A wedding’s style isn’t just about aesthetics. Floral and event designer Steph Jordan makes sure that every design detail and flower arrangement beautifully reflects the couple.
Steph is the owner and Director of Nunu Designs, award winning wedding florists passionate about making your event even better than how you imagined.
In this chat we discuss:
- The difference between a wedding stylist and wedding florist
- Hiring the right wedding stylist and florist
- How to start the styling process
- Bringing style and floral ideas to life
- Budgeting for styling
- Deciding the final look
- Personalising a wedding’s style
- Streamlining the styling process
Arguably, one of the most critical parts of a wedding is its look. Whether you’ve been thinking about what your dream wedding would look like since you were a kid, saved design inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram, or haven’t got a clue about flower pairings, a professional stylist and florist will help you bring your ideas to life.
It’s integral to build trust and a rapport with your vendor. Ultimately, it’s a collaboration between you and them.
Meeting with the stylist, whether face-to-face or online, allows you to explain your thoughts in detail to help them make the best design decisions on your behalf. They can help you stay within your budget while maintaining the wow factor and personalisation of your wedding.
Links & Vendors Mentioned:
Find Nunu Designs:
On Polka Dot Wedding: Nunu Designs
On Facebook: Nunu Designs
On Instagram: @nunuau
On Pinterest: @nunudesignsa
Find Steph Jordan:
On LinkedIn: Stephanie Jordan
Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:
On Instagram: @polkadotwedding
On the website: polkadotwedding.com
This podcast was produced by Polka Dot Wedding
The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.
Episode Transcript
Dorothy (Ms Polka Dot): You’re listening to the Feel Good Wedding Podcast, a podcast by Polka Dot Wedding.
My name is Dorothy and I am the founder and editor of Polka Dot Wedding, and I have been writing about weddings for over 16 years. In fact, I love them. I love everything about a wedding, but I know that a wedding is beyond the pretty. I know that so much goes into every single one of those details that are chosen. The tips and tricks behind it, the couple’s stories and the vendor that brings it all to life, and so The Feel Good Wedding Podcast was born because we thought these are stories and conversations that we want to have.
We’re really looking forward to having them with you as our listener. Can’t wait to show you what we have in store.
The Polka Dot Wedding Team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWurrung, Eora, and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodians of the land and we pay our respects to Elder’s past and present.
Welcome back to another episode of The Feel Good Wedding Podcast. Today we are chatting everyone’s favourite wedding topic or not so favourite wedding topic. If you are scrolling endlessly on Pinterest and Instagram and never able to find what you’re looking for. Today we are talking wedding styling and florals with a very special polka dot guest and of course our host today is the lovely Miss Rose, otherwise known as Mary. Now, Mary, tell us a little bit about this wonderful guest that we know and love.
Mary (Ms Rose): Hi there, Miss Polka, and of course, our Dotties. In this episode, I was lucky enough to speak with the lovely Steph from NuNu Designs. Steph owns and runs NuNu Designs, which is an amazing team of floral and event stylists, but we chatted about what it is a floral and event stylist does, how to start the styling process is a good one to figure out. How they work with couples to make sure that their wedding reflects, exactly who they are. We really dived into connecting with your wedding vendors and it came to the consensus that this really truly is such an important part of choosing your vendors.
Dorothy: I cannot wait to listen to all of Steph’s wonderful tips so let’s dive right on in.
Mary (Ms Rose): Let’s go. Welcome to another episode of the Feel Good Weddings Podcast. It’s Ms Rose or Mary here with you today and I’m joined by the lovely Steph who started NuNu Designs in 2016. She has not looked back. NuNu Designs are a team of floral and event designers, based in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney in New South Wales, and they offer a range of services such as floral design, event styling, visual merchandising, pop-up weddings, event setup and pack down, and just general party hire. Steph is chatting with us today about all things wedding and floral styling. Thanks for being here with me today, Steph.
Steph: Thanks so much for having me. I’m so excited.
Mary (Ms Rose): Oh, it is so great to have you. Now look, tell us all about yourself and Nunu Designs.
Steph : Okay, yes. So I’m Steph and I started as a one-woman show back in 2016, as you said, 2016 is when I went full time. I started in around 2014 just doing on the weekends and working around my full time job, which was a visual merchandiser. I worked in my little unit garage, which no longer fitted a car in it because I had all my stuff and many neighbours that were very interested in what I was actually doing in that garage, but I soon outgrew that and decided to go full time. I started out with just florals and styling, but I still do visual merchandising as well. I’m a ‘can’t say no’ person. I just have my little feet in them and hands in many different little things. I think being creative, you’re always inspired by things so you don’t want to limit yourself. Now we’re based in the Sutherland Shire, but we travel all over New South Wales. I’ve got a beautiful team that work with me. It doesn’t really feel like work, so I’m very lucky. During the beautiful COVID period, we moved into a big warehouse in Miranda. Lots and lots of extra room to get, nice and creative.
Mary (Ms Rose): Amazing. What inspired you to get into this work, within the wedding industry?
Steph: I’ve always done something creative. With visual merchandising, I was always drawn to designing windows and install designs and things like that, but I had a lot of friends that were getting married themselves. I always just looked at their flowers and just thought, “Oh gosh, I love that” or “I don’t like that.” I thought, “You know what, maybe as a little hobby, I should just go and do a couple of courses and just for something to do actually because I always like to keep busy.” And then found that I loved it. So I just kept going and doing more and more courses and started doing a few friends events. Then next thing I know I’ve got a new job.
