From Engagement to Wedding Day: My Full Planning Process for a Dia de los Muertos Wedding Theme

Sierra and Eli weren't scrolling Pinterest wondering what kind of wedding they wanted; They already knew. They wanted bright colors with Dia de los Muertos influences woven throughout the day. They wanted details that felt personal, a little unexpected, and completely true to who they are (like choosing Corpse Bride vows).

What they didn't have was a plan for how all of those pieces would come together. That conversation is actually pretty common for my couples. They usually show up with screenshots saved on Pinterest, ideas they've been collecting for months, maybe even years. They know what they like when they see it, but the hard part is figuring out how to turn all of those ideas into one wedding that feels cohesive instead of random.

When Sierra and Eli reached out, I asked if they were talking to any other planners…They said no. Not because they had every detail figured out already. They just knew they wanted someone who understood the vision from the beginning. So, we started there.

This is usually where my work begins.  By the time they reach out, they've spent months trying to find someone who understands their vision without trying to make it look like everyone else's. If that sounds familiar, you might relate to What It's Like to Work With an Alternative Wedding Planner. 

A Dia de los Muertos Wedding Theme Doesn't Need to Be Toned Down

One thing I wish more couples knew is that they don't have to shrink their ideas to make other people comfortable. I actually talked more about this in You Have the Vision, Now What? How to Actually Execute Your Alternative Wedding Design Ideas, because this is where I see couples start second-guessing themselves the most. 

Somewhere during wedding planning, people start second-guessing themselves with thoughts like:

• Maybe this is too much.

• Maybe people won't understand.

• Maybe we should make it a little more traditional.

Before they know it, they're making decisions based on what other people expect instead of what they actually want.

Sierra and Eli happily never really did that. They loved the bright colors that naturally come with a Día de los Muertos wedding theme, so we leaned into them.

The bride wore her grandmother's wedding dress, her veil was custom crocheted, and the bridesmaids received handmade crocheted earrings as gifts. Their vows came straight from Corpse Bride, which felt perfectly on brand for them.

What I loved is that none of those details felt like they were added because they fit the theme. They were there because they mattered to the couple. The Día de los Muertos wedding theme gave everything a beautiful backdrop, but the things people connected with most were the pieces that told Sierra and Eli's story.

Turning Dia de los Muertos Wedding Ideas Into a Cohesive Wedding Day 

By the time most couples come to me, the vision is already there. The problem usually isn’t taste. It's a translation of how do the colors, ceremony details, florals, venue layout, music, fashion, food, and guest experience all work together without the wedding feeling like twelve different Pinterest boards got into a fistfight?  That's especially true when planning a Día de los Muertos wedding theme.

You might love a particular floral installation, have a ceremony concept saved from one wedding, a tablescape from another, and a dozen different design details scattered across Pinterest boards. Individually, they're all beautiful. The challenge is figuring out which pieces belong in the same wedding and how to make them feel connected.

That's a big part of what we did for Sierra and Eli. They already knew they wanted bright colors, meaningful personal details, and a wedding that felt a little different from what most people expect. My role wasn't to come up with the vision for them. It was to take all of those ideas and create a plan around them, connect them with vendors who understood the aesthetic, and make sure every decision supported the overall experience we were creating.

Dia de los Muertos Wedding Ideas That Still Felt Personal

For Sierra and Eli, the strongest Día de los Muertos wedding ideas were the ones connected to their actual lives. The bright color palette gave the day energy. The Corpse Bride vows brought in their shared personality. The bride’s grandmother’s wedding dress added family history. The handmade crochet details made the wedding feel tactile and personal. The cemetery portraits added atmosphere without forcing the day into a traditional wedding mold. And the key lime pie cut with a dagger? Exactly the kind of detail guests remember because it feels specific, not manufactured.

Why Crescent Hall Sandy, Utah, Was Such a Good Fit

One of my favorite planning decisions from this wedding happened at Crescent Hall, Sandy, Utah, and most guests probably had no idea it was intentional.

Typically, the space gets flipped between the ceremony and reception. Guests are ushered to another location for cocktail hour, vendors move tables and chairs around, and everyone waits for the room to be ready again.

We decided not to do any of that. From the beginning, we designed the layout to work for both the ceremony and reception. The tables were already set, the chairs were already where they needed to be, and when the ceremony ended, the celebration simply kept moving.

It gave us more time for the things that truly mattered.

Instead of making guests feel like they were in a holding pattern, the day moved naturally from one part of the celebration into the next. The day kept moving, which gave everyone more time to actually enjoy the experience instead of waiting around for the next thing to happen. That's a huge part of how I think about wedding design and guest experience, which I talk about more in What a Luxury Wedding Actually Feels Like. 

Those are the kinds of decisions I love making during the planning process. They're not necessarily the details that end up in photos, but they absolutely impact how a wedding feels. For Sierra and Eli, it meant the day flowed naturally from one moment into the next and allowed everyone, including the couple, to stay present instead of navigating unnecessary transitions.

The Details People Remember Usually Aren't the Ones You Expect

People definitely noticed the colors, the flowers, and all of the design details. Those things helped create the atmosphere. What people kept coming back to, though, were the stories behind everything.

Like skipping a traditional wedding cake and cutting into a key lime pie with a dagger. Or making time for portraits in a cemetery because it fit the overall vibe of the day better than a perfectly manicured garden ever could.

One of my favorite details came from a story Eli shared about Johnny Lingo and the famous "8 cow wife." What he always loved about the story wasn't the idea behind it, but how wonderfully over-the-top and ridiculous it was. The reference became a running joke over the years and eventually found its way into the wedding day. Guests loved the humor behind it, and it became one more personal detail that reflected the couple's personality and relationship.

That's the kind of thing guests remember. Not because it was trendy or because they saw it on Pinterest first. They remember it because it meant something to the couple, and you could feel that throughout the entire wedding.

How the Full Wedding Planning Process Helped Bring the Theme Together

The full wedding planning process gave us room to look at the wedding as a whole instead of making decisions one at a time. That matters even more with a nontraditional wedding theme, because every detail has to be filtered through the same question: does this support the experience, or is it just another cool idea?

We looked at the venue layout, guest flow, vendor team, design direction, ceremony details, reception experience, and personal moments together. That is what made the wedding feel intentional instead of overly themed.

What I Want Couples to Know

This kind of planning is for the couple who already knows they do not want a copy-and-paste wedding. You might be drawn to darker colors, dramatic design, cultural details, gothic elements, bold florals, nontraditional vows, or a venue that doesn’t immediