Clients and yes, even other Wedding Planners, often ask me where my design inspiration comes from and how we go from an inspiration board to a wedding wow. The answer for me comes in many forms – magazines, books, signage, architecture, trends, or even history… but my most favourite comes from geography and never is this more true than on a destination wedding.
What clients rarely get to see is the design concepts and creation behind the scenes in their wedding planning process. To say it’s a lot of work is an understatement. On a destination wedding decor can mean hiring a customs broker to barter your goods across borders or creating from scratch onsite using local inspiration, ideas and props.
Mara & Adrian wed in Negril, Jamaica with Destination Wedding Planner, Crystal Adair-Benning
Here’s an example – Mara & Adrian’s wedding in Negril, Jamaica – a beautiful affair with a Jamaican vibe. The couple wanted authentic Jamaican atmosphere and truly let me go to town with my vision for their celebration incorporating local flora and fauna. What this really means behind the scenes tho is a lot of local sourcing of product and a lot of trust on behalf of the client.
In Negril, Jamaica this also made for some funny antedotes with me designing some beautiful wooden charger plates for the couples reception. I had wanted them to be from a local Jamaican tree, something strong, sturdy and with good rings inside of it. The tree was to be cut into chargers, the chargers oiled using vegetable oil instead of lacquer and then post-wedding to be resold to a local vendor for carving or reused for other clients weddings. The first time I saw the chargers completed was the morning of the wedding and my friends, they weren’t pretty – 1.5″ thick and big as heck these monsters literally took over a table! So, what’d we do? Get out the saw of course and start cutting and oiling them away on the wedding day. Four hours later and literally 45 minutes before the couple walked down the aisle – voila! – we had 33 beautiful guongo tree charger plates perfectly positioned on the tables.
It’s not always about cutting saws tho (altho that seems to be a trend with me!). At the same wedding we also decided to incorporate local coconuts and ginger lily in the centrepieces but the local coconut cutter didn’t quite understand my desire for 15 coconuts all chopped with NO coconut water. I believe he seriously thought I was crazy! Anyhow, wedding day they all arrive cut but not opened up so voila out comes a knife and away I start chopping creating holes for my flowers. It’s 30 minutes to ceremony – I’m covered in coconut water, wildly refreshed from all the excess coconut water I’ve been sipping to get rid of it all and happy as a clam that while it may be later than planned it looks fantastic!
Custom guongo tree charger plates, fresh coconut vases and wild ginger created this boho-chic wedding look.
Creating & designing weddings onsite for an offsite destination isn’t for the weak of heart. Planners and decorators deal with issues arising from bad local product to mismatched linens or even language barrier issues (ex. hurricane lamp in Jamaica is actually called a lamp shade – oh my!). Vendors have to be patient, clients have to relax and enjoy and ALWAYS someone who’s in charge needs to take charge to ensure from concept to creation… it’s perfect!
Happy Planning,
Crystal Adair-Benning
by Crystal Adair-Benning
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