Mary (Ms Rose): Was it weddings in particular that made you go like you were wanting to do the floral designing, but what was it about the weddings that made you go, do you know this is an industry that I could really put my mark on in terms of designs and styling and floral styling? What was it about weddings in particular?
Steph: I think for me, I’m a real people person as well, so I love the element of working with people. I love to make people happy. Majority of people are pretty happy at a wedding. I just think, especially after I did my first wedding, it was for my best friend and she was just, oh, just the joy that you bring people. I love that. I’m a bit obsessed with that. I thought I just kept going, and then also I think a lot of weddings and every venue is different. Every couple’s different. Every theme is different. So not one wedding is ever the same. I try and make them all different as well, just so that everyone has their unique day. That just really was right up my alley. Yes, I think that’s what appeals to me. I love doing different designs. Whether it’s in a beautiful garden and I can do a huge garden arch or a venue with really good beams, which is my, a big tick of approval for me so I can hang things off them.
Mary (Ms Rose): When you walk into a venue, you’re like, thank you.
Steph: The beams, I love you. Yeah, just things where I can just use my mind and just go wild.
Mary (Ms Rose): Yeah. Get you creative, set off creativity there and you’re right. Every couple is obviously different and that’s the beautiful thing. You’re not stuck doing the same thing constantly because you have different people with different briefs. So that’s right. Every day is different.
Steph: Every day is completely different. Yeah, I love it. Every season, every market run is different. You walk into the market and it looks completely different to the day before.
Mary (Ms Rose): Which is exciting.
Steph: Yeah, exactly. It’s good.
Mary (Ms Rose): What is it that you particularly love about flowers and floral design in particular?
Steph: I think the shapes. Every flower has its own shape and even some of the roses we get, it could be from the same bunch and they’re all five different colours. You think, hang on a minute, this was the same pink that I ordered, but yeah, just everything’s different and it’s mother nature, so it’s not. You can’t predict anything. You also have to be a little bit of a floral magician, which challenges you, which I love.
Mary (Ms Rose): Add that to your resume.
Steph: Yeah, a magician. I’m also a great Tetris van packer because we have to somehow fit a whole warehouse into one van. I think mostly just all the different designs that you can come up with. Even if you try and do the same design, exactly the same, it’s not going to work out that way because every stem’s different, every petal is different, every variety is different. I love the challenge of that. The smell, the smell of flowers, although I’m a bit immune to it now. People will walk into the warehouse and think, “Oh gosh, it smells so beautiful in here.” And I think, “Oh, I can’t smell anything.”
Mary (Ms Rose): Really? Oh, that’s nice!
Steph: Oh, yeah. I think that’s why I love it. You’re creating something that is. It’s natural, like how, sometimes I’ll create something, I think like, “How is this grown in the ground? It’s so beautiful.” It blows my mind every day. That’s definitely why love the flowers. Lots of people have connections with flowers too or its memory, like a lot of people will say, “Oh, can we have hydrangeas because they remind me of a plant in my grandma’s garden growing up?” Things like that, and that’s so lovely to have that representation as well.
Mary (Ms Rose): Do you have many couples who do have that connection with flowers? Like a particular, “Oh, I need to have this one.” Does that happen quite often or is it just more, they’re like, “Look, I saw this, or I liked this colouring and that’s what I want.” Or is there a bit more emotion behind it?
Steph: I would say it’s 50-50. A lot of people come to me and then they apologise because they know nothing about flowers and I say, “No, That’s totally fine. That’s why I’m here.” Not to know every single name of every flower. Half would be like that and the other half are probably, they’ve seen a lot of Pinterest pictures or Instagram photos and they know they have their inspo shots with what they like or what they don’t like, which is what I like as well. If you give me the, you can not know any flowers, but if you know what you don’t like, I like to know that as well. It’s just as important.
Mary (Ms Rose): Do you think that if a couple is coming to you, even just from their first briefing, is it a good idea to have things like a Pinterest board or a mood board around it or is it just nice to be like, these are the ideas I had, but be a bit more open and fluid to chatting about the process and what they want it to look like or do you prefer them to have a little bit more kind of structure around what they are looking for, for their wedding?
Steph: I think for me, it definitely comes down to each individual person. Some people feel really comfortable being in control. They don’t like someone coming in and saying, “Yeah.” Which I totally understand. I just will treat them a little bit differently to someone that doesn’t know what they want and they just know what bride’s maid dress colours they have or groomsmen suits that they have or the colour of the carpet of the venue or things like that. They need a bit of guidance with what colour themes may work in that specific space, which I love that too. Like I love if someone came to me and they said, “Look, I don’t know anything about flowers. I’m a little bit lost. I trust you. I love your work.” I will just run with that and also it’s a very good big compliment because if someone’s chosen you because of your work that they’ve seen before and they have that trust in you, you’re going to create something amazing. Equally, if someone comes to me, it’s always good just to have a couple of photos saying like, I love like this shape or I like this amount of coverage or things like that, then I’m happy to work with that as well. It also helps with quoting because flowers can range hugely in cost. I then can get a bit of a gauge with their expectation of how floral heavy an event would like to be. So that definitely helps in the quoting budgeting process.
Mary (Ms Rose): Absolutely. Forgive me. What does a wedding stylist do, like actually do as opposed to a wedding florist? If that makes sense.
