but we also knew that we wanted that “one on one” time with each guest that traveled for us. Once we narrowed down the estimated size of our guest list, that helped determine which venue would accommodate us best. This is where we branched out a bit and opted to go with an all-inclusive, coastal venue rather than a church ceremony and separate reception. It’s not for everyone, but we loved it!
Quick side note: We got married in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. As the pandemic and challenges progressed, we adjusted our sails quite a bit throughout wedding planning to pull off our November 2020 wedding. At the end of the day, we said “I Do” on the beach and had a beautiful reception INSIDE (thank you Lord) which was unheard of for the few weddings that took place in 2020. Wedding planning is not for the faint of heart, but those of us who did it in 2020 earned a few extra brownie points in my opinion! Ok enough about that… back to the fun stuff!
Well mostly fun stuff… let me be frank- your budget is also a huge factor in the venue selection and the size of your guest list. We had several venues that we liked, one that we loved, and several that were “no’s” from the start. To secure the venue that we loved, we knew we had to adjust our guest list even more to meet our budget. For us, that meant fifty guests total. Because we had both agreed on a small, intimate setting- our budget and guest list aligned. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard not having all of our family there. However, we knew that the limited guest list would create special moments for us and our guests that a large wedding might not.
Step Two: Style
Once you nail down your venue, this will help determine what “style” you want to embrace for your big day! I personally don’t like the term “theme” when it comes to a wedding. Your wedding day should be all about you and what you love, it shouldn’t have to fit into a “theme” per say. There are so many different ideas, Pinterest boards and Social Media trends nowadays that provide inspiration, but you really want to focus on what YOU like. The details will come easy when they are focused on what is unique to you and your style. After all, when do you get a day that's all about you and you husband? Embrace it and pick what you like. If that means “themes” intermix- who cares!
When it came time to start planning the details of our big day- I embraced my personal style and channeled it into the style of our wedding day. I have always leaned heavily towards a classic preppy style with a love for all things nautical, New England, Ralph Lauren-esque flair. When we selected our beach venue, I knew I wanted to embrace a more “New England Coastal Prep” vibe versus a “Key West Beachy” vibe.
Once you have the desired style of your wedding day nailed down, that will help with the fun part- selecting the attire for the big day! Your wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, and groomsmen attire will all fall into place once you know what style you want for your wedding day. I did a lot of research on coastal and New England weddings, and I knew I wanted our bridal party to look like they had just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren advertisement. My ladies and I went on the hunt for a classy, navy bridesmaid dress with sleeves…not an easy feat, let me tell you! As many of you ladies know, finding a modest, flattering bridesmaid dress nowadays is hard. Through a blogger I follow, I found a site called “eShakti” that allows you to custom build a dress! You can select length, whether you want sleeves and the sleeve length, neckline, and so on. It was heaven sent! We designed a beautiful, modest, flattering, classy dress that made my ladies look like Queens! The groomsmen’s attire was the easy part. Who doesn’t love a guy in a classic navy blazer?
Step Three: Pick the Details!
This is the fun part! Once you know where you are saying “I Do” and the style you want to embrace for your big day- you can start planning the fun, personalized details that really bring your style to life! From invites, to flowers, ceremony setup, reception centerpieces and everything in between- this is where “who you are” shines through! This is where I went a little crazy… I started stalking Pinterest, Esty and Instagram for all things coastal/preppy weddings. Early on, I knew I wanted to incorporate a monogram or logo that would be the focal point of our wedding day. I looked at different stationaries online and stumbled upon an artist on Esty who I fell in love with. She designed everything for me, including our wedding logo, save the dates, invitation suite, wedding weekend itinerary, menu, program, seating charts and thank you cards. I really had to budget other items so that I could elaborate in this department. I’d strongly suggest focusing your budget on what you love! Everyone has their own special interest, mine was the stationary!
Save the Dates and Invites: It all started with the Save the Date’s for me! I went with a fun, colorful Key West map template that highlighted our venue and other “must see” locations in Key West. I loved how colorful it was, and the artist was very open to working with me on specific details such as making the wedding ring look like mine and adding the local residents of Key West… the chickens (obviously a must!). I LOVE stationary, so I knew the first thing I wanted to do in the wedding planning process was create a unique “one of a kind” invite that captured our wedding day style, yet still embraced who Phil and I are. I wanted to incorporate Key West and our venue, so the artist added beautiful subtle touches that highlighted both our style yet emphasized the important information. This was also where our wedding logo was “born”.
Wedding Day Stationary Details: We used the same artist to create the beautiful “day of” details for our big day. We incorporated our logo on our programs, menu and seating charts. I had SO MUCH FUN with creating these details. I know this area of wedding planning is not for everyone, but this is where my creative style and attention to detail came to life. I firmly believe that it is the small details that take the event from good to unforgettable.
Flowers: I think this is one of the simplest steps in the wedding planning process! Pick what you like and stick with it! Honestly, I don’t think it matters what time of year it is or what venue you pick- if you like it, that’s all that matters. I love Ginger Jars; my eyes are immediately drawn to anything blue and white. I knew early on that I wanted Hydrangeas and Ginger Jars as our ceremony décor and reception centerpieces. I also added subtle details to our flowers such as a monogrammed ribbon for my boutique and my Matron of Honor’s bouquet. My Bridesmaids bouquets were adorned in blue and white, nautical ribbon that really complimented their dresses. They were small details, but they really tied everything together.
Favors: I knew that I wanted something to represent “home” at our destination wedding. We decided to go with a classic- Johnson’s Popcorn. I had tags made that said, “A little taste of home…” and we handed them out at the end of the evening.
Special touches: From personalized coke bottles, sparklers with personalized tags and labeled matches for our send off, and water bottles with our wedding logo- the little personalized details came together beautifully. These were relatively inexpensive touches that really added that little extra “wow” factor. As the saying goes, “when you pay attention to detail, the big picture will take care of itself.”
Leading up to the Big Day: I didn’t stop at the wedding. We had a few fun things planned for the days leading up to our big day since everyone traveled for our wedding. A Bride Beach Bash for me and my girls, a fishing trip for Phil and his groomsmen, a sunset sail for our guests (that sadly got nixed thanks to Hurricane Eta), and our beautiful rehearsal dinner were all special occasions that called for “attention to detail”. Each event created opportunities for creative, personalized details. I gifted my Bridesmaids their personalized gifts at my Bride Beach Bash, where I had fun monogrammed cups and personalized beach balls! I also made favors that featured fun lobster candies with cute tags for our Rehearsal Dinner. From napkins, menus, personalized cups and more- the possibilities are endless for adding that extra personal touch! (Ps- this explains why we needed a U-Haul to travel south for the wedding 😊)
So, yes, you could say I went a little crazy in the details department for our big day, but I had the time of my life doing it! Keep in mind, your budget and size of your guest list will determine what you can and can’t do. Since we had such a small guest list, we were able to do a little more in the personalized details department. Etsy was a great source for me. I did quite a bit of research for the best pricing and quality available. I will also note that it does not have to be a grand, elaborate, expensive gesture to make an impact. A simple personalization, or synchronized color scheme can speak volumes when it comes to making your wedding (or any event) extra special. There are so many resources and downloadable “do it yourself” items now that you can create a lot of content for relatively inexpensive.
Brides, the most important part of wedding planning is that you have fun! At the end of the day, only you will know if something didn’t go “as planned”. The details you decide to incorporate into your big day will be the special touches that you will remember for years to come. I’ll be married a year next month, and I can remember every little detail like it was yesterday. I learned that no detail is too small. Your guests will notice the care and love that you pour into every small, special touch to make your day beautiful! This approach is not for everyone… but if you embrace your unique, creative style- all the details will fall into perfect place. Happy planning!
