You just became engaged and are now excitedly planning your dream wedding. Soon you find yourself immersed in a joyful, albeit hectic, world of decision making. What venue should you choose? Which table linens look best? You fall in love with “the dress” and buy it. You browse through dozens of invitations. There are so many choices. Soon everything feels all mixed up and uncoordinated.

     With all the myriad of options available, there is one major decision you can make first that will help guide you in making all the others. Settling this issue will give direction to the entire wedding and reception and allow you to narrow down the options that will work best for you. It will also give a broad overview of the feel you want for your event. If you have a wedding planner or coordinator, nailing down this one initial point will help him or her to catch your vision for this special day. What could be this formative and important for the event? 

 

 

     Three guesses…

 

 

     Did you get it? Yes! Deciding the formality of your event. (A close second would be the event style.) Why is it so important to choose this first?

      It will set the stage for the style of your wedding. When you know the level of formality, you can select the options that best complement it and give your event a cohesive, organized feel that lets your vision shine through. The first thing this will probably affect is the invitations. Your guests will gain a feel for what to expect by the type of invitation you send them. It should let them know what to expect in dress and in the reception. From there the amount of choices the level of formality will affect are innumerable. The decor, wedding dress, groom and attendants’ attire, and type of food service all depend on this.

      There are four levels of formality:

            ~Informal. For daytime only.

            ~Semi-informal. Can be either daytime or in the evening.

            ~Formal (black tie). Many people think of black tie as the most formal of events, but this can actually apply to daytime or evening and is the second to the most formal. Male attendants and guests wear a black or midnight blue dinner jacket and matching trousers. Female attendants wear attire that matches or is similar to the formality of the wedding dress.

           ~Very formal (white tie). This is the most formal type of event and can take place in the daytime or evening. Male attendants and guests typically wear black tail coats and matching trousers. Female attendants dress in a similar level of formality to the bride.

     If you want to know more about how to choose the level of formality for your wedding set up a consultation with your local wedding planner (that’s us!). We’re here to help!

 KED