What is Experiential Design in the Wedding Industry?
What is experiential design in the wedding industry? What does an experiential wedding designer do? Why do weddings, elopements and events need more experience-based design?
And, did you just make up the term Experiential Designer?
No… but kind of. It’s a vision of what we hope to see in the wedding industry.
Let’s define it.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines experience as something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through; the conscious events that make up an individual life; the events that make up the conscious past of a community or nation or humankind generally.
At Wildly, we define design as the ideas, direction and conception relating to visual elements.
When we blend these two words together and tie them directly to weddings we create a role that is rooted more in storytelling and less in “getting pretty photos.”
The role of the experiential designer is seen in the graphic design, interior design and customer experience sectors of the world, but it hasn’t yet been used in the wedding and event industry.
We’re changing that.
An experiential designer is rooted in the overall experience and storytelling of a wedding, elopement or event. As experiential designers, our focus is not just on creating a beautifully designed day, but ensuring that each design choice is made with intention - connecting to who the client is; ‘the conscious events that make up’ the client’s life and story. Our goal is to craft designs that resonate and feel like a piece of the client.
From the smallest of details to the most obvious, our aim is to ensure the client feels acknowledged and understood in each and every design choice.
So what will happen when we shift into this mindset when designing a wedding, elopement or event?
This is what will be seen:
More time spent getting to know the client
Planners and designers asking better questions
A sense of partnership and vulnerability between the designer and the client
A shared end goal of ensuring the client feels deeply represented in their event rather than just hoping to get pretty photos
Guests leaving an event saying “we know the couple (client) even better now!”
Emotion from the client expressing gratitude for being understood
“Heart-swelling” in the client, the client’s guests, the designer and all event vendors during and after the event because they feel such strong connection to everything incorporated into the event
A deep sense of fulfillment in the work done by the designer
A friendship between the client and the designer
This approach creates a more sustainable and intentional wedding industry: one that is reciprocal, intuitive and fulfilling.