Steph: Totally makes sense. Basically a wedding florist will, generally a lot of the time, just work purely with the florals. There may be a stylist on board as well or there may not be. The venue may pop out things as well, but for us, we offer the whole package of wedding florist and stylist so that we can help with signage and so we can help with place cards, menus, welcome signs, seating charts, table numbers, everything like that. We can work with all the table styling as well. So all candles and table runners and anything else that may be needed on the table so that it’s all in one design, which I find that a lot easier to work with so I know exactly what’s going where in regards to florals and styling. We can have a bit more of control over the whole overall look. That’s where we love best to work.
Mary (Ms Rose): Okay, yeah, so when it comes to hiring a wedding stylist or florist, like what should we look for? What should a couple look for to know that it’s going to be someone who’s maybe along the lines of their vision for what they want for the wedding day?
Steph: I think looking at their previous work is probably the best way to start and that it’s something that you like. There’s no point hiring a stylist or a florist that is doing designs that are completely not what you like. So they may, just for an example, they might not do a lot of work with native flowers and foliage and they’re more working with other florals, but you want a predominantly native wedding. It’s probably best to go with a florist that does that style all the time and is really comfortable with it because it’s like art. Some people like some types of paintings and other people might not like that artwork, but it’s everyone’s opinion. There’s a stylist and florist for everybody. I think making sure that their work is something that you like is definitely number one on the list. Two, that they’re also definitely a good bonus, doesn’t always have to be because we always work at new venues, but if they’ve worked at the venue that you’re getting married at, they will know the space and they’ll know the bump in and bump out procedures, which makes things a lot easier sometimes, especially if there’s tight turnarounds. Also if you get to know the person. If you have a chat with them and you feel like you click, then you’re going to get a better result in the end and you’re going to feel more comfortable and confident that they’re going to produce the work that you’re paying them to do. You may not click with them, and that’s totally okay as well, but I feel like to enjoy the whole process and the journey, you do want to get along with them and click personality wise, as well as work wise.
Mary (Ms Rose): It’s more fun. Isn’t it? It makes it just you’re there having a friend work with you on your wedding day like that. If you can click and vibe and enjoy each other’s company, that just makes the whole process even more fun for everyone.
Steph: So much nicer and it should be fun. Like this is such a fun, beautiful day. There’s already so much stress around it that if you can have fun and really likeable vendors, then it’s just going to make your day even better, especially on the day when you’re feeling maybe a little nervous. I love going in and dropping off the bouquets and giving them a big cuddle and dropping off the button holes and you can see people sweating. I love just making them feel more comfortable because I know they’re going to have a great day. At the end of the day, it’s just such a fun party and event that they’re going to have a good day regardless. So yeah, have some fun along the way.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s it. In terms of clicking with any vendor, with your stylist, with your florist and that sort of thing, I’m sure most suggest having intro one-on-one chat to find out about the day, about the vendor and to see if you click. Is that something you definitely recommend for couples to do with any vendor is to kind of book in that initial consult to, to get to know each other and to get to know what type of wedding the couple want to have and what type of work the vendor does?
Steph: Definitely. And I think so, like for me personally, it is really important these days. It used to be before COVID, used to always meet them one-on-one, but now with Zoom and FaceTime and things, I don’t always meet the couple one-on-one because we’re so used to meeting online. I feel like it’s really important for me as well to meet my clients because if I get their personality and I feel like I know them or I will know, I do know them by the time their wedding day comes along. If I have to make any decisions on their behalf, I don’t want to bother them on their day. I don’t need to bother them on the day, but I know confidently what they would choose and what they would want me to do, then I can just make it for them. Then the day runs so smoothly. There’s no hiccups. That’s why you do meet your vendors and make sure they’re good vendors so that they can be making those decisions on the day so that you can just sit back and relax and get ready.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s such a good point. It is such a good point because if you trust your vendors and trust that they know your vision and that you’ve spoken to them and you’ve totally on the same page. That’s just one less thing that you’ll have to do on the day if there are any last minute things that go down, which ultimately there generally are.
Steph: A good example was on the weekend we had a wedding and it was a beautiful, sunny day, but there was a lot of wind. It was so windy and I knew that this couple had a vision for the ceremony and there is no way I could’ve done it in the wind. It would just not have looked how that they would’ve wanted it to look. I couldn’t have, I would’ve had to substitute some of the designs. Things would’ve fallen over and it just wasn’t going to be how they wanted. So I said, “No, it’s going to have to be inside. It’s still going to be beautiful and I’m going to just make it amazing.” I went and spoke with the bride and she was just like, “you’re the expert. I trust you. You know what I want it to look like. I’ll just do whatever you think.” So I went back and I’m with the ceremony…. it looked amazing. The photographs are beautiful. I’ve already seen some preview shots and it was perfect. She went and had her photos outside afterwards and they are amazing as well. She sent me a message the next day just saying, “Wow, I can’t believe what it looked like. Thank you so much. I just had so much trust in you and there was no way that any of the vendors could have pulled off the ceremony outside.” She just trusted me so much that she just knew that that’s just what we’re going to have to do, and it was perfect. It was inside. Everyone was comfortable and it just looked amazing. She’s very very happy. That’s why you trust your vendors because they do this every day. Many many weddings a week so we see everything.
Mary (Ms Rose): You know what you’re working with and you know what’s going to work or what’s not. You do it every day pretty much and building that rapport with couples so that they can go, “yep, go for it. Do it. Go for it.”
Steph: Obviously, no one wants to a 100% do plan B, but it was the absolute best option on the day. It just paid off like far out there. Shots look so good. I got the preview on the Sunday and went, “Oh my gosh, you guys will love it. You guys will absolutely love this.”
