The MisMatched Wedding

Over the years I have slowly started to lose interest in cookie-cutter traditional weddings.  Been there.  Seen that.  Over it.  What’s next?

My rebellion against this boredom began with my own out-of-the-box New Year’s wedding (3 years ago) and was eventually fueled by Pinterest…90 million ideas conveniently placed on one website where you can mix and match ideas to your own delight.  People are slowly catching on to this mismatched wedding idea (again, thanks to Pinterest), but as with everything else in this world, there’s always a balance that should be kept–a fine line that should never be crossed.  So, how does one determine how far to push the envelope?

I’ve come up with a few rules–and examples of how to follow and what it looks like to break them–that will hopefully keep your ideas reigned in to a certain level of sanity.  After all, nobody wants to their wedding to look like a crazy hot mess, right?

#1 Multiple Centerpiece Designs.  As with everything above, they need to have some unifying elements.  I typically aim for 2-3 different centerpiece types for each of the events I design because it makes the space SO MUCH more interesting!

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vintage yellow centerpieces

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#2 Mismatched Bridesmaids.  If you’re going to do mismatched bridesmaid’s dresses, make sure that a few elements of the design still coordinate.  I think the dresses should all be the same length, have similar patterns, similar materials, and similar colors.  Here are some bridal parties who are on point…

mismatched bridesmaids

…and those who missed the mark.

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#3 Varied Bridal Bouquets.  A great idea to add some interest not only to your wedding party, but also to your pictures is to have each bridesmaid carry a unique bouquet.  By using the same color palette and/or a few of the same flowers, you can tie the look together while making each bouquet an individual piece of art.

mismatched bouquets

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You can also do this with boutonnieres!

mismatched boutonnieres

#4 Mixing tabletop patterns.  Table decor is where I always try to make a big impact…after all, your guests will be sitting here for a good portion of the night!  I cannot tell you how much I LOVE a good patterned napkin or how I die over pretty floral dishes…and how awesome they look when complimented by patterned graphics (ok, i’ll stop).  When mixing patterns, you need to make sure that each pattern is unique enough to provide distinct contrast but that it still has some unifying element tying the table together.  The scale of the patterns need to be varied (big print/little print), the colors need to contrast, bold patterns need to be softened with subtle patterns, and pattern types need to vary (i.e. geometric with organic).  Here are some examples of pattern mixes gone right.

table patterns

XOXO

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