Minted Weddings Flat Lay Challenge

When the Minted Weddings FLat Lay Challenge was announced for their wedding planner partners, I jumped at the opportunity to participate. My brain has gotten soft with the lack of creative work I’ve been able to do during quarantine, I knew that this would help me work out those creative muscles.

The Minted Weddings Flat Lay Challenge was to create a flat lay (a photo of wedding day details that are flat on the ground) and an accompanying inspiration board to help tell the story of your flat lay. We were advised to not buy anything for this challenge, rather use whatever we already had around the house. That might sound daunting, but wedding planners have a lot of stuff lying around their homes. Some of them (us) have rooms full of stuff.

You can see all the entries, including my three, by looking at the #MintedWeddingsFlatLayChallenge on Instagram. Here are the winners, as announced by Minted in an email. Given that I didn’t really do a highly detailed flat lay, at least for two of my three looks, I am really proud to get an honorable mention. There was really stiff competition!

The invitation is super neutral, a slightly taupe-y ivory color. I took all these photos on my phone (we were encouraged to do so) but I am by no means trained in photo editing, so I did the best I could. You will see that the shade of the invitation looks a little different in each of these.

Minted Weddings Flat Lay Challenge Winner: French Riviera Wedding Inspiration

Here is the winning look. To be honest, this French Riviera wedding-inspired look was my third flat lay theme idea. Initially, I designed something nautical but elegant based on the actual venue mentioned in the invitation sample. Secondly, I wanted to use the corks (that actually I had in my house) as a backdrop and thought I could tie that to a Tuscany, Italy -inspired theme. It turned into a wanderlust theme overall, with all three looks taking me far away from Washington DC.

I found these drink umbrellas on sale at Oh Happy Day and thought they would be fun to have around the house, just in case. The pale pink umbrellas made me immediately think of the beaches of the French Riviera. I went to a friend’s house who has a pool (more on that later) for this project. After I finished at the pool, I took notice of their sandy volleyball court, I conceived this flat lay. Later, I had to reverse engineer this inspiration board.

Once I had the pink umbrellas, the neutral invitation, and a dusty French blue for the palette, this all fell together. Stylish, mismatched bridesmaid gowns. Creative and dramatic entrances for both the bride and groom. A tablescape full of gold and ivory. A giant wedding cake covered in sparklers. It is a regal wedding design worthy of the stunning French Riviera.

Tuscany, Italy Wedding Inspiration

I don’t throw away my corks. This started because my aunt and uncle used to collect them. So when I initially thought of what I would use as my flat lay base, the corks were the first things I thought of.

With corks as my inspiration, I had to plan this wedding to be in wine country in Italy. Those rolling green fields. Those ancient vines. Take me there, please! I let the red wine stains on the corks lead my color palette. Then I added a metallic pink because Rosé is my favorite type of wine. Fnally, I didn’t want green grapes to feel left out, so we had to have green there as well. And no Italian wedding would be complete without gelato.

Newport, Rhode Island Wedding Inspiration

When I first got the invitation sample from Minted, I looked up to see if the venue it lists was real – and it was! The Bohlin is a gorgeous waterfront property in Newport, Rhode Island. Immediately I wanted to design a classy and not cheesy nautical wedding. This means a lot of neutrals, limited blues, and elegant natural elements.

Above, was my original concept for this flat lay: these items are on a piece of acrylic floating in a pool. As it turns out, it just looks like a blue background. Still pretty, but not what I was looking for. Below, as a back up to the backup, I did buy a bunch of seashells from Michael’s for the nautical wedding inspired board. It works but it wasn’t as elevated as I was looking for.

What look is your favorite? Where would you plan a destination wedding? Of these, I think I would pick Tuscany.

If you would like to see more inspirational shoots, you can find some in my Portfolio – click on Celebrations to narrow the options a bit. And for inspiration in general, I’ve writen about Princess Beatrice’s Micro Wedding and How to Have a Little Women Inspired Wedding.