• Wedding reception decoration plays a vital role in guest’s memories of a wedding.

IN the Zambian wedding industry many events decorators have come on board, which is a good thing; the only problem is the motive behind one entering into this industry.
Some have a passion; others think they can do it because others are successful in this industry.
The majority believe that it is a hot business at the moment so taking advantage will help cater for school fees and the rest don’t know why they are in the décor industry.  They believe that when one embarks on a journey going nowhere, they will eventually end up somewhere this is
how they have find themselves in this industry.
This has caused the same decor to fit all events, corporate functions are as exactly as wedding ceremonies, same centerpieces, draping, and theme, although some are theme less, organza material tied to the white chair covers, serviettes put inside the water glasses with finger prints on them and the decor charge is fixed, for a wedding ceremony, corporate function, baby showers, kitchen parties, this has become very unfair to the brides and grooms who are planning a low budget wedding.
Wedding reception decoration plays a vital role in guest’s memories of a wedding. By reflecting the ceremony, wedding reception décor continues the tone originally set by the couple for their special day.
Reception décor presents through colour, light and ornamentation, the personality of the bride and groom.
Wedding decorations must be done to spice up the occasion and to light up the day, this is why a lot of people always want to involve the decorators in order to make sure it is really perfect.
If you have some great ideas and passion on decoration well then, you will not feel intimidated and you must bear in mind that you are not supposed to empty their entire budget just for the wedding for gain, at the end of it all both you and the couple should be happy, create a rapport.
Haven’t you wondered why even the close relatives don’t hire you as a decorator at a family gathering? In order to win their confidence one has to understand that decorating either for a wedding or corporate function, understand the art behind every concept.
Where thoughts prevails power may be found, you must transform the belief into a definite purpose and back that purpose with a definite plan.
Wedding decorators- it is helpful to know thy self, believe in thy self, but do not tell the world what you can do show it!
Relatives and friends will only believe in you and hire you only when you believe in yourself.
Lack of self-confidence which is based upon sound knowledge of what you know and what you can do, while egotism which is only based upon what you wish you knew or could do, learn the difference between these two terms or you will make yourself annoying brides, grooms, relatives and the organizers.
Self-confidence should not be proclaimed or announced except through intelligent performance of constructive deeds.
Self- confidence is the product of knowledge, know yourself, know how much you know, can deliver and how little, why you know it and how best you are going to use it. There’s no use of pretence, because any bride and groom will measure you quite accurately after hearing you
speak for the first three minutes, what you really are will speak so loudly than what you claim you are and claim can do will not be heard at all.
If you have self-confidence those around you will discover this fact, they will feel proud of their alertness in having made the discovery, and you will be free from the suspicion of egotism. Self- praise is never a proper measure of self-reliance, so bear this in mind and let your self-confidence speak only through the tongue of constructive service rendered without fuss or flurry.
In the Zambian wedding industry some decorators are not doing good decor because they vision nothing but a weekend pay envelop, so that they can have money for school fees, food, do not care whether the bride and groom’s vision or theme are brought to life in the elegant
décor they put down and those with a passion have left their home towns and gone to overpopulate Lusaka, many tame this as “going for greener pastures”.
In the Bible, the Books of Genesis 26: 1 Isaac became rich, wealthy after he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted in a land where there was a severe famine. Where you are that is a perfect green pasture for you, decorating opportunities are found where one
really is and nowhere else!
To most decorators the picking looks better on the other side of the fence. This may sound futile to some, encouraging them to boost this business in their little home-town, when it has become man’s nature to look for opportunities in some other locality, but believe you me you
will do better in our home- town, do not worry because the grass looks sweeter and greener on the other side of the fence, it took someone just like you with maybe with even less passion than you do to turn things around, so do the same with your home town.
As a wedding decorator you will be responsible for decorating the entire wedding events. Creativity is essential to wedding decorating since you must turn a client’s vision into reality.
You need to be capable of seeing the potential in a particular venue and helping your
client to see it too. The venue is the canvas and you are responsible for designing and styling it to suit the client’s desire since you are promoting yourself and your service.
Being creative will also help you to stand out of the crowd.
When you are decorating one needs to create elegant and creative spaces during the wedding ceremonies and receptions. Not all venues need draping as some halls are elegant, they make one feel at event and ready for a wedding, just like certain chairs do not need seat covers they wow! The invited guests as they enter the room and comfortable to sit on.
When you are invited to decorate a wedding some of the things you need to consider when turning a vision into reality you must understand what draping does and when it can be used.
Draping transforms the look of the venue, so creative draping and lighting can transform even a
simple, dull space into a beautiful elegant and romantic wedding venue.
The right style of draping and lighting can emphasize and it complements the bride and groom’s wedding theme, as well as hides the unsightly ceiling or walls of event location. Whatever the location being it school, community hall, marquee the right touch can give you the wedding venue of your dreams.
The lighting helps create the mood of the event, as a decorator you can use a single, huge chandelier or paper lanterns at the center of the venue hall, where the drapes meet to create an elegant, dramatic effect.
The main purpose for a ceiling décor is to cover up the ugly ceiling while fabric draping can transform an unimpressive ceiling into an ethereal canopy for a wedding.
A centerpiece is an important item of a display usually of a table setting. A centerpiece helps set the theme of the decorations and bring extra decorations to the room. It also refers to any central or important object in a collection of items.
A centerpiece being a central object which serves a decorative purpose, However, centerpieces should not be too large, to avoid difficulty with visibility around the table and to allow for the easier serving of dishes and not to distract those seated on the table, their eyes should rest on the table and not try to wonder what the decorator really meant when they came up with just a distractive piece in the center.
The last wedding you attended, you might have seen how the children and adults scrambled for the centerpiece at the table, be wise and put up a centerpiece that will attract everybody’s attention over them.
There are many unique and inspirational ideas for a wedding reception centerpiece that will facilitate your guests to take it home as a favor.
For you to make it as a successful decorator, you must be very creative, transform any venue to an extent that even the owner of place fails to recognize it and also the invited guests fails to
believe that it is the venue they have been coming to for the past weekends to attend weddings.
Neglecting to broaden their creativity has kept some decorators doing the same décor for years regardless of the events they are decorating.
I’m gathering information on the Zambian weddings from 1964 to 2014, from the stories told the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s wedding sound as if they were stress free. We look forward to such write ups. For comments and contributions:
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