Mary (Ms Rose): What does the process look like when you’re working with a wedding stylist or florist? How do they help with wedding plans and bringing the whole vision to life? Yes, creating the styling and the flowers for the day, but how can you help with the wedding plans in the lead up to the day and bringing it to fruition?
Steph: Basically from when the couple contact me, I just get a basic or a rough kind of idea of the day and the things that they’re after. Basically so we can get together a bit of a quote so that they know a bit of a budget as well and they can put that into their overall planning. I do put together a mood board but it’s very rough because a lot of the time plans change. I’ll just maybe pop a few photos that they’ve sent me in and then a couple that I think will suit as well. Then we just keep that communication line open if they see anything else they like. In regards to the rest of the day, I generally ask them if they need any advice with anything. I say, “We see everything, we see it all.” We can give them any advice they need, whether it’s timelines for the day or when they should do speeches or how many speeches at each point. I don’t necessarily put together a whole timeline for them for the night, but I do definitely do give them advice. Then probably about 6 months before the day, we have another catch up and we finalise, okay, what are your numbers looking like? What are your tables’ shapes looking like? Certain venues just are always the same. We don’t need to go into too much detail because we already know it, but whether they’re thinking of round tables or rectangle tables and how many people they’ve got and where the dance, how they want the dance floor to look and we’ve seen a lot of different layouts so we help them work on the flow of how that. The vibe might be on the night for that, whether they want a lounge area and things like that. We look at furniture if they need any furniture as well, and we book all that in so that’s all locked in. Then we talk more about style because by then they’ve probably seen more photos that they like.
Mary (Ms Rose): I’ve done a bit more research now.
Steph: Possibly have completely changed their mind and want to go bright colours rather than white colours, which is totally fine with me. Then we get into the nitty gritty about four months, 3 to 4 months out when we’re getting all the rest of their vendors. We can also contact them and know who they are and a lot of, as well, you tend to work with a lot of the same vendors, especially the wedding industry is pretty small. You do know a lot of people. I like to get excited as well about knowing who I’m working with on the day because you’re there for so many hours. It’s pretty fun. That’s how we do it. Then we touch base with a lot of them and the venue and make sure that bump in times, bump out times are all set and loading docks and all those little bits and pieces that we need to do. Then we touch base and make sure that we’re prepared, that we’re dropping off bouquets and buttonholes before the photographer and we’re not holding anyone up and making sure the timelines align for the day.
Mary (Ms Rose): You mentioned before about, I think this is a bit of a tricky one, isn’t it? You mentioned before about budget. I think is there’s no sort of hard or fast answer. How do you begin to set a budget for flowers and styling? I’m sorry, you can tell I’m saying that sort of quite like, “Oh.” Preemptively because I know it can be, it’s so hard to say, this is exactly what you do, but I think for couples, that’s one of the first things I need to think about. It’s really hard to know what a budget for flowers and styling looks like.
Steph: Definitely. I think flowers, a lot of the time, surprise people with the cost of them because especially after COVID, they’ve gone up so much and so it does shock a lot of people about the cost of them, but there’s also little tricks and things that you can do to use your budget well. I would say probably for an average wedding, the budget would be about to 10% to 15% of the overall wedding cost would be flowers. If you want it to be more floral heavy, I would say about 20% to 25% overall cost, and that’s a good parameter work around. It all depends. Not everyone wants lots of flowers. There’s definitely ways that you can utilise the budget by focusing on those big wow points that are going to be in your photos. So you know, the arbour and you can reuse the arbour at the reception if that’s possible for location wise, aisle florals on the ground, you can reuse them. We, most of the time reuse them at reception, so we can put them on wishing gift tables or a bar or things like that. So just utilising things that you’ve already paid for that you can give more value to at the reception.
Mary (Ms Rose): I love the idea of the reusing some of the florals or the styling elements from ceremony to photo shoot to reception. Is that something that a couple can talk to you about in the planning process where they can say, “Look, this is our budget, we want to get as much from that as possible, and we’d love to create the day to have as many florals as we can in, within that budget.” Is something like, okay, how can we create a look that is quite floral heavy, but it has you, it has moved the florals from one part of the day to a different part of the day quite seamlessly. Is that something that they can talk to you about in the planning process?
Steph: Yes. Yeah, definitely. The best thing for me is if someone does have a budget says, “Look, we’ve got this much to spend. We love this look. What can we do for that?” And I would always say like, “Obviously bouquets because they’re going to mean photos, your arbour because that’s going to be in your photos and then another wow factor at the reception. You can keep table florals to a minimum. People are sitting at the tables as well so sometimes that blocks it in the photos and things like that, but for in regards to repurposing, so arbours and things like that, if we’re able to transport them and manoeuver them to the reception, then definitely that’s such a good impact moment that you can use at your reception for things. The one thing we don’t do is we don’t cut down our flowers from an arbour and put them on the bridal table because it’s totally, it’s completely, and I always advise against that, and we don’t do that. Totally different look. If you’re creating something that’s meant to be looked front on and then you’re putting it on side on. It’s just not going to look the same. And you don’t know whether it’s been really windy or really hot or it started to rain or things like those lovely elements that we can’t control.
Mary (Ms Rose): It’s a whole bunch of time as well, isn’t it? It’s not a cut place. If you’re going to take all of those flowers and greenery, that’s a whole X amount of hours of work to remove it from that to create a whole new look.
Steph: Yes. Unfortunately, we don’t. Imagine if it only took a couple of minutes to turn something around.
