Wall decals and wall stickers for weddings- The truth revealed!!
About 18months ago when we expanded our business from producing wall canvases for decorating into wall stickers and wall decals, we visited a company website called Wonderful Wedding Graffiti in the USA.
At the time, we thought, wow- cool concept- after we have our residential and commercial products flying out the door, we will move into the wedding market.
They offer designs of monograms of couples names, or poems that fit onto feature walls, and even a name monogram for the church door, also some signage for cars. They are still offering these and we have noticed that an Australian website is onselling these pre packaged designs for a crazy cost to Australian brides, Pink Frosting is the name of the reseller. We have also noticed that walldecals.com.au is offering some pretty poor wedding designs but with no assistance to the customer. All about making the sale rather than protecting the integrity of the product post sale.
These companies are selling decal products online that they post out to you.
So in February we started researching wedding decals and doing some sample weddings for customers and for friends weddings. As with many great ideas, the logistics of decorating a wedding with wall decals or wall stickers is not that easy! Read on if you are even vaguely considering applying decals or stickers at your wedding.
ISSUES TO CONSIDER
Surfaces:
When you buy a decal online to apply in your own home, you know that you are responsible for the surface and you also know the type of surface. The risk is yours and if unsure you can get a sample and test it.
However, with a wedding venue they are not going to be happy having you stick decals/ stickers on their surfaces. Either they will not allow it, or they will tell you that you are liable for any damage to the surface and ask for a holding deposit for any damage.
$500 to $1000 damage deposit is normal.
Dance floors:
On Wonderful Wedding Graffiti and Pink Frosting they offer monograms that can be applied to the dance floor.
So we tested it, and placed some monograms on the dance floor. Firstly if the monogram is glossy there is an extra chance of your guests slipping on the shiny monogram. Do you want to be responsible for that?
By the end of the night it was quite scuffed, and the vinyl was really hard to remove as it had been well pressed onto the floor.
Cars:
Unfortunately we could find no wedding car company who would allow us to place the decal on the car. They would allow it if we paid a big deposit and then arranged for the company to both apply and remove it.
Applying and removing:
The venues we did our sample weddings at required the decals to be applied no earlier than 4 hours before the wedding, and then had to be removed 1 hour after the wedding, so that they could have clean surfaces for their events the next day.
This meant we needed to get a family member to go to the venue and put it up without the bride seeing it before she arrived there, then the same person had to stay and remove.
The venue took a $1000 deposit to make sure our nominated person removed it on the night.
Removing the vinyl can leave some residue of adhesive. This means that the person removing the vinyl needs to take a cleaner to remove the residue and they need to make it doesn’t damage the surface.
For example: if they take some Meths to remove the residue and the surface is a lacquered floor or door, it may remove some of the lacquer.
Design:
Is it truly customised for you? If you going to take the risk to apply wall decals at the wedding, make sure you get a very personalised and customised design.
Are wall decals and wall stickers a good idea for weddings?
The concept of having a personalised decoration at the wedding is a fantastic one. They can look amazing in photographs and really enhance the atmosphere.
However, there are many logistical considerations. Do not get caught up in the “wedding buzz” and buy decals online without very carefully thinking whether you are throwing your money away on a gimmick decorating item.
We recommend following this checklist:
1. Check with the venue that you are allowed to apply a design to a surface.
YES- Move to 2.
NO- Consider getting a personalised wedding sign made that you can stand on an easel or other device.
2. Do you have a family member or friend that you trust to apply and remove the decals.? We recommend a very handy/ practical person to complete these two tasks.
YES-Move to 3.
NO- We don’t recommend that you try and apply and remove the decals on you wedding day yourself. Sometimes they need some time to apply and you don’t want to be stressed. If you can’t arrange for a friend or family, then ask the person selling the decals to you what they charge for installation and removal of the decals on the wedding day.
3. Do not buy online until you have done research about the product!
- Check what vinyl the supplier is using. Is the product the same product as they offer for their semi-permanent products for the home or office? Ask them to use a different vinyl that is best for one day use.
- Will the supplier guarantee that the product will work for any surface and won’t harm it? If they do then don’t believe them. There is no way they can guarantee that the product won’t harm the surface when they don’t even know the surface.
- What instructions/ recommendations do they provide for removing the decal? If they don’t provide any then most likely they have not given this a lot of consideration.
- Do they offer installation and removal if required? This will separate the “small-business- make a buck online don’t worry about the customer” suppliers to the more professional suppliers.
- Do they offer custom design to meet your needs?
Conclusion:
Using wall decals and stickers to decorate your wedding is possible, but there are several considerations you need to check out before buying products. Make sure you have a decent phone conversation with the supplier to ensure you have all the facts about using the decals at the wedding venue.
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