Venue Styling with Afmena Events

This week Show The Bride caught up with Barbara, Creative Director of London based, Afmena Events! Afmena Events are known for their expertise in floral and event design. Their work is elegant, stylish, feminine and incredibly romantic. What a delight it was to find out more about what they do!

Q. How would you describe Afmena Events?

We are venue stylists and florists, so in sum we specialise in floral and event design. What is so fantastic about what we do is that we have the flexibility to work with planners and we can also work with brides directly.

Establishing Afmena Events came about 10 years ago when I got married. We were very young getting married so didn’t have much of a budget so the decor had to be done on a ‘DIY’ scale. Back then the wedding industry wasn’t an industry and there was no such thing as social media. This made sourcing wedding suppliers very difficult and most people I knew had their wedding decorated by an ‘Auntie’ of some sort who knew a bit about balloons!

I knew that I wanted something different but achievable for my friends and I to pull off. I came up with a design concept and it all came together really well. From that point we had friends asking us to decorate for their weddings and that was how it all began.

Q. What are your most popular items brides tend to request from you?

Sequin tablecloths! This really is trending at the moment. We love working with them because they fall so nicely especially when used with a round table. Although a lot of people don’t know that you really have to put a tablecloth underneath when using them because when the light hits them, they are transparent and this does not look good in photographs.

Q. What do you love most about Venue styling?

That moment before the guests arrive when we stop and and see the finished look. The rush of excitement thinking about how the bride and groom will respond and the reaction of the guests is just so thrilling. The opportunity to be creative and to see a vision come to reality – literally making it all happen from nothing, is such a buzz.

Q. If you could share 1 piece of planning advice with our brides, what would it be?

Do not cut corners with your decor. The food, music and entertainment are all key aspects of the experience but they will not be captured in your photographs. You want to look back on your pictures with a sense of pride at how beautiful everything looked. Even if your decor is simple and not over the top, it still needs to be done properly because those pictures will last a lifetime.