Scentscaping your wedding – Have you done yours?

If you haven’t thought about scenting your wedding now is the time. There is an industry that has been gaining popularity to provide a bespoke wedding scent to personalise your wedding making it unique and memorable.

According to the NYTimes article couples are now “Scentscaping” the wedding experience. Over here we only had a sniff of this when Meghan insisted on odourising the 15th century St. Georges chapel at Windsor. However, rather more interestingly, according to Martha Stewart, Kate Middleton used her favourite fragrance from Jo Malone which were Orange Blossom candles.

Martha’s article goes on to say “Scentscaping is a popular way of creating a customised atmosphere or mood in a space through fragrance,”. While it’s commonly employed in places like hotels, you can also apply the design concept to event planning-including wedding planning.

5 Ways to Introduce scents at your wedding?

The first obvious question might be in what ways can the wedding be more incensed? Well, here are the five most obvious ways to incorporate your own signature smell.

1. Essential Oils

2. Perfume + Cologne

3. Potpourri

4. Candles

5. Flowers

The beauty of scent is that it evokes memories. The first date, where you were when the proposal happened, a long-time favoured scent. It is a wonderful gesture to bring the memory back to the wedding day tying all the pieces together and giving some real genuine meaning to the day.

The items you would most likely have heard of in this list are flowers where you most likely see the wedding bouquet, flowers for the venue and for centerpieces. Perfume and Cologne may be gifts to each other for bride and groom. or just their own preference. Possibly candles too used rather sparingly as some organisers do not appreciate a naked flame being lit in their venue. So, aside from these three the new ones are essential oils and potpourri. Potpourri would be easier to produce as you would sort of bunch those flavours of choice together. The most difficult one to produce would be a bespoke perfume.

Setting the mood

Before you start scentscaping your wedding, you’ll need to decide what type of mood you want to set. According to the Candlefish based in Atlanta, USA, there are nine fragrance families, each with its own personality.

Citrus: Sparkling, clean, fresh, energising

Epicurean: Indulgent, nostalgic

Floral: Romantic, feminine

Fruity: Lively, fun, young

Green/natural: Innocent, natural

Spice/herbaceous: Natural, therapeutic, exotic

Water/fresh: Clean, fresh, ocean

Woods: Warmth, depth, richness

Other suggestions to make it special?

1. Make It Personal

2. Scent Your Venue

3. Scent Unexpected Items

4. Don’t Go Overboard

5. Gift Your Scent

We would really suggest like any project to have a plan to do this. Sure if you had buckets of cash you’d simply book an appointment with some of the establishments below and get the finest most bespoke product that would make the mark.

For more normal folk doing a lot of the work yourself could well create the same effect without as much cost. Creativity is a wonderful thing. First things first list down all the areas where guest would have touchpoints, for example, at the dinner table, the wedding guest book signing table, the entrance. Make a second list on what sort of scent or fragrances you most like. Then decide which scent might go where

Make It Personal

Maybe you already have a personal favourite scent that you’re known for you have selected a fragrance that is fitting for your personality.

Scent Your Venue

Where you are going to get most bang for your buck is scenting the wedding venue. This is where wedding guests will be prevalent. The meaning of the scent will also be at its strongest when tradition is also involved. Association of first date on the wedding day – What a nice way to bring soul and character to the day.

Scent Unexpected Items

If you want to offer your guests a ‘wow’ factor try adding scent to things one would normally think of. When the guests appreciate the scent but not associate it with you they might think it was input from the other half and then appreciate you both as a couple which is an even better situation.

Don’t go over do it

Putting scents all over the place takes away from the specialness of it. You’d want to do just enough to show you’ve thought about it and to show off the scent that has meaning to a special memory in the past.

Gifting your scent

We’ve heard of couples lightly spraying thank you cards with their special scent, then inlaying inside a gift box or bag.

Who can create my personal scent for me?

Next question then if I wanted to go all out is who can create my own scent for me. We have picked out a few of the more prestigious ones.

Perfumes

Jo Malone London offers a bridal consultation service where they offer set signature scents

Tom Ford Beauty in Convent Garden, London have a package where you can learn how to create and style your own wedding fragrance collection with the help of an accredited specialist.

Floris it has been suggested provided the scent for Meghan Markle and Price harry for their wedding day. They have a personalised perfumery service designed for brides and grooms called the ‘Together’ fragnace customisation where they meet with a Floris perfumer in one to one and create two bespoke 100ml eau de parfums.

UK: The Perfume Studio offer days where you can try concocting your own scent. They even have a hen’s event where all the girls have a go. Best one is worn at the wedding perhap?

USA, New York: Olfactory NYC

Flowers

Lavender Green who were responsible for Pippa Middleton’s wedding flowers who despite covid are offering virtual wedding consultations to get the right selection of flowers for your wedding.