Mary (Ms Rose): That would change the whole scene.
Steph: Yes. Definitely. So I do always suggest, have something on your bridal table that we have made for your bridal table. You don’t want people walking in and one, it’s not there yet or two, it’s been out in the sun and it just looks a bit tired and things like that. I always say, “Use the ceremony items to enhance your reception and make it look even grander than it is.” There’s so many little things you can do. You bring back the welcome sign and the welcome sign florals and sit it with your seating chard and yeah, just everything, anything that you can repurpose, I would, but just in certain spots.
Mary (Ms Rose): Is that something in terms of repurposing styling items because your budget is the flowers are part of your budget and so are your styling items. Is that something like that you could repurpose as well as part of the reception area? I know it’s not, obviously not everything. You’re not going to be able to use everything. If you’ve got a set up like a lounge area, before the ceremony started or in between the ceremony and reception, if you wanted any of that shifted, is that possible to reuse again, or is that me daydreaming?
Steph: I think it’s all possible. It just depends where the reception is in relation to the ceremony because it’s all labour and you don’t want to be carrying in lounges when people are trying to look for a lounge to sit down on.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s a good point.
Steph: Yeah, or charging through. An arbour’s all right because people most of the time understand that, “Oh wow, they’ve moved that from the ceremony.” But when it’s big furniture items, you probably want them already there, unless it’s not that far away like 50 metre walk or something. It could be okay, but it would all really depend on the location of the reception to the ceremony and the amount of time in between.
Mary (Ms Rose): Yep, absolutely. This is the thing with styling. It’s so easy to love so many different styles of decor, and there’s so much inspiration. You can have so many things now. You can pack out your ceremony, you can pack out your reception with all of these different elements, which are incredible. What questions should a couple ask ourselves, ask themselves, to get to a final style or final floral look, a final destination of what they want it to look like? Where do they even begin to decide or how they want the decor to look?
Loaded big question.
Steph: Oh gosh, there’s so many pictures on Pinterest and Instagram and I feel like every time, I don’t know, every time I open my phone or every time I do a new wedding, I think, “oh, that’s my new favourite.” or “I love that. I love that.” So I can imagine how hard it would be to try and narrow down one style for your day, but normally I, if couples are a little bit unsure, I’ll get them to send me all the photos they like, and then I’ll pop them into a couple of different mood boards, which I think they fall into, and then we would sit down together and go through, “Okay, this is what this theme would look like.” And generally they do head to one theme that I’ve put together. I’d also give my opinion to what I think would look best in that venue or that space because you could love a certain theme, but the venue has a completely different shade on the walls on the carpet and it’s just going to clash and it’s not going to work. It’s not actually going to look exactly like the theme because there’s other factors in place. I would also put my suggestion forward for that as well and just say, “No, I honestly think this theme would work a bit better.” Which is why you hire people and to give our opinion, so I’d probably do that.
Mary (Ms Rose): Exactly, and like you’re saying about the venue having quite an impact on things like the theme or the colour, in terms of the wedding colour palette, are there, apart from looking at your venue and seeing what’s there, do you have any other tips for how couples can arrive a kind of a colour scheme that works for them and for their wedding?
Steph: I think a lot of the time. People are drawn to the colour palettes they like with what the pictures that they see. I can tend to get a theme from the pictures they send through of the type of colour palettes that they like. Obviously that’s the venue, which a lot of the time couples don’t think about because they’re thinking about two separate things. They’ll show me some pictures and things like that or it could be what the wedding party’s wearing. If they’ve already decided on dresses or suits or things like that, that can also determine a colour palette, but most of the time it’s the inspo pics. I very rarely have, I might have someone that might come along and they’ll have two different colour palettes and we’ll just work through and eliminate as we go through. Just keep chatting about it because a lot of the time people book 18 months ahead of time. Things change so easily. I try and also not put so much pressure on them. I just keep it real lighthearted and just say, “Yeah, we’ll just keep working as we go through.” It could be that someone is really adamant that the bridesmaid dresses have to be a certain colour and then we’d start with that and work our way through the process of looking at the venue and the type of flowers that they like and what colours those flowers come in if they do have a certain floral flower that they like. That’s the process for that. As I said, don’t put too much pressure on yourself because there’s always time to change closer to. Also, the colour palette also then, it could be their invites. We might start with their wedding invites and what they used for that. If they really loved that style, then we can pull from that and then all the signage also works around or the colour palette. It all does all work in together. It’s just about getting at that final destination.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s it. You talked about couples as the kind of the timeline for the wedding gets closer, people do tend to look at more photos and more Instagram accounts and that sort of thing. How can we use the inspiration that people have already got and have seen from things like an Instagram account or Pinterest or that sort of thing, and make it a bit more personal so that their wedding flowers and styling reflect more of who they are and makes their day definitely unique to them? You were saying how much you loved doing the styling and flowers for weddings because every couple is so different, what are your tips on how you can not copy the Instagram picture, but take that inspiration and make it your own.
Steph: So I as well, I like to make it my own. So I’m very selfish in that part because I want to do new designs all the time so I tend to just say that straight out as well. Look, it’s not going to look exactly like that because you want it your own day and I’ll take inspiration, which is what inspo photos are. Taking inspiration from all the different designs they’ve sent and then make it my own. I think that’s where the trust comes in that they just know that I’m going to do a really good job. I think as well looking at the venue, like the venues, Instagram or Pinterest accounts or their websites and seeing what has worked and hasn’t worked in that or what you haven’t liked in that space will get you an idea of what you do like, but when I get to know the couple, you could have someone, you just get to know so much about people just from their body language and their conversation, whether they might be a little bit more reserved or they might be just wild and crazy.
