Nothing represents beauty and elegance at a wedding more than having gorgeous florals and decor, hand designed by the best floral design shop in northern Michigan – Chelsea Chapin from Victoria’s Floral Design!

Chelsea has seen it all and designed it all, and her work has toped the wedding charts in the county for dozens of brides the past few years. Her stunning visual has led brides to tears, as she helped bring their dream wedding into reality!

I had the privilege of interviewing her, as she shares her top tips and secrets for beautiful weddings with stunning bouquets, decor, centerpieces, and more!

What is the most important aspect a bride needs, in order to define her wedding style?

• Patience! More often than not it can take a while for a wedding’s style to come together. Don’t get frustrated if inspiration doesn’t strike immediately. The best way to start pulling together your wedding style is to really listen to your…
• Personality! What’s most important to you and your groom? Getting married in a church? Great food? The party music? Use your personality (and your groom’s!) to determine your…
• Priorities! Pick the venue first (ballroom or tent?) then the foodservice style (plated dinner or backyard bbq?) then your attire (formal ball gown & stilettos or a short white dress & cowboy boots?).

These three basics will help set the framework for your overall wedding style. From there, you’ll be able to identify décor elements that will fit with your wedding style.

What is your “secret” method to designing and creating beautiful wedding décor to match each individual bride’s wedding theme?

Each bride is so different but we are lucky to have the conveniences of modern technology at our finger tips! The popularity of Pinterest has made it possible for a bride to show us exactly what she likes with the click of a mouse. We encourage our brides to pin pictures of all aspects of their wedding style; venue, food, attire, flowers, lighting, favors, etc. which really helps us to understand what their wedding will be like. As a florist, we are able to pick up on the floral style elements that brides like but may not know how to express. For example, the way a bouquet is tied (hand tied vs. cascading), the shape of the bouquet (rounded vs. linear) and perhaps most importantly, the details of the flowers they prefer (including shape, seasonality, color and cost). Victoria’s is also fortunate to have a talented team of floral designers that, with over 40 years of combined floral experience, has seen a gamut of wedding styles come and go. The capacities of the design team makes all the difference when putting together a floral element that will complement the overall wedding feel.

If there is one thing you could tell each bride before starting to collect wedding décor, what would it be?

I have two! Depending on the length of your engagement, it is likely that bridal styles and trends will change in the time you are planning your wedding. If you have a year or more before the big day, I would hold off on making any décor decisions until you’ve secured the big things; venue, dress and food. These three pieces will influence the overall style of your wedding…for example if you’re set on a rustic “up north” wedding but fall in love with a vintage theater or modern art gallery for your reception, you will have started collecting burlap and mason jars for nothing! On this same line, don’t splurge on any wedding related items unless you’re 100% sure on your wedding style! You don’t want to end up with things that have no practical everyday purpose and can’t be returned if you don’t use them for your wedding. (i.e. a beaded satin princess wedding gown for that barn wedding venue that you never thought would be “the place”.)

What are your top 3 pieces of advice, that a bride needs when choosing her wedding colors?

1. Don’t get too trendy. Every year seems to carry a new color trend with weddings. If you think back to the weddings you attend each year there’s a good chance that a couple of them had similar if not the same color schemes. You don’t want to be the 43rd million bride using tiffany blue and brown or hot pink and black. While there may be a lot of products available in these popular color combinations, you have to consider that they are also available to every other bride out there and will lessen the uniqueness of your wedding. The one exception to this rule is using Pantone’s color of the year. Announced around December for the following year, you’re likely to have many products available in the “color of the year” from nail polish and dresses to china and linen. With this in mind, unless your wedding falls before June, it may be smart to wait until the December before your wedding to select your colors if you want to be trendy. (P.S. 2015’s color of the year is Marsala!)
2. Keep at least one natural color. Sure, turquoise and silver are a cool combination, but flowers don’t naturally come in either of these colors. Add white or pale pink to the mix, however, and this will give your florist a natural element to work with when creating your floral arrangements. You can always pull the less natural colors in with ribbon wrapping on bouquets or color of containers in your centerpieces.
3. Don’t limit yourself to “matchy-matchy.” It has always been my belief you should pick at least three main colors for a wedding. If you stick with just two and follow rule 2 of keeping one natural color you could end up with, say, yellow and white. But what color yellow? Sunshine? Canary? Daffodil? Mustard? Lemon??? Let’s say you pick lemon and want your linens, bridesmaid dresses and flowers to be yellow to accent your white china and bridal gown. The likelihood of you getting the exact shade of yellow in all of the yellow elements is going to be tough, no matter what. So how about designating your color as “shades of yellow” to get an ombre look or adding another color – grey, navy blue or stem green? This will make it easier (and less frustrating!) to achieve the overall look without stressing over trying to match the napkins to the bridesmaid dresses.

There you have it ladies – the best advice from the top floral expert in northern Michigan, Chelsea Chapin at Victoria’s Floral Design! Her amazing advice can help you start planning your dream wedding, getting your details easily in order, and start visualizing what you want your special day to look like!

Your next step?

Go to Victoria’s Floral Design and sit down with Chelsea to see how she can make your dream northern Michigan wedding become a reality!

HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR YOU:

• 5 Steps for Looking Great in Your Wedding Dress
• Should You Let Your Bridesmaids Pick Their Own Dresses?
• Posing Tips for Beautiful Engagement Photos

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Traverse City Wedding photography by Lux Light Photography, captures beautiful and intimate portraits for your wedding, engagement, family, newborn, and boudoir photography session in all of northern Michigan, including Traverse City, Petoskey, Inn at Bay Harbor, Crystal Mountain, Homestead Resort, Bowers Harbor, Mission Table, Glen Arbor, and Charlevoix!

Lux Light Photography  |  luxlightphotography@gmail.com  |  231-633-9410  |  www.luxlightphotography.net

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