14 Chic & Simple Ideas
Karen Bussen, America’s favourite wedding designer, reveals some simple but effective ways to add a touch of style to your wedding celebrations…
1. Jazz up basic chair covers by pinning a single flowers to each right before dinner.
2. Make a wedding weekend out of it. Reserve the hotel and welcome your guests with local treats and an itinerary that lets them know what is happening and when and where.
 3. Consider a candle lighting ceremony. If permitted, this is an amazing way to bring light and romance to your space. Ask if the lights can be dimmed at a certain point. Together, each of you lights a single candle from a central ‘unity’ flame and then turns to light the candle of a member of your new spouse’s family. They, in turn, light the candles of the guests next to them, and soon your ceremony is glimmering with soft, warm light.
4. A silver tray from a car boot sale, with white pillar and votive candles nestled on a bed of rose petals makes a great (and less expensive) centrepiece.
5. Bold colour combinations work well in simple, modern spaces. You can tailor your presentation by wrapping simple glass or plastic vases with ribbon to match your colours. All you need is a roll of ribbon, a pair of scissors, and a can of spray adhesive from the craft shop.
6. A very colourful or beautifully textured fabric can transform a room. If you have ten or twenty tables all decked out with a bright colour or a beautiful fabric, there is a dramatic effect across the entire room. Keep in mind that you don’t need the most expensive fabrics to make a visual statement – bold colours or ethereal patterns on simple organza overlays may be all you need.
 7. Transform a white tablecloth by using a bold and patterned wallpaper to make a creative table runner.
8. Create an ‘art station’ for your guest book. Have an instant camera on hand, along with glue, markers and other fun components, and encourage your guests to write a poem, take a photo or just ‘be creative’.
9. Name each table after a flower with centrepieces to match. Have small bundles of each table’s flowers in mini pots, hand-written in ink with the guest’s names and the names of their tables.
10. Consider having a special menu printed for your wedding. Many restaurants and hotels print their menus daily or seasonally on their own computers and can customise yours with a special heading of your choice. Consider printing or lettering the menus with your guest’s name to create a unique place card and memento.
11. If you are exchanging vows in a nonreligious space such as a garden, beach or park, look for the best place to have your ceremony – in front of a fireplace, between beautiful windows or in the centre of a flowering garden. Think about symmetry if you want to create a traditional aisle arrangement (mark your beach aisle with two rows of pretty shells or stones), or look for possibilities of doing the ceremony in the round, placing your huppah (marriage canopy) or gazebo in the middle of an open space.
12. Make a simple but effective name card by printing names onto card from your computer at home and detailing with a pressed paper flower bought from a local stationery store.
 13. Rather than putting candles on the tables, hand write coloured votive candle holders with each guests name and table number. Arrange alphabetically for guests to collect. 100 guests walking to their tables with flickering lights is quite a sight!
14. Limiting the number of types of flowers in your centrepieces is both elegant and economical. A small posy makes a dramatic and colourful statement. When you feature unusual flowers and strong shapes, just two or three blossoms are enough, especially when the form is repeated
 | Simple Stunning Weddings by Karen Bussen, photographs by Ellen Silverman, published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang (RRP: £16.95) |
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