The Secret of Consistency: Wedding Design Details

The magic is always in the details. No matter where you look, the consistency that details create brings a sense of peace and equilibrium to anything and everything. I have an eye for detail, which is why I chose to be a designer I believe. It is a blessing and a curse at the same time because once you see an imperfection, you cannot unsee it.

I was once waiting at the doctor’s office, a fancy space decorated by what seemed to be a high-end professional stylist, until I sat down in the waiting room, facing a gigantic paint à l'huile that must have been as expensive as a new brand car. Signed by the artist, the piece was centered on a wall that seemed to be custom-made to hold perfectly the piece, like in an art gallery. But the quintessence feeling lasted as long as it took me to sit down on an Eames chair facing it. The painting was skewed!* I could not focus on anything else but the crooked painting! I was waiting for an oncologist, the finest in his area, for a long-awaited assessment. But the painting became the center of my attention. I forgot what I was there for. I could only see that skewed detail.

When I am commissioned with any work, I start by asking questions, too many perhaps, that have to do with everything and nothing. From the couple’s taste in food, wine, music, and colors, to their architectural and travel preferences. The secret to capturing their heart and pouring it into an invitation that will tell their very own story lies in the details and the consistency in how you make them work in unison to recreate their unique vision. Sounds éculé, tacky, you may think but, imagine for a second how your likes converge in your taste and, if I were to hand pick them from your head, I could write your story on a fragment of finest cardstock. Kind of what social media does every time you even think about something! Have you found yourself asking if you said it out loud or were just thinking about it? I was going to say “puzzling”, right? But there is a techier and much more convoluted explanation that we don’t need to get into now.

Photo: Anna Sorhegui

The keyword is consistency. To have consistency, we need to focus on the details. When I design an invitation, I try to incorporate all the possible elements that will tell something about the couple's love story, the venue they picked, the time, and the ceremony. For example, if the backdrop of the cake has wallpaper, I evaluate where to incorporate the pattern, like a small detail that, when you are at the celebration, will bring you back to the invitation and that, when you see that invitation in the future, will bring you back to the wedding itself. A perfect circle.

As I always say, an invitation is a memento and therefore it becomes a keepsake of memories that you will experience at some point but haven’t yet. The secret about details and consistency is to keep them “concealed” until the event so the guests awe themselves by uncovering the little clues hidden in plain sight. You might have heard about silent luxury before if you are here. It is a recurrent theme. This is what silent luxury is about, details that tell a story by connoting, not denoting.

I came to the conclusion that maybe the magnificent painting did focus on details after all, and was skewed for a reason, to shift the attention from the reason that brought one to that exquisite waiting room, to a colloquial brain response that would keep you weirdly entertained while waiting. A bit torturous in my opinion though. Or so I chose to believe since I cannot fathom that they didn’t see it. The curse turned back into a blessing, in every way.

* Fun fact: look up the word "askew" in Google Search. Look at the whole screen Do you see it? The screen is askewed!!! The perfection of details. Kudos to the amazing brains at @google!

If you want to read a bit more about the details of this invitation, you can head to this project for more data and pics.

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