How Do You Avoid a Cookie-Cutter Wedding? Expert Planners Explain | WDP Ep 82

🎧 Listen to learn:

• How to avoid creating a cookie-cutter wedding
• How to create visual impact without decorating every single table
• Why great wedding design starts with your story—not Pinterest
• Wedding trends couples are embracing beyond traditional receptions
• The power of one dramatic focal point
• Creative entertainment ideas your guests won't see coming

How do you create a wedding that feels completely unique when so many celebrations begin to look the same? In this episode of Wedding Day Podcast, host Sonja Babich, CEO of Iron Diamond Media, and co-host Brooke Beise, Publisher of Minnesota Bride, sit down with Rachelle Mazumdar, founder of Style-Architects Weddings, and Anna Mazumdar, lead wedding planner, to explore the intentional design philosophy behind unforgettable weddings.

Known for their highly personalized approach to wedding planning and design, Rachelle and Anna explain how they help couples move beyond Pinterest inspiration to create celebrations that genuinely reflect their personalities. From layering linens and floral designs to avoiding the "sea of the same," they share how thoughtful design choices, strategic timelines and immersive guest experiences transform beautiful weddings into memorable ones.

The conversation also explores today's biggest wedding trends, including curated after parties, interactive entertainment and statement floral installations, while highlighting the importance of balancing creative vision with meticulous planning. Plus, Rachelle announces her upcoming retirement after 15 years in the wedding industry and shares how she's passing the Style-Architects Weddings legacy to Anna, offering an inspiring look at mentorship, succession and the future of one of Minnesota's most respected wedding planning companies.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Wedding Day Podcast with your host, Sonia Babbage, CEO of Iron Diamond Media, a leading wedding resource featuring seven localized wedding brands across the country.

SPEAKER_04 0:10

Hi everybody, Sony here with Wedding Day Podcast. We're here in Minnesota at Summon Hill Studios. My co-host today is Miss Brooke Vicey, publisher of Minnesota Bride. And on the couch today we have Rochelle and Anna Muzzumdar, owners, owners and lead um lead planners of style architects, weddings, and events. They've been doing this. Well, I should say, Rochelle has been doing this for 15 years, and she is a strong leader in this community with her designs and execution and just thinking really outside the box for weddings, and I'm excited for you all to meet them today. So hi guys. Hi. Thanks for joining us. We've been trying to get you two on this couch for a while now. So it's about time, and I'm excited for the whole wedding day podcast world to meet you two because thank you. When I'm a when I'm in a uh position of making new corners or turning new chapters or wanting to try new things, um, I always think of you two and yourself to help me like you know row the boat and deliver your brain, but help me deliver what um what I want to do. And you always go here, but you go here. Oh, yeah, like you I paint the picture and you always execute even better than I imagined. So thank you for always being there for us and the team. So oh absolutely, we love Minnesota Bride. Yes, so thanks. Well, um, I was gonna say, um, so when you started this journey, you were a mom of three boys, yeah, and you were just wanting to, I think, get out of the house, huh?

SPEAKER_03 1:43

I needed some female energy to be quite honest in my life. Yeah, everything was just a strone, even my dog was a boy. So um, yeah, I just needed something, yeah, get out of the house, but also just have some female energy, do things that were pretty and beautiful and just outside my my everyday. Well, I'm glad you did. I love that. Yeah, me too. It's been amazing, it's been an amazing journey.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Yeah, and actually, Rochelle um planned one of our former editor's weddings to Sarah Bellman Rogers. Love and I she was one of my first weddings. That would make sense. 2015, she got married in 2014. Well, I remember like because Sarah and I got married the same year and like looking at um Sarah's style, which is very similar to mine. I was like, of course you had Rochelle. It was a beautiful day at Aria, too. Oh, it was. I miss that venue so much. Anna came into the picture as a daughter-in-law.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Well, girlfriend started out a brand new girl, first girlfriend in the family. That was called the top.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Be the first girlfriend though.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

No, but yeah, um, Rochelle needed like a fourth and fifth set of hands on the New Year's Eve wedding um 13 years ago, and um she bribed my now husband. Um, and I kind of just came along for the ride, and she bought our dinner that night because it was New Year's, and um I caught the bug, you know. So I wants to wear New Year's.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yeah, and I needed help, and I'm like, okay, I'll buy your dinner if you guys come help.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Yeah. And I like I remember that wedding, like I wore her skirt, I wore her necklace. Like she basically dressed dressed me head to toe because I'd never been to a you know wedding, a Rochelle wedding before, you know.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

