Wedding Style
By Susie Coelho
Having been raised with East Indian heritage, I have always enjoyed mixing in elements that have a bit of ethnic flair into my décor. And yet, at the same time I love simplicity and clean classic lines, which are often the opposite of ethnic embellishments. In essence, isn’t this what the new America is all about? A wonderful mélange of cultural influences and old world traditions mixed with the new and modern.
When I was creating my newest book “Style Your Dream Wedding,” I wanted to break it down by the various styles of weddings that a bride might have. Often I came up with brides combining more than one style. Naturally a bride wants to add her own personal touch to her wedding and as well as have her special day reflect her personality. So I developed a quiz that will help a bride determine her wedding style so that she can be focused and create the wedding of her dreams! The quiz even takes into consideration the mixing of styles by identifying the secondary style along with the primary so that a bride can mix two styles and create something completely unique to her.
To put this to the test, I set out to create a Krylon project that merged two very different styles: Modern and Ethnic (very much Susie style) in a way that would be harmonious and work as a fabulous centerpiece for a wedding. The first thing I did was create texture on a glass pedestal dish by spraying the base stem of the glass with Krylon Frosted Glass Finish, which can be also used to create an etched glass look with stencils. I also used this product on the votives. I then found a very cool Krylon product called Fusion for Plastic. It sticks to hard-to-bond surfaces with little effort and pretty much sticks to anything! They had this in a metallic silver which worked well with this project to keep the look subtle.
The trick to mixing different elements is to find a common denominator that unifies the pieces. With this centerpiece, I used color as the unifying theme. I mixed textures like glass and rock but added touches of silver to everything. I also used the Frosted Glass to create a white which also contrasted with the silver but blended to create harmony. I created ethnic looking designs on the glass votives and used light silver over darker silver stripes. This layering of tones helped to keep things subtle and classic. I sprayed the rocks, glass and even sand with the metallic. The final result is an elegant centerpiece that mixes classic contemporary design with a touch of ethnic flair.
A lovely drink for your wedding guests is my recipe for this month, Pinot Noir Spritzers. It’s a great way to stretch your budget as you are diluting the wine with other juices and soda. What a great way to save money by making the wine go a longer way!
Embrace all your differences and have fun creating ways to bring it all together. If you’re planning on getting married soon, then log onto www.susiecoelho.com and take the free Style Your Dream Wedding Quiz and see what your wedding style is!
