TIED IN A BOW

Once in a while a wedding comes along that checks all the loves of mine. This usually entails a bow tie! Bow ties always remind me of another time, and I often find my cheeks hurting from smiling at the sight of them. The thing which I think I love the most is the different colours, prints and textures you can create a bow tie with. Being able to mix-and-match these with collared shirts, suit jackets and boutonnieres is enchanting and whimsical; in my eyes.

For the best effect, I’ve come up with these simple steps which will help you achieve something one-of-a-kind, special and cute!

1.Bow ties: Use a printed bow tie that matches in with the colour palette and theme of your wedding.  The print doesn’t have to be featured anywhere else in your wedding, but it’s important that it blends in and doesn’t look out of place.

2.Collared shirt: Mix-and-match your bow tie with either a single coloured, checked, stripe or spotted shirt. A nice effect is using a colour that isn’t featured in your bow tie, but is all brought together by your boutonniere. I wouldn’t recommend mixing a bold print bow tie and a bold print shirt; this could all be too much and go very wrong!  

3.Boutonniere: Use this to tie everything together by drawing out, and attention to, the colours used in both the bow tie and collared shirt. This can be done by using a simple piece of ribbon or fabric to wrap around the foral arrangement. Don’t forget your boutonniere doesn’t just have to be a floral arrangement! You can use materials like twine, lace, ribbon or buttons (the list goes on) which have been featured in your wedding (I can feel another blog post coming on). I’d recommend when meeting with your florist to discuss boutonnieres (if you have chosen to use a floral piece), to take a photograph or samples of the colours/prints and textures you are using so that they show you some different options which may work in drawing the look together.

4.Pocket square: If you have decided to use a pocket square, in my opinion, you HAVE to have a boutonniere (i think it looks a little bland or like something is missing?). Either try using the same fabric as your bow tie (if it isn’t too much) or a plain contrasting colour.

If you are after a more simple look i would suggest a block colour bow tie, block colour shirt and a boutonniere which blends in with your colour palette. I recently went to a wedding where the from wore a navy bow tie and jacket, white shirt and the boutonniere matched with the mustard pant (cute!!).

I’ve found some photographs of looks (and added text with the above steps) which I believe work together, are visually attractive and cute!  

All photos were found on Style Me Pretty.

S xx