So she wants to be on brand of her. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yeah, no, but it was her flip. Yeah, like there for like maybe two hours at most, but yeah, it was the bug. Oh my gosh. Love that hard.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

I called the bug hard, but it even came full-time 2023, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, yep, yep, around there. Um, I was working for a venue and um she uh asked if I wanted to take a couple clients on a year, so I started in 21 and then um in 23 went full-time, full roster of um full service cool games. January 23.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

Yeah, like that. He had to put a ring on it first. So I mean, she's been with the business really for 13 years in various capacities. She interned, yeah, she did my social, yeah, she would assist with weddings for all those years. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:13

All right, so you have a term that was very that caught my eye, and you might need to actually correct me when I ask you. Okay, you don't want to get lost in the sea of like sea of the same, yeah. See of the same. I've never heard that term before. Oh, yeah. But I can relate to it when I read it. I'm like, I needed the breakdown how why you have this quote or statement with weddings.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Yeah, well, one thing I just don't like, and what most people do if they don't work with a wedding designer is that every tablecloth is the same, they get the same centerpiece for everything, they do everything the same. And you walk into the room and it's just a sea of the same design, right? So there's not a lot of interest in the room. And so I always tell my clients or our we tell our clients that you know, we don't want that for the space. We want it to everywhere you look is something a little different. So we mix our linens, you know, we usually will mix two, three, you know, linens in a space. We'll use two, three different centerpieces or more, and uh a focal point and just lots of different interests so that everywhere you look at something different. Oh, look at that charger, it might be different than this charger, and this napkin's different than that napkin, but yet it all pulls together into a cohesive vision, but yet it's interesting to look at no matter where you are in this massive room. So we avoid seeing the same.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

So walk us through the whole like design process. If I'm engaged, I reach out to you guys, talk us through beginning to end. How does this really work with you guys?

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Love to do that. Well, I'll start. Yeah, go ahead. Um we really focus on priorities, right? And getting to know the clients in depth early on in the process of planning their wedding. Usually our uh weddings we design were also full planning, but we also offer design with um coordination services as well. But assuming they're full service, um, we meet with them to really get to know them personally. Like, what are their interests, their hobbies, where do they shop, what does their home look like, what's important to them, what do they do together, you know, what do they want their wedding to project, things like that. And so it's really getting to know them well that we can really tailor the look of the wedding to them. Um, and then their priorities, right? In terms of, you know, florals and you know, this, that. And then we look at their Pinterest board, you know, which is usually just a smash mashup of 10 years of different pictures and you know, what do they like about each particular image, yeah, and then really take that and elevate it. You know, we don't want to just take what they have and then just produce a wedding, we want to take that and make it even better.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, it's really pulling, asking those like more deeper questions when we're going through their Pinterest board to find out, you know, for example, like Hannah and Sarah that I did for um that you know, you know, they wanted a green wedding, greenery wedding because that's all they knew and that's what they thought they could afford. And we ended up with this beautiful citrus wedding because they're bubbly, they're exciting, they're not this no offense, greenery. Oh my gosh, that wedding was so funny. Right, and so it was there.

SPEAKER_04 6:58

It looked so pretty.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

It was editary. Oh, yeah, it was editary. But you know what I mean? Like we want to we ask those questions of like, you know, why do you like this floral arrangement? Oh, it's the shape, okay? It's not so much the color, you know, and really diving deep, like Rochelle said, into who they are as a couple, because we're not cookie-cutter designers. We want to design a wedding that looks like the two of you because every couple is different.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Well, still one of my favorite style shoots is still the one that you did at Woodhaven with the call, and you're like the car, and I'm like, and you were shooting these ideas, and I'm like, I'm a little nervous, but we're gonna see that it's one of my favorites, it's so good. But you have to think outside of the box. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. That was beautiful. I love what you said. What do you want? Dan was there too.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Oh, yeah, he was. In fact, our the groom borrowed Dan's ring because we didn't plan a ring for him, and he was supposed to be freshly married, and Dan goes, four kids comes with this ring. I remember that. It was so funny.

