Charlene Neal is President of Charlene Neal PureStyle and Vice President of Design at Neal Communities. She posts regularly on her website: http://www.charlenenealpurestyle.com.
This month I’d like to share something personal. Something special and something fun!
My son’s impending wedding. Much like planning a new home or model, this project has many similarities to what I do everyday in our models and your homes.
I love a good challenge! When my son announced his engagement we were thrilled, especially since he’d found an absolute gem of a girl. However, weddings are a lot of work, so my design mind immediately went to the responsibilities as the mother of the groom.
For me that meant throwing together a spur-of-the-moment engagement party, which was a success, and then planning ahead for the rehearsal dinner.
I needed inspiration, so my first stop was, of course, Pinterest. This is a must because it’s a place you can throw all of your ideas while you figure out what may work and what will not. I shared it with my future daughter in law. It made it so easy to collaborate and share ideas. Soon a common aesthetic could be seen.
I also felt it was necessary to have someone to work with who knew style and would give me practical suggestions, as well as help me implement my ideas. So I made sure I had a secondary stylist on hand that I could bounce ideas off of and trust to follow through on all these extra details. This, in particular, has been invaluable to me.
As with any design project I undertake, it all starts with communication and collaboration. After talking with my future daughter-in-law, a casual laid-back affair was agreed upon. We also decided just how big the dinner would be, the budget, and the theme. With the nuts and bolts out of the way, I set to work designing this very special rehearsal dinner.
The theme we chose is rustic modern. It’s being held outdoors, which means attire will be smart-casual.
A weekly “Wedding Wednesday” meeting was arranged so that we could get together and see what was still yet to be done. Any questions we had could be answered, which allowed us to keep moving forward. We are now less than a month away and it’s crunch time! Over the last few months, we’ve been slowly culling our decor, our flowers, our playlist, our mood, our lighting, and our menu.
I am so excited and anxious for all of the details to come together. I hope everyone enjoys being there as much as I have enjoyed planning it.
It’s so much like the work I do as a designer for your home. From conversation to collaboration to execution of even the tiniest detail, for me every aspect of design is a thrill!
