Love by Design: How graphic designers are styling their own weddings

Most graphic designers live in a world we can’t even imagine. They see inspiration everywhere. They mentally rebrand a café menu while waiting for coffee. Their homes are beautifully considered. Their outfits often feel art-directed. So what happens when they decide to tie the knot? Can they resist designing their own weddings, or is it non-negotiable?

As Valentine’s Day approaches once more, we’re in the mood for love. We asked three designers to share how they approached their own big days as creative projects, designing everything from stationery and banners to wine labels and art-directed shoots.

Eve Warren, design director at the appropriately-named Love, brought handmade decorations, a sister-designed dress and a riot of colour to Victoria Hall in Saltaire. Lottie Petersen, design director at Bloom, created a bold visual identity complete with custom wine labels, banners and branded stick-on tattoos. And Poonam Saini, creative director at KISS, focused her energy on photography, film and art direction, commissioning bespoke invites, signage and even a hand-embroidered banner from her mum.

Did they feel the pressure?

Short answer? Yes. For Eve, the stakes were high from the very start. “Both my husband and I are designers, and many of our guests are friends we’ve met through the creative industry. There was pressure, but we embraced it. From early on, we had a clear vision for how we wanted to capture the day, built from a few mood boards and references to the gig posters we’ve always loved, inspired by the pieces we collected and hung on our walls when we first met in Leeds at Leeds College of Art.”

That vision played out inside Victoria Hall in Saltaire, which she describes as “an electric collision of colour, art and design, a blinder of a celebration filled with papier-mâché heads, crowd-surfing energy and bouncing beach balls, all wrapped inside the chocolate-box, Wes Anderson–esque pastel beauty of Victoria Hall”. In other words, if there was pressure, she turned the dial up and ran with it.

Lottie felt it too, especially with a guest list full of creatives and a fiancé who is a musician. “Having a bold & jazzy fiancé who is also in a creative field – Alun is a musician – I did feel a great deal of pressure to capture ‘us’ perfectly for our day.” Her instinct was to treat the whole thing like a client project. “As soon as we started planning, all I could think about was our wedding as a creative project and what visual outcome would be.” She even joked that she’d treat her husband as a client. That didn’t last long. Obvs.

Poonam’s pressure came from reputation. “Oh gosh, absolutely. Especially when you’re known as ‘the creative one’ among friends and family, and you run a design studio with your soon-to-be husband!”

But rather than go bigger, she and Matt went tighter. “In true KISS style, keeping it simple stupid, Matt and I boiled everything down to choices that genuinely reflected who we are and the story of us.” No elaborate paper suites or towering cake. Just a beautiful Georgian house in York, heritage woven into their outfits, and details that felt personal rather than performative.

Three designers with three completely different responses. One leaned into spectacle, another built a full brand world, while the other stripped it back completely.

Did they ever have to rein themselves in?

Absolutely. The danger, it turns out, is not a lack of ideas; there are just too many. Most married couples will resonate with that, surely?

For Eve, the overthinking wasn’t aesthetic; it was practical. “I think most of the overthinking is centred around the logistics of the day. We were working with a tight DIY budget, so the weeks leading up to it were filled with planning, making and crafting, so we were constantly creating things right up until the big day.” The romance of DIY comes with a production schedule.

Lottie knows that feeling well. A year-long runway helped, but perfectionism crept in. “There was a point where I was deep into hand-folding millions of fiddly stars at 12am that I did start to question my sanity and the reason why I was doing this.” Add in endless test prints on different GF Smith papers, and you have a familiar creative doom spiral.

On the other hand, Eve could call in reinforcements, from her designer mum sewing table runners to trusted collaborators bringing banners to life.

Poonam describes that mental pull just as clearly. “I can get quite obsessive over things, and I felt that creeping in during the evenings.” Even with an understated plan, overwhelm was real. What brought her back was clarity. “I kept reminding myself that the day was about hosting, good food and meaningful conversation — three values that mean everything to Matt and me.” That anchor helped her filter what mattered and let the rest go.

What did they choose to design themselves?

This is where their personalities really shine. Eve’s day was deeply handmade. Her sister made her dress, a one-of-a-kind piece filled with care. Her mum, a ceramic artist, created all the table vases. Those vases were later raffled to raise money for Cancer Research, turning décor into something lasting and generous. The aesthetic was bold and playful, but the emotional core was family.

Lottie, meanwhile, built a full visual identity. “Without initially meaning to, I ended up creating the brand for ‘Alun & Lottie’.” A bold pink and orange palette, hand-crafted lettering and gorgeous illustration assets. It all rolled out across invites, menus, signage, banners, seating plans, wine labels and even temporary tattoos. Flowers were minimal, so the graphics carried the atmosphere. It was cohesive, characterful and unmistakably hers.

Poonam took a different route. “I didn’t actually design anything myself – I art directed instead.” She asked her studio’s design director to create the invites so she could experience a bit of surprise. She commissioned her mum to hand-embroider a banner for the after-party, something she now keeps in her kitchen. And she poured her creative energy into the brief and the styling, especially her and Matt’s outfits. A corseted, hand-embroidered dress with a long jacket and a suit made in Germany with traditional details. For her, authorship mattered less than intention.

So there you have it. Control versus collaboration. Full brand build versus selective focus. DIY versus direction. Each approach turned out to feel true to the designer behind it.

What don’t people talk about when planning weddings?

The invisible workload. Eve puts it plainly. “Honestly? One of the biggest things people don’t talk about is how hard it is to switch off your ‘professional brain.’ DIY sounds romantic, but designing signage, invites, layouts, table decorations, and styling adds up to a full design project on top of real life. People see the final aesthetic, not the late-night production line.”

Lottie echoes that fatigue. “The main thing no one talks about is how difficult it can be to balance designing all day for clients, then designing all night for your wedding.” You’re not just a designer; you’re the copywriter, illustrator, art director and producer. What’s more, you’re on a tight budget for one day only.

Poonam highlights how quickly it can snowball. “As a designer, you suddenly see endless touchpoints, the paper stock for the invites, the finish, the signage, the idea of creating a fully immersive stationery suite.” The temptation is real. So is the risk of losing sight of why you’re there.

Where did they invest instead of DIY?

Interestingly, each designer chose one area in which to trust someone completely. For Eve, it was photography. “Invest in a great photographer!” she says. “We had the amazing Ryan from Shutter Go Click capture our day, and the photos we got are unreal.” They’re playful and carefree. Full of energy. For two shy people, having someone who could hold the vision and make them feel at ease was worth the cost.

Poonam made a similar call. “Our biggest investment was the film and photography team.” She wanted an editorial finish that still felt honest. “We asked for documentary-style footage that captured the day as it really unfolded, almost like a ’90s VHS home video where you can hear snippets of conversations and those unfiltered, in-between moments.” For someone who chose not to design the paper suite, this was where she channelled her creative direction.

Lottie delegated selectively too, from banners to table styling, recognising that even the most driven designer needs support. The common thread? You don’t have to do it all yourself to make it feel like you.

So, can designers resist?

Not entirely. They pull Pinterest boards together. They brief. They think about paper stocks at midnight. They care about colour palettes, tone of voice, and how it all comes together.

But what’s striking is that none of these weddings was about showing off. They were about story, heritage, family, and shared history – all while hosting people well.

Design was the language they used, but it wasn’t why they gathered. And perhaps that’s the real takeaway. When creatives plan their own big days, the most powerful detail isn’t the logo, the banner, or the perfect choice of card stock… It’s knowing when to lean in and when to let go.