Make It So
Expert advice on how to personalize your wedding day

By Maureen Sullivan.

Photos by Freeland Photography.

Amy Kirkland says that when brides order invitations from her, she often hears them say they don’t want anything remotely wedding-ish. "It's, 'I want modern, I want color, I don’t want it to look like a typical wedding invitation,'" says Kirkland, owner of AJK Papery, a Leawood design firm that custom-creates invitations. What Kirkland sees in invitations—a veering away from anything considered “typical wedding”—is indicative of a trend that covers most aspects of wedding planning these days: Brides don’t want anything wedding-ish because they want their ceremony and reception to be completely unlike any other that’s ever taken (or will take) place. Originality is key; personalization is paramount.

With the quest for having a wedding that expresses the couple’s personality at the forefront of most every bride’s mind, KC Weddings set out to find the best ways to personalize your day.

Carry through a thread
If "motif" is a word you haven’t heard since your high school English class, get familiar with the term. Experts say the best way to really personalize your wedding is to take such a unifying thread—a symbol like a leaf, flower or even a monogram—and use it in every aspect of your wedding.

"You want something that carries throughout, whether it's a monogram or a design element (like a snowflake) or even a color," says Mandy Phalen, owner of Event Studio wedding and event planning in Leawood and Dallas. "As long as it's carried throughout, that’s a really great way to make it more your wedding."

Color is a natural unifier since it can be used to tie together so many elements of a wedding. That's what bride Meghan Huslig, who used hues of pink throughout her recent wedding at the Hawthorne House in Parkville, found. "It's been my favorite color ever since I was a little girl, so I knew I wanted it to be my wedding color," she says—a good choice for personalizing because the color was so representative of her. Meghan's bridesmaid dresses were in the rich, almost fuchsia hue, as were her bouquet and centerpieces. And the color was cleverly picked up in the smallest of places, including the boutonnieres, the flower girl's sash and decorative flowers for the ceremony seating—so that there was no mistaking the motif of the wedding.

To read the rest of this feature story, with more expert ideas on how to make your wedding truly your own, pick up the current issue of KC Weddings on the newsstand or register to have a free issue and bridal kit sent to you click here.