Open Air Business April 2017

FUNCTION VENUES
KATE NIELEN
ABOVE Mr and Mrs chairs by Couture Chairs, wicker heart by
Elite Hire, heart and guest chair styling by Beautiful Bows and JF
Flowers.
Greenery
Trend Alert
A heads up to savvy venues - be aware of Pantone’s
colour of 2017, says Kelly Chandler
WEDDING TRENDS CHANGE constantly
and the most successful and endlessly
popular venues keep up to date with
trends and fashions, and make smart
choices as to where to adopt and
incorporate them into their offer.
This article is about the trend for
‘Greenery’ (somewhat appropriate for
Open Air Business readers' locations
don’t you think?). Pantone named
‘Greenery’ as their colour of 2017
shortly before the start of the year.
You might say so what? – we leave
the creative part of a wedding to the
bride or her/our team of suppliers
such as florists, cake designers and
more. That’s most definitely true in
many cases, but the smart money is
on venues and their teams who work
the latest trends subtly into their own
offerings from the initial point of client
contact and beyond.
While the latest colour trend
(whether it’s ‘Greenery’ or not) may
not appeal to all, potential couples are
very style conscious and very aware of
trends – studying Pinterest is a rite of
passage for every newly engaged (or
even pre-engaged) bride.
Pantone describe greenery as ‘a
fresh and zesty yellow-green shade’,
which is not to everyone’s taste. For
some couples, greenery will only ever
make an appearance within a bouquet,
buttonhole or in a table centrepiece,
and for others it may never feature at
all. But there will be those who want to
go the whole hog and follow this trend
for 2017 and 2018 by making their
wedding spaces foliage filled and lush.
Considering that it’s sensible to use a
venue’s backdrop as a natural scene
setter, for those of you surrounded by
fields, woods and green landscapes
you really won’t need to do that much
to go ‘green’.
So how can you further adopt greenery
into your venue’s offering to show an
understanding of trend-aware clients?
› Use your natural location to its
best effect – if you put up temporary
structures, make sure you site them
to not only show their best side but
to also show your landscape in its
very best light. Don’t position them
too close to buildings if you can, look
at gaining height and vantage points
and consider the visual perspective of
KATE NIELEN
KATE NIELEN
ABOVE Styling by Beautiful Bows and JF Flowers.
BELOW Foliage styling by Simon Nickell and tableplan flag by
White Cottage Weddings.
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