Holiday Wedding At Home
Wayne Gurnick AIFD designed this holiday wedding for DIY Weddings® Magazine to inspire couples. The holiday season brings warmth and closeness with family and friends and the home is an ideal place for a romantic and magical wedding.
Wayne's vision included rich reds set against pure white and lavish accents and details offering a feast for the eyes throughout the night. The styling and floral design incorporated the old-world character of the home.
A family home is a statement of personality and style. Unlike a hotel ballroom, it is not a blank canvas. When planning a wedding at home, my challenge is to create moments of design and entertainment that enhance and elaborate the spirit of the home. This is one of my favorite challenges!
I set out to create a romantic wedding reception, the kind of evening that the guests would always remember because of the rich details that only exist for one night. Because most wedding guests had been at this home before and would return many times again, I like to surprise them with elements that take familiar objects and transform them through the use of flowers, lighting, linens and food.
I love weddings at home because the home itself becomes part of the design – the light fixtures, the furniture, the architectural elements of the structure – they all participate in the transformation.
My definition of romantic is a state of being where you feel elevated, special, refined and pampered. Every item becomes significant, every fold of fabric and placement of flowers is meant to intrigue and please.
With a color scheme of red and white it is exciting to mix different shades and tones. The color tones help to achieve visual texture and interest. In this design process, it is important to think in terms of color and texture and that is how I end up combining roses with apples and red peppers – whatever it takes to create an interesting glimpse and an unexpected touch.
