Quick! What logos are these?
Just a tease from a logo guessing game. // Source: Calvin’s Hub
Immediately, most people will recognize the B of Barbie, the K of Kmart, the I of IBM and the Kl of Kleenex. The others may be a little more obscure but the four I just mentioned are definitely known by the majority of people.
That, my friends, is good branding. People see a simple image or part of a logo and immediately know what its relating to. Maybe it’s because of my communication background, but I wanted to make sure our wedding was branded. I’ve already talked about our wedding theme but that’s just a part of the overall branding of the wedding.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”
Two keys to branding are consistency and repetition. Make sure that the brand is the same and present throughout all of the items for the wedding, from the Save the Dates and wedding website to invitations and printed items at the reception. This can be done using colors, logos, clipart, fonts, design, pictures and many other items.
My tips to creating a wedding brand:
- Pick something personal. On our wedding day, Mr. K and I will be dancing to ”our” song, “Better Together” by Jack Johnson. This became our song shortly after we started dating and has stuck ever since. This was the starting point for our brand. The song fit perfectly with my love for ampersands. Maybe your personal item is your pet, a shared hobby or a nod to you or your groom’s heritage. (I’m looking at you, Mrs. Sword!)
- Incorporate your theme/palette. I’ve previously touched on what colors will be prevalent in our wedding and what I’ve coined to be our theme. It’s important that your brand include these items. Just imagine if McDonalds used lime green and fuchsia wrappers, cups and bags, yet their logo stayed red and yellow. Your theme and palette should be an integral part of your brand. (Mrs. Palm Tree killed it when it comes to sticking with her wedding colors, which were also a nod to the birthstones of her and Mr. Palm Tree. Incorporating the theme AND a personal touch – boom!)
- Create a logo. This doesn’t have to be something a graphic designer spent hundreds of hours on. The Barbie logo is just a word in a script font and colored pink. Your logo could be your names in a certain font or your date written a specific way or maybe even a cameo style silhouette of you and your groom. (a la Mrs. Camel)
- Make sure it’s something you love. If you are going to be using this throughout your engagement and on plenty of printed items, it has got to be something you won’t be sick of in a week, a year or even a decade. Don’t be afraid to come up with an idea, get opinions, go through multiple versions. Love it and rock the brand.
So what’s the brand for my wedding? I thought you’d never ask 
Everything from the printed materials to the website will reflect this brand by including the colors, the fonts, the roses or, what I consider our logo, the j&k. I had mentioned my admiration for Kim Kardashian’s dedication to theme and branding in a previous post and this is my attempt to go along those lines.
Let’s be real - do you think I am crazy for taking the wedding planning to this level? Anyone else out there think of branding their wedding?