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Picture this. You’ve scheduled your dream wedding and begun planning. It’s in the beautiful destination of your dreams, but so far the plan seems to be missing a certain energy that could bring it all together. While you’ve settled on the basics, you still feel the wedding could use a touch of local charm.
Why not find local artists, commission them for local artwork and crafts, incorporate the unique wedding decor into your plan, and get to know the local culture better in the process? Involve local artists to turn your wedding into treasured, once-in-a-lifetime memories.
Find Local Artists for Your Wedding
The first question is how to find local artists. Aside from a simple internet search for artists at the destination, there are reliable resources that show who prominent and reliable artists are in a given location.
Look through governmental and local arts grants and take note of who won in recent years. Not all arts funding fits the unique requirements of a wedding collaboration, but you will surely find someone that strikes your interest. Award winners and funded artists tend to have established careers, lending them credibility in professional transactions.
Sometimes artists also work directly with the local government on installation pieces. Is there a recent sculpture in a nearby park at the destination that you admire? That artist might be able to work with you to elevate your beautiful wedding into an artistic dream.
For less-established artists, local fairs, conventions, festivals, and networking events are reliable methods of discovery. Remember that artists often begin their careers out of passion for their craft. This draws them to events that encourage them to experience local artwork.
As a final suggestion to find local artists, search for local culture, community, and art centers that offer art classes. Not only do these facilities feature accomplished art teachers, but they also understand the local artwork scene. What better source is there to point you in the right direction than the leaders of the art community?
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t find immediate success. Every step you take to find local artists for your wedding is a step in the right direction.
Incorporate Local Culture
The importance of collaborating locally cannot be understated. Showcasing local artwork benefits both you and the artist. The artist receives a commission with which they can further their career and their skills. You receive an unforgettable addition to your destination wedding.
The artists you work with also gain a wider audience: your wedding guests. Your friends and family may enjoy the art so much that they purchase pieces for themselves, or contact the artist for their future events, weddings, and celebrations. The positive effects ripple outwards.
Have we mentioned the upsides of supporting local businesses for your unique wedding decor?
Buying local might not be the aim of your wedding plans but it provides a bevy of benefits that you shouldn’t dismiss. For one, local products require very little transportation and shipping. At equivalent prices, a non-local product likely uses lower-quality materials to save costs and has a more damaging, inefficient carbon footprint than a local product.
Small local businesses also have personal relationships with much of their clientele meaning it is a matter of pride and reputation whether they deliver a satisfactory result.
Even beyond the impact of supporting local businesses, arts businesses in particular provide significant economic benefits. Nonprofit arts organizations employ locally, reinforce the visitor economy, inspire community pride, and keep dollars circulating in the local economy. They also put cities on the map as tourist destinations which attracts and strengthens other businesses.
All in all, using local art improves your wedding and the destination. Give back to the community, and the community will give your wedding an irreplaceable local allure.
Ideas for Unique Wedding Decor
Where do you begin adding local culture to your wedding plans? Typical wedding setups contain several types of decorations that would do just as well with local artwork as with mass-produced options. You also have the opportunity to incorporate a bolder centerpiece or display if you find local artists who are up for the challenge.
Firstly, table settings present a way to feature crafts from a local artist or business. Consider including hand-made signage for seating arrangements. Collaborate with calligraphers, illustrators, and local stationary stores or producers of paper products.
Secondly, table centerpieces most often use flower arrangements, so why not find a local florist or flower arranger to inject some of the destination’s culture into your wedding? Use flowers native to the environment. The glass vase set for the flowers presents another opportunity if you want to reach out to local glassblowers.
Thirdly, goody bags and take-home items make for beautiful and unique wedding decor. Small clay sculptures, beadwork, and other charming trinkets and art objects give your guests something they can always look at to remember the magic of your wedding.
For bolder touches than the traditional fare, try using regionally sourced textiles for tablecloths and drapes, depending on the venue. Weaving and fiber art is a common fixture in cultures around the world. You are more than likely to find a beautiful option in your wedding destination’s culture.
If your reception venue has wall space to spare or a vacant side area, why not set up a gallery of visual arts for your guests to admire as they take a break from the dance floor? You can reach out to painters, illustrators, charcoal artists, and more to bring local culture and flair to the most fiery part of the wedding celebration.
The Journey is the Destination
Perhaps you like the prospect of incorporating local art and culture into your destination wedding but you haven’t planned the wedding yet. Fortunately, Destify makes the process of planning your destination wedding a breeze. We work directly with resorts around the globe to bring you low room rates, customizable experiences, and award-winning agency-quality service without agency-level fees.
Our wedding professionals help you at every step, from choosing your dream destination to booking your guest’s airfare. Package deals and affordable venues are just the start of how we bring your dream wedding to reality. We make thousands of meaningful memories every year. We look forward to helping you make yours.