And I know that I can pretty much push the limits and do something crazy. It’s just reading people and knowing. You just get a pretty good gauge. Even from their emails, you can get to know a person. If someone’s a little bit more conservative and they’re showing me more conservative, bit tighter designs, then I’ll keep that within my boundary or they might’ve just mentioned something that, we had a girl that works for me actually and we did her wedding and the whole time the wedding was white and green and black. White, green, and black the whole time along, but I knew that she really loved like a little subtle touch of purple. Then when I got to the market, there was out of season, all these flowers were as well, these beautiful, really mauve violet flowers. So I just knew that she would love that. So we grabbed them and put them in the designs and yep, she loved it. You just get to know them, like you read them and you know that, you know what, they would love that and that’s going to make it their own.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s it. It’s like you’re saying, reading people and listening and seeing what they talk, hearing what they talk about. I think, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s also about if you’re planning the styling or the colours or anything like that for your day, it’s possibly not going, not trying to like you’re saying, copy the Instagram picture, but remember what you particularly like, your wedding’s probably not the day if you’re someone who loves a lot of colour, loves all the bright colours and everything. Is it a true reflection of who you are to suddenly just have everything completely white? Even though that looks beautiful on that Instagram feed or on the Pinterest when you scroll it, it’s going, “Hang on, wait a minute. What do I wear? What do I have in my house? What am I drawn to when I go out to eat? What do we as a couple really love and, are we a couple who love the really lush furnishings. Do we want something a bit luxe styling wise on the day, or do we love things to be really minimal at home? Is that how we want our wedding to look like?” Are these the sort of conversations that couples could have in terms of coming to an idea of what the styling would look like on their day?
Steph: Yeah, definitely. And even comes down to the menu. Do you love going out to dinner and sharing food with everyone? You know what? You probably would love to have share plates on your wedding day and everyone’s sharing all the food and the platters and antipasto plates and all things like that, which all of that does also affect the styling because if it’s shared platters and I said, “Okay, that’s perfect. That’s a good prerequisite for you. Then you’ll need room on your table for those platters to go down so that the poor waiters aren’t shuffling vases and candles.” As soon as I walk into a venue and they just look at me with horror, “we’ve got share plates”. I know. It’s okay. I’ve mapped it out. I’m all over it. That’s going to affect your table styling so that then, that the night does flow seamlessly that candles aren’t falling over and burning napkins or flowers or things like that.
Mary (Ms Rose): Yeah. It’s very important.
Steph: No one wants that entertainment.
Mary (Ms Rose): No, No. That’s a really good point, like how we can plan for the flowers to tie in the elements of the wedding together as well. In terms of like you’re saying, having a feast kind of catering, like how your flowers can then tie in other elements of the wedding cohesively, whether it’s how the wedding runs or with colour and design, is that something that you look at quite early on with couples in terms of these are the colours that you’re looking for, these are the sort of designs in terms of styling that work really well with that? Is that how the process goes?
Steph: Yeah, definitely. There’s so many little things you can do. Adding on a colour in your menus, like the subtle tone of the paper or the place cards or a napkin or even a charger plate. There’s so many. Oh, you could just go forever with adding little styling elements on, but there are just subtle details. I always think if you’re doing the house flowers before the wedding day, you want that to tie in with the rest of the flowers as well so that your photos have the same theme and it’s seamless from the house through to the ceremony, to the reception, to the signage. You do it because at the end of the day, when you get back your photos, that’s your timeline or your video as well. That’s your timeline of the day. This little touches throughout all the different areas. It really does tie it all together when you get that end package.
Mary (Ms Rose): Yeah, absolutely. What advice would you give to couples who are just starting the wedding planning process and when it comes to making their wedding day visually stunning and memorable? What sort of tips and advice would you give them on and where to start?
Steph: Definitely start with getting your inspo photos, but just chat to your vendors. If anyone gets stuck, initial conversations with those key people will help guide you for the rest of the journey for your wedding planning because, as I said before, they do it every weekend, all through the week now, actually. They are the experts and you hire them for a reason. Start to get your inspo together and have a little folder where it’s on your phone or I’m not very good at technology, but everyone comes in with their Insta folders and all these things like, wow. Google docs. Just things like that and just chatting. I’m such a chatter, so I just love having the pick up the phone and just chat to me. What do you think about this? What do you think about that? Happy to move through each process with them. Talk to your venue, visit your venue and go to the venue when they do have a set up as well because rooms look completely different empty to full. Especially the tables with all the cutlery, drink ware, glassware and everything on them. Completely different to an empty room. So trying to see your venue setup is definitely also a big tip because you can see how the space will move and work on your own day and give you a bit more of a direction with the things that you may or may not want as well.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s why those sort of the open days and those sort of things for different venues are such a great idea, especially if the venues are working with stylists and florists on those days. It can be so hard to visualise an empty room or a room with bare bones in it is going to actually feel on the day or the night.
Steph: Even in a picture. If you look at a picture of it, you can’t get the whole bearings of a room or if you see the room when it has round tables set up, but you’re thinking that you might want rectangle tables setup. It can change the whole dynamic of the room so I think seeing it set up with how you think you may want like it is definitely a big win. If you can.
Mary (Ms Rose): True. It’s not always an option, but if you can, it’s definitely a win. I don’t like to use the words mistakes or don’ts, but what are some of the more common don’ts that couples should avoid when it comes to wedding styling or their floral arrangements?