SPEAKER_04 7:51

But yeah, it seems like when you dive into something, you you're all in. And I and that's why I want to communicate to the listeners like you your strong suit is design. If you want to make that your what say your focus on a wedding day, I truly would lean to you guys for that. Like for hiring you because every planner can or designer is different, right? Like that's where you I feel like fills your guys' cup, right? Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah, I love what you said too. You both have talked about this, but like how what do you want your wedding to project or how do you want them to feel versus like what are we going for a color palette here? You know, like there's a big difference there, and you guys don't tap into that, and I love that.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Yes, let's dive into the experience. You like to throw some curveballs with that too, right? And add things that couples don't think about could be the live artist or expressing your TR, right? What are you doing? Even playing with the timeline, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

We talk about that a lot too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our timelines, you know, we like you said, we want to focus on the energy of the event because that's what most people want. Um, your guest experience, and you know, we we prefer to uh lean towards that East Coast style timeline. So that's a little bit more um in terms of like after cocktail hour, you get invited into the reception space and there's a little dancing before dinner. It gets the energy up in the room. Guests don't expect it because we're in the Midwest, because all the toasts and speeches are at the end and all the dancing is at the end, and uh we like to pepper in those toasts and speeches and special dances in dinner service so that your guests are always paying attention to something or doing something. You know, we hate the lulls, we cannot stand a lull. And um, you know, our timeline is it what ends up 13, 14, 15 pages. Not everybody sees that because we're not crazy, but yeah, we are. Yeah, we are. Yeah, that's true. But you know what I mean? It's it's it's how do your guests feel at your event? You know, we all go to weddings and we all judge a little bit, you know, here and there. And we want to think through start to finish what your guests feel, you know, when they enter your ceremony. Are they gonna get a cocktail right then or there? Have a cocktail hour before your ceremony, you know? It's it never hurts to.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

I was going back to your quote getting what lost in the sea. I'm like, in a sense, it's like when you go to weddings, you don't want to be the same one that you just were at.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Right, yeah, you don't want to just check a box, you know. You want curveballs, fun. Curveballs, nothing.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

So, what are some curveballs that you like to like add into the weddings these days for like trends? And of course, like when this is published, which we hope will publish sooner than later, but like those trends are always constantly changing. Oh, absolutely. But what are the trends that you're really diving into right now?

SPEAKER_03 10:20

It's uh after parties for one thing. Um several of our clients, many of our clients are doing after parties, and they're it's not just meet at the hotel bar afterwards, like these are full-on curated events on top of the wedding. Um, and so that's certainly something we've seen. But we've done a lot of fun things. I think one of the most fun ones I you know I ever did, not so much from a design perspective, was we um the bride was really into river dance, like from a young age, and so the parents wanted to surprise her with Irish dancers at her wedding. I love it. Yeah, and it was a big wedding, it was almost 300 people, and so we knew that we needed to raise them and we wanted to do it during dinner, so we knew we needed to raise them on a stage in order for everybody in the room to be able to see them. But that was our dance floor, and so um the dance, the raised stage then became our dance floor for the evening too, which was a lot of fun. Um, and we closely monitored and pushed people in if they got too close to the edge, just so no one would fall off. But like that was such a cool event, and just something completely unexpected. And the bride literally uh Dan did the video for that one, and like her reaction was like, What? You know, it was just insane. And um, I don't know, just different sorts of entertainment. We've done pool tables, dartboards, arcade games, espresso bars, bubble bars, like all sorts of bubble bars. Well, bubbly bars. Oh, so prosecto, I'm guessing. Okay, oh no, we gotta mix it up prosecco, kava, champagne. But not like bubbles.

unknown 11:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

Hey, you never know until you never know.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

You know, I've got another wedding coming up. We're bringing in um Indian dancers, cool, table players, just lots of different sorts of entertainment and things, I think, is big.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

I'm digging that right now, like especially with our upcoming events. Like, I love the live artists, I think it's a really nice twist and addition, a conversation starter. Oh, absolutely. And just something, especially in that cocktail hour. Right? Not the typical, oh, there's the patio, grab a jank, look at the view, right? Yeah, you're giving something for them to be like, ooh, curveballs, right? Right. Um, I always say like it's a weekend that you like you're giving up in a sense for your guests, and I hate to say it that way, but like they are taking away a weekend away from going to the cabin or going on another adventure with their family or partner, whatever. So when they come, they want to have fun. Yeah, they want to be entertained, they don't want to have a lull.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Right. Right. And then they want to feel taken care of, you know what I mean? And so when we get to cocktail hour, that there's past cocktails, there's past apps, you know, things come to them and that are beautiful and intentional and thought through. That's what we want for our clients.

