what happens when a wedding designer plans her own wedding?

So we just posted the wedding pictures of Allyson and David over on our Real CC Bride Blog {Click here to read their love story} and we left out the detail shots because we wanted to give you a whole post on this cozy and intimate wedding. Allyson is a wedding coordinator and designer at Essential Details so she had all the wedding planning goodies and knowledge at her fingertips. The couple could have chosen to go ALL OUT in a big way but they opted for a beautiful, warm, cozy wedding at the Livery in Lexington. With attention to detail, and the hint of copper {our new favorite wedding metal} this wedding was our type of perfection. We spoke with Allyson and asked her to tell us a little about her inspiration as well as some tips as a Wedding Coordinator, here is what she had to say!

What was the feel you were trying to capture in the space? It looked warm + cozy + personal + we loved it! David and I wanted our wedding venue to feel welcoming. We truly wanted people to walk in, take notice of the details, and notice the personal touches and thought that was put into everything. The Livery could not have matched our style any better, so we truly just focused on enhancing the already existing beauty of that space with our personal spin on it. We hoped it would be inviting, personal, and thoughtful, but most of all an unforgettable experience and a celebration with those people we love the most!

What was your color theme and how did you decide on it? We decided not to have a color theme but instead a certain feel for the wedding. We wanted to play around with different fall / rich tones in order to create a warm and inviting space. We didn’t feel our wedding was a black tie affair and had a more casual feel so the mismatch vibe fit. We picked a neutral (gray) and a metal (copper) and decided the only color would be in the flowers. Since we included many different colors and tones in the flowers, the neutrals like gray and copper helped us create the vintage / mismatch vibe we were going for without looking chaotic. We wanted the ceremony to be gray and copper with all greenery. The bouquets were full of color. The reception mixed all elements of gray, copper and rich colors in the centerpieces. We looked at the existing beauty and vintage/ mismatched elements of our venue as inspiration! We picked this venue for a reason so we took full advantage of their exposed brick, concrete floors, iron elements, hardwood and existing art by making sure the décor we brought in would mix perfectly with that!

Any advice on designing a ceremony/reception space that is unique + personal to the couple? As a wedding coordinator, I see a lot! One thing that was very important when choosing the design of our wedding was to make it different and unique from what I had seen before and make it personal to our style and our relationship. Be sure to include a style that reflects you as a couple. Add elements that are unique to your love story. Be thoughtful when deciding on each element of your wedding to see if there is a way you can relate it back to both of you. Maybe it’s a color, a saying, a location, a date, a season, a food, an heirloom, photographs, a favorite drink, or even a song … find inspiration in everything in your relationship and see if there is a way you can include that in your wedding. David and I met in Lexington and decided to bring our family and friends back there for our wedding. He is from Cincinnati and I am from Louisville where we currently live, so we wanted to show our guests our favorite things in Lexington and why that city means a lot to both of us. We also included elements from Louisville and Cincinnati since we were long distance for a year and a half and those cities played a huge part in our relationship as well. From our welcome bags, guest book, even down to our drink selection, you could see personalized elements everyone recognized from all three of those cities. We decided to have our rehearsal dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date, which made it even more special. We even served a “specialty beer” at the wedding and decided to toast with what was served at Pint Night on the night we first met. We wanted our guests to get to know our story and know we are excited they are now a part of the next chapter!