The White Gown's Blog

Interview with Wedding Stylist, Brita Olsen- Feature Vendor

July 6th, 2012

by Caitlin

Brita Olsen is a wonderful bridal stylist located here in New York City. She provides her clients with unique and personalized stylish elements for their weddings. We have worked with Brita before and we know how amazing her design talent truly is- we wanted our readers to get in touch with her as well and understand more about what she does in comparison to a traditional “wedding planner”!

1) What is a bridal stylist? What is the difference between this and a wedding planner?

“A bridal stylist is someone that takes care of all visual aspects of an event or photo shoot. They work with brides to help design a cohesive aesthetic for their wedding from flowers, to table settings to ceremony space design and much more. A wedding planner is more geared towards the logistics of a wedding and will make sure everything runs on schedule and help coordinate with vendors to resolve any problems that may arise. I am one of the few people who does both, event design and coordination.”

2) How did you get to this point in your professional career? What led you down this path?

“I have a background as a fashion and trend consultant where I studied themes emerging in the industry. It gave me an eye for detail and color stories that stuck with me through my work as a wardrobe stylist. In my spare time I loved to throw parties and I would spend all my time reading Martha Stewart and dreaming up decor ideas for summer bbqs etc. Slowly my love for events seeped into my styling work and people started asking me to do weddings, and then finally my dream job emerged.”

3) What was your favorite wedding (bride to style)? Why?

“Whenever a bride says to me, “instead of ______i want to do______” I get really excited. Like, ” instead of a cake cutting I want to do a piñata smashing” or “instead of escort cards I want to do a big photo wall” it shows that she is ready to think outside of the box and have a wedding with personality. I also love when a bride is a little unsure of what she wants but is ready to put trust in me to make it look good, I am very often able to coax out the inner designer in brides. It makes me happy to work on something that is a conversation starter and people we remember long after they have gone home.”

4) What is your motto when it comes to putting together a wedding?

“Let your wedding reflect you as a couple. If your friends consider you the life of the party then you should really do it up with great music, cocktails flowing and a fun photo booth. But if you are a quieter couple, you shouldn’t feel pressured to have that kind of wedding. There are no rules anymore and you should have a wedding that you can really enjoy and tells people something about you. Sometimes all the little details can seems daunting or overwhelming but you are really not required to do any of it so consider your wedding an empty apartment and only fill it with stuff you love and inspires you.”

5) Why hire someone else (like you) to help put together the vision?

“If you know you want to have vintage or DIY design details at your wedding but don’t have time to scour eBay or sit at a sewing machine all day, a wedding designer can really come in handy.We help to define your aesthetic while adding ideas of our own. One look at a bride’s pinterest account, and I know how to bring those ideas to life. A lot of brides are very creative people but haven’t been to a lot of weddings or don’t know how to make a plain space feel special. A wedding designer is with you every step of the way to source products and materials, get you better prices, tell you how divide up your budget, advise on etiquette. And most importantly we are your design ambassador on the big day and will be there for set up when you are off in hair and makeup!”

6) You say that you work with the non-traditional bride- what has been your most unique wedding/styling?

“Recently I worked with a bride who envisioned an enchanted forest theme for her wedding. The whole evening had a very romantic “midsummer’s night dream” quality to it. Instead of escort cards she had someone passing out animal masks to assign guests to their seating sections such as wolf, bear, deer rabbit, etc. It was a unique touch and the masks functioned as favors as well as fun photo booth props, to boot!”

This first set of pictures are deigns created by Brita Olsen herself and represent her as a bridal stylist- beautiful soft colors with an elegant vintage feel!

For this second group of photos, Brita borrowed gowns from us, The White Gown, for the photo shoot! The rest of the contributing vendors are listed below.