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Yeah. And food has been definitely another aspect that's been a huge play in the game these days as a centerpiece to a wedding, right? How how do you dive into that with the food? Because a lot of times, again, just paint the picture of all the things that they want to have and then you know, pick and choose. But food is a it's I might I just went to the children's hospital gala on Saturday, and I got in the cargo the food was awesome. Oh nice, you know, like you just remember that the food isn't good, or but it's an artist, artistry too. It can be art, yeah, absolutely experience.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Right. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, uh the caterers in town are doing awesome jobs with you know, thinking outside the box. Um, I know that Rochelle went to an event with um tiles for the appetizers and it was displayed beautifully. You know, it's intentional um displays. So I know another um uh catering partner of ours is doing um like boards of like hummus or butter or whatever. They're actually hanging like art. Yeah, they're hanging out. And they're colored and things like that in interactive. Take your cracker and yeah, just like at um Star Wars, they had uh candle opera covered in, I don't think it was, I thought it was butter, maybe it was oh, it's frosting. Um my cup of tea. But you can make your cookie, you know, and it's interactive. Um they're not ex guests aren't expecting that, you know, because I mean it's outside the box, but yeah, that's what we're here for is to push our clients outside the box when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_04 14:15

Yeah, yeah. So you also don't like having such a focal point, right, on a wedding day, or do you like having to do it? Do you do? So what does that mean?

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Paint that picture. Well, again, to that sea of the same, right? If you've got a massive room and you've got all these tables and things going on, you want to have um somewhere for your eye to rest or to go to, kind of, or if your budget is limited, you know, don't spread it all out and put, you know, lots of little flowers all over all the tables. But you need to combine them and make something big and um eye-catching, right? You know, so you definitely want a focal point for the eye to rest to kind of look and say, Oh my god, this is so beautiful, you know, and kind of set the tone for the room. And then the rest of it supports it. And if you can support it by putting flowers everywhere else, then fantastic. And if you can't, it's better to have a focal point and candles everywhere than no focal point and a bunch of little stuff all over the tables.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Can you give us some examples of what different focal points you've done?

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Well, um, a lot of times it's centered over the ceremony and then repurposed over the uh like the head table or the Baron's table, whatever you want to call it. Cool. Um that's a very common way to do it, right? Um so we do that a lot. It could be backdrops, um, it could be what have you done? Um, installation piece. Yeah, yeah, usually an installation piece.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yep, yeah. Um Rochelle did a floral tunnel. You know, that's that's true. I mean, it's a beautiful focal point that's not not technically even in the room, but I don't know if I've ever seen a floral tunnel before. Oh, it was certainly a conversation piece. Oh it was really cool. It was that that sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. We had two doorways um leading from the front foyer into the main space, and then you'd come back through it for the cocktailer and then back in for dinner. And so they were coming in and out of this tunnel several times. And there was two sets of doorways, and um, but you could see it from the front door, so we removed the doors, and it was about an eight-foot just archway through the two sets of doors that was just floral, and it was yeah, it was amazing. That was certainly a highlight.

SPEAKER_04 16:17

And this is like you pitching these ideas, right, to the client.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's so good. I love that. Yeah, yeah. No, no client's gonna think of that, you know. They it, you know, they see what they see on Pinterest, right? And that's about as far as as they go or their generally, because that's all they know or see, right? And so it's our job to kind of think bigger, think bigger.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Well, and I want to share one thing I know about you guys too. You know, all these ideas are like so fun and creative, and they come from like getting to know the couples. And you mentioned like a 13-page timeline too, you know? It's one thing to be a designer and have all these great ideas, but like what I know about you two is you dot the I's and cross the T's like nobody's business, which honestly is a unicorn because you know, there's all the sexy fun stuff, right? The beautiful stuff, but there's gotta be a plan for it, and that I feel like sometimes is like missed, you know. Yeah, right. Okay, how do we actually sure you might have a plan, but like truly to like, yeah, it's a testament to your pages and pages of timelines and details. It's amazing. You ask the questions and you never assume. Yes, yes, yes, you can never assume anything. Yes, so I love that about you guys. All this ideas have a plan and art can be executed well too.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

So well, and part of that comes from once I was talking with a vendor and they're like, you know, I'm working with so-and-so, this great designer on the wedding, but I still don't have a floor plan, and the wedding's in two days. Yeah, you know, and so there are a lot of um planners that are either very organized but not particularly uh don't exact not exactly excel at design, or they're design, you know what I mean. The planners are not designers, or they're designers not planners. Yeah, that's exactly what it's like. And that's where I feel like you know, I've been at this so long that I feel like I've really rounded out both. Yeah. And you know, Anna's the same. So she kind of came, yeah, more design focused in the beginning, and I taught her the process. Yeah. And um, and I developed my design style just because I've been at events literally since 05 and then weddings since 11. So 2011.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

I think it takes a lot to while you're Rochelle. I can attest to that. Yeah. But I know that 15 years have been amazing, but you are ready to pass the torch a little bit. So you have some news you have want to share.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Yeah, I'm uh gonna be retiring October 1st of this year. Good morning. I know.

SPEAKER_04 18:34

I know I'm not gonna let you leave me. You're gonna call me in my life.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Oh, you can call me anytime. But I mean, I'm 60, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise to people, you know, that this is coming. And I, you know, I've got other interests that I want to pursue that I haven't had time for, other business opportunities, and um, and it's just time to get off this hamster wheel of weddings, which is so exhausting. You know, we work 16-hour days sometimes. It's like I can't even walk the next day. I'm so sore. So, like I'm just that's the part, although I love weddings and seeing it all come together and the design come together, and seeing the couple so happy, like that's amazing, but it also is just really hard on the body, and I'm just sort of ready to take it easy. Good for you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

So, what does that mean? Well, that means Anna's shutting it down.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

Yeah, no, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

So, no, Anna's taking over the business. And um exciting. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

No, it is nervous, but yeah, how how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I'm nervous, but I'm excited. You know, it's a um it's a legacy that I hope that I can withhold um and you know, continue to build bigger and better things. And um, she's my mother-in-law, she's not going anywhere, you know. So if I ever need you have a built-in mentor, literally, yeah, I have for the last 13 years. And you know, she's an OG. I learned from the best, and yeah, yeah. So it's a new era. It's a new era. It's exciting, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Terrifying, but yeah, I'm excited. No, Anna's been, like I said, she's been with me since 2013, right? So she's seen every aspect of the business. She's yeah, been well groomed for this. It's gonna be a great transition. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, cool. Yeah, I mean, I've learned so much from her, even, you know. So that's when I know she's ready, is when I'm learning from her, right? I love that. Um, and she's very well respected in the industry. Everybody knows and loves her because she's been around for so long. And so I just think it's gonna be a pretty easy adjustment for everybody, and I'm just really proud of her. And uh look and exciting for both of us. Yeah, we want to see. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Well, congrats, so excited. Congrats. I actually want to know when did this conversation happen? Did they catch you off guard? Did you expect it?

SPEAKER_01 20:38

And they're like, um, I expected it. Um, yeah. She's been kind of hinting at it over the past maybe year or two. Um, and there was a couple of times at like events she would say something to somebody and I would overhear it. I'd be like, hold on, let's let's let's let's chat first. You know, we're a little happy or a whiny. Maybe we should talk about the birds. No, no, but um, you know, we she's been hinting at it, and I kind of knew that it was around the corner, and so it's finally here, and it's like, well, let's do it. Sure. Here we go. Jump in. Let's jump in, just like the first wedding I did with her.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Let's just wedding community is gonna be sad to see you depart, Rochelle.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Well, they may not, they might see me now and then, right? Like if an event comes up that Anna, for whatever real reason, feels I'm better suited for, you know, I might still take it, you know. So I won't be gone forever. I'm gonna still come to the events and get her back and you know, keep in touch with the community, and obviously I'm here to support you know however she wants. So I'm not gonna be completely gone.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Yeah, we're not gonna let you, and I know everybody's gonna be like cheering you on. Yeah, oh gosh, yeah. Right. So excited. Right. Yep. So yeah, yay. Well, that's a wrap, you guys. Thanks for coming back to the podcast. I'm just excited that everybody got to meet you and hear your story, hear your wisdom, and now and see the passing of the torch and how that can happen. Yeah, yeah. So it's documented. It's real.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

It's officially real. I know it's not in the year. I can't go back now. Yeah, you can't go back. Thank you so much for having us. Really, we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Well, thank you everybody for tuning in the way.