You know you want an elegant wedding but what should you choose to make your wedding elegant? Elegant weddings are about timeless, refined luxury. Nothing is overdone, this is about tasteful, classic style. Think Princess Kate and Grace Kelly’s iconic weddings and you have the aesthetic right. So how to achieve?
From how to choose an elegant wedding venue to elegant wedding dresses and decor, let’s explore what to choose for an elegant wedding so you can plan your elegant wedding with confidence.
What is an elegant wedding?
So what’s the overall look that you’re trying to achieve? An elegant wedding is pared-back and refined with a focus on quality. It’s a classic, thoughtful and restrained approach to style that’s timeless. Elegant choices focus on quality materials, excellent craftsmanship and a gentle colour palette.
Rather than following trends or the temptation to add more, elegant choices look for quality then let the quality of each item shine through.
In this way, you end up with superb tailoring that delivers a flattering silhouette, beautiful colourways that complement any look and slick, well-designed items that are high-performing and look good.
The overall look is sleek, smart and appealing and that’s why elegant choices always look stylish.
What to choose for an elegant wedding
So for every element of your elegant wedding, choose refined wedding details that are well-made and incorporate a gentle colour scheme. Resist the urge to add more or over-embellish, always letting the beauty of each item shine through.
With those principles in mind for every choice, you can give your wedding an elegant, sophisticated aesthetic.
Let’s explore what that looks like in more detail, for each element of your wedding. From elegant wedding dresses to flowers and decor, here’s all you need to know.
Let’s explore elegant wedding:
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decor
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venues
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wedding dresses
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groom and guest attire
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flowers
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cake
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hair
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invitations
1. Decor: Elegant decor should be uncomplicated yet stunning. Choose the finest decor then let the craftsmanship shine through. Resist the urge to over-style or over-embellish. Keep decor refined, minimal and beautiful. Use clean lines, a monochrome palette of whites, creams and blacks, fine-quality decor and finish with luxurious materials like silk, velvet and satin.
For interest add pops of colour using natural materials, green foliage, metallics and gentle pastels or deep blue, green or burgundy hues.
Beautiful lighting, floral arrangements, candles, furniture and table decor will complete the look perfectly. Use your tables to create a stunning focal point with long straight or curvaceous banquet-style table arrangements.
Decorate your tables with simple but beautiful tablecloths in neutral colours then use your plates and flowers to make the setting pop. Arrange flowers and candles all the way along the middle of the table then finish with beautifully decorated plates and fine-quality classes.
Your elegant wedding venue will provide the perfect backdrop to beautiful decor, allowing your decorations to complement the venue’s beautiful architectural features, creating an overall look that’s stunning.
2. Venues: Your elegant wedding venue will be a naturally beautiful building with exquisite architectural features, a polished look and plenty of space. Stately homes, Georgian manor houses, luxury hotels and other smart venues are perfect.
You’re looking for smart, luxurious buildings with beautiful proportions, symmetry and timeless style. These types of wedding venues will reward you with gorgeous grounds, statement chandeliers, pretty plasterwork that impresses and floor to ceiling windows that deliver lots of light and beautiful views.
This is the standard for luxury wedding venues so you can find a lot of different types of wedding venues that meet this criteria.
This includes luxury barn wedding venues where beautiful converted barns have been restored and refurbished to an extremely high standard and national and local tourist attractions, so there’s an elegant wedding venue for every taste. Find inspiration in Coco weddings’ curated list or for the US, Loverly’s multi-state collection.
4. Wedding Dresses: Elegant wedding dresses are classic designs with effortless beauty. Tailored wedding dresses with flattering sleek silhouettes, pretty veils and trains guarantee you’ll look stunning. Made in luxurious materials, timeless details such as silk-covered buttons and lace complete the look.
Elegant wedding dresses are iconic. Look to the legendary wedding dresses of Grace Kelly and Princess Kate and you have perfect examples of elegant wedding dresses that have inspired countless brides.
The epitome of a classic wedding dress, endless inspo can be found in the fairytale wedding dresses of Vera Wang.
Let your wedding dress do the talking and accessorise with beautiful heels and simple yet pretty jewellery that complements your gown.
5. Groom and Groomsmen: Your groom and groomsmen will be in well-tailored, classic suits. How you execute that is up to you. You can have the groom and groomsmen in black tuxedos or go for navy or even a cream jacket for the groom.
Alternatively, you might want to switch things up with a velvet jacket. The overall aesthetic needs to be smart, neat and polished. Find inspiration from Dobell or Oliver Brown’s collections.
6. Wedding Guests: This polished, smart look is known as black tie. To let wedding guests know what to wear, you can add a dress code to your wedding invitations so guests are clear about the tone of your wedding and don’t have to stress about what to wear.
A black tie dress code means dress smart in formal, classic clothing with a polished finish. For women that means smart, glam dresses or suits and for men that means suits. Finish the look with heels for women and smart shoes for men.
7. Flowers: Elegant florals are timeless flower choices in beautiful arrangements that highlight the natural beauty of the flowers and are not overdone.
Monochrome white and cream florals with pops of deep green foliage are popular or you can go for gentle pastels and cream. Get inspo from The Knot’s collection of white monochrome florals or take a look at options for pastels at Seventh Heaven.
8. Wedding Cake: Elegant wedding cakes are beautiful designs free from too many embellishments. As long as you keep the decorations pared back, there are endless options.
The cake should take centre stage rather than over the top decorations or splashy numbers of layers. Monochrome white or cream wedding cakes are popular, find plenty of inspo at Deluce Cakes.
8. Hair: Elegant wedding hair is polished and sleek. Most popular options are a classic chignon or a slick loose style finishing in curls. Find endless ways to style your chignon at Hitched or or hair left loose at Brides.
9. Invitations: Elegant wedding invitations are timeless and exquisite. Look for beautiful designs with plenty of white space and classic motifs that will still look special in years to come. Take a look at our gorgeous, elegant wedding stationery and kickstart your wedding planning.
Charlotte is a luxury wedding stationer who has worked in the wedding industry for over 10 years, starting out as a wedding copywriter. See her elegant designs at DesignByLyft
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