Steph: I think probably we’ve touched on before, but having too many themes. It just confuses you, and working with your florist on those themes, but for putting too much pressure on yourself as well. Gosh, it’s not often that each couple is running an event like onto this size, that’s not what they do. Most of them don’t do for a job every week. It can get really overwhelming. I think putting so much pressure on themselves to, it has to look a certain way or they need to do certain things to please other people. At the end of the day, it is just about the two of them. Keeping track of what’s important to them and not, getting distracted with outside fluff because one, it’s probably going to end up costing you too much money and two, it’s not being true to yourself. I think that’s probably the biggest mistake. Secondly, trying to take on too much yourself. Oh, the poor couples that I see trying to do. DIY is great if you can do it, but sometimes it really does stress people out so much, and when I say, “Oh, I can just do the place cards for you.” The look of relief on their face.
Mary (Ms Rose): It would be huge.
Steph: Yeah. Try not to biting off more than you can chew. Just keeping things. There’s so much that goes into planning a wedding. If you can delegate to people, then delegate to people. They’re my two biggest, probably things that I would say. Even myself – I bit off too much more than I could chew for my own wedding. Oh, if I could go back, there’s so many things that I would not have done.
Mary (Ms Rose): I’m so with you. I had a fair, oh, I had DIY Smoosh vendor’s wedding for mine, which was, oh my goodness, this is 2, 3 years ago, and while it was great and I loved it, oh my goodness. This is going to sound like a vendor push, it’s really not. It’s just more that I would have outsourced so much more than I did.
Steph: I’m the same. I did my own flowers and I remember looking down at my fingers when I was signing the registry thinking, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got. Floral hands.” It’s that one day I didn’t want floral designer hands and here I am. Anyway, that’s a learning thing. Now I get to tell other people.
Mary (Ms Rose): If you haven’t planned a wedding or had a wedding day before you, you don’t know. There are some things I agree with you. Some things I got, if you can, if you know that you are really excited to do it and really happy about it, then go for it, but if you know that if you stop and actually go, “Hang on a minute, is this going to cost me more time and stress? Is it worth that bit of extra money or is it worth outsourcing that or delegating that?” It’s having those conversations together to really make sure that you have a really beautiful, fun, as stress free as possible day.
Steph: Definitely. It’s that one day. It’s all about you. Make sure that you take advantage of that.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s it. Do you have any tips on how, apart from saying outsource or have the conversations about what you can or cannot take on, do you think there are any other ideas for how we can keep everything as streamlined as possible, whether it’s in the planning or on the day?
Steph: I think there’s so many great checklists out there and resources now that even I would love, like I use, but they’re so good that just keep you on the right track of things that you need to plan and like when invites should go out and all those little, just little checklists for before the day, and then on the day, working with your venue, a lot of the time they might have a little run sheet that to work with, but I think getting that run sheet together and asking anyone for advice that you need, whether it’s your photographer, your photographer knows so much information about ceremony times and the light and, oh, they’re so important.
They are really the wizard on the day. They know so much information. I definitely recommend having a good chat to your photographer while you’re making that timeline, especially if, and I’m now I’m just going to give a big boost to the photographers – if on your day, it’s really important for you to get sunset shots or nighttime shots or something, then that needs to be put into your timeline and everything worked around it because if that’s really important to you, then yeah, you need to work towards that. I guess that would be a tip is if there are non-negotiables on the day, then putting them first in timelines or checklists so that they’re not forgotten about. You can see that that’s the most important thing that you want to achieve – that obviously getting married is number one. If you want to join in your cocktail hour with the guests or can I pay out with them, making sure you write that down so it’s not forgotten about and that everything can work around that because end of the day it’s a big celebration for them. That’s the most important thing.
Mary (Ms Rose): Yeah, exactly. If something like your wedding styling or your floral styling are a really important part of your day for you, what are the conversations that you can have with your stylist and florist to really get that point across? How can you make sure you, oh my God. What is the question you’ve been trying to ask?
I think what I’m trying to figure out is I was someone who wanted the flowers, for example, to be really important on my wedding day. That was a really important element for me. I guess what I’m trying to say, like trying to ask is, if the florals and the wedding styling are a really important element of the day for you, what are the sort of the processes or the questions or the things that you can be doing to make sure that’s really clear to your stylist or your florist?
Steph: I think to basically just tell them we love flowers and we want them to be a really big part of our day. When someone comes to me and tells me that, I, one of all, just want to give them a big hug and then, secondly, I’ll take a look at their ceremony, ask if they have any ideas to start with as well as their reception venue – are there beams in there and can we do an amazing hanging installation that is going to be either above the bridal table or in the centre of the room or things like that. Just by looking at the venues, you can, for me, I can personally kind of, I just start dreaming, like we could do this, we could do that. So maybe just coming up with some suggestions for them with some costings and then we steer, we go together on that journey to work out what’s the best for them. Shapes of tables, and I think for me, basically, once I start talking to the couple and seeing the photos that you can’t shut me up. I will just keep going on about the things with flowers that we can do until they say, “Wow, okay. I think that’s enough flowers now.
Mary (Ms Rose): But you’re excited.
Steph: I’m so excited. I love what I do.
Mary (Ms Rose): I think that’s something that couples shouldn’t take for granted with wedding vendors is that, If someone that they’ve chosen to help them make their vision come to life, if that person is as excited as they are, it’s going to be good. It’s going to look good. It’s going to feel good.
Steph: Definitely. And be nice to your vendors because if someone, we don’t have favourites or anything, but if someone’s kind to you and they’re appreciative and you feel like they really appreciate what you’re doing for them, like you do just put so much effort into it because you want, it makes you feel good as well, and you want them to feel good and then you want everyone to feel good, but you just, yeah, just be nice is my biggest key thing. Just be nice. Just be nice and kind because everyone, at the end of the day, is trying to do their best job possible for you. If you appreciate them and trust them, show them that you trust them. That’s why you’ve booked them. They will just create the best day for you.
Mary (Ms Rose): They’re above and beyond, won’t they? Above and beyond, isn’t it? Tell us about some of your favourite wedding trends for the year ahead or if you’re not a fan of trends, which is, that’s totally fine. What are some of your favourite details that you’ve been seeing recently or can see coming into play in weddings?
Steph: My favourite thing is colour at the moment. They’re, oh my gosh, we have just done the last couple of months, just some beautiful colour. That one on the weekend was a beautiful colour, just blues and yellows and purples and oranges and pinks. There’s a lot, there’s a lot more colour coming through which is so exciting as well as bright colours. I’ve had a fair few really bright coloured weddings, which is super exciting and they photograph so beautifully. I feel like that is coming more in than the traditional white and blush and green that we’ve been seeing in the last couple of years. But then for me, I’ll do a few colour weddings and then I’ll go back to white and think, “Oh, I love white.” So yeah, I’m loving the colours.
Mary (Ms Rose): This is the beautiful thing about weddings, isn’t it? Like we said before, they’re all different. Every couple’s different. Every wedding is going to be different. We’re in the wedding industry and lucky enough to see all these different colour palettes and all these different styling themes and everything, which is so exciting because it’s not necessarily about trends, but you’ll see something done one way and go, “Oh, I love that.” And then the next week you’ll see something else done another way and go, “Oh, I love that. It’s beautiful. It’s art. It’s so exciting.”
Steph: Yeah. We’re so lucky to have so many talented florists in Australia that I just constantly get inspired. So that’s right. You’ll see someone do something and then the next week, someone’s got another take on it and it just keeps evolving. For me, I think, a bit more garden-y beautiful spring colours are coming through. So that’s very exciting.
Mary (Ms Rose): They’re gorgeous. It is exciting. It’s just, it’s so happy. It’s so joyful, isn’t it? The colour, it’s just gorgeous. Look, Steph, do you have any last tips or tricks or thoughts for the Polka Dot readers/listeners that you think that they should definitely know when it comes to their floral arrangements or their wedding styling?
Steph: I think, as I said before, just trust your vendors and know that they’re going to do the best job they can for you. There’s so many hours that go into weddings. I would say we, myself and the team would probably spend about 50 to 60 hours on each wedding and a lot of that is done the week of. So yeah, everyone works really hard, but I think as well as besides the vendors, just have fun. Just don’t forget to have fun and the planning process should be fun, on the day should be fun. So keeping that front of mind is, I feel like it’s my biggest tip.
Mary (Ms Rose): It’s important, isn’t it? I know that it’s important to you as well. You’ve mentioned to us that couples really making their wedding look and feel like them and trying not to be swayed by too many traditions or too many must haves and really making it about themselves is really important to you and the team. I think that’s really special and really important. Especially now when you can do so much in terms of creating your wedding day to look how you want it. So I think, like you said, trusting your vendors, speaking with your vendors and having fun is one of the best ways that you can achieve this for sure.
Steph: You’re going to have such a great day if you’re relaxed and confident that everything’s going to come together, then you’re just going to relax and have the best time. So it’s good.
Mary (Ms Rose): You are, and that’s the whole idea. You’re getting married. It’s incredible. It’s the start of something amazing. Have a ball.
Steph: And it goes so fast. I know everyone’s said it to me before I got married. It’s going to go so fast and you think, “Oh gosh, no, I’ve got a six hour package, but it flies.” Try and enjoy every moment.
Mary (Ms Rose): That’s it. What’s on the horizon for NuNu Designs? What’s happening? What’s coming up or are you guys just to head down into wedding season?
Steph: Yeah, I feel like wedding season definitely hit us crazy. We’ve just had a really huge few weeks, but so fun as well, but yeah, we’ve got quite a busy end to the year. Then next year, we have a lot of larger scale events coming up, which is exciting so I’m looking forward to that. We are also going to start doing some workshops at our warehouse. That’s going to be really fun.
Mary (Ms Rose): Oh, that’s beautiful. Oh, look, Steph, that’s all we’ve got time for today, but thank you so much. That was really fun and I just think all the information you’ve just, given us and our listeners is so important. Thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it.
Steph: Thank you so much for having me in my first podcast – so it was very exciting.
Mary (Ms Rose): Amazing. You did so well. Thanks, Steph.
Dorothy: Now this episode is the very last episode of 2023 and we are thrilled to have been able to share it with you. You can find out everything you need to know about NuNu Designs over on weddingpodcast.com.au. You can also find full written show notes there, including a full written transcript of today’s episode and of course, how to book NuNu Designs for your own very big special day.
Now, the Feel Good Wedding Podcast is made and built for you, and we want to make sure that we’re building a podcast that you love and that resonates with what you want to hear. So leave us a review, send us an email and give us all your feedback because we would love to hear it.
We wish you all the most wonderful festive season, however you celebrate, and we cannot wait to be back in 2024 with amazing guests and amazing interviews just for you. Have a very amazing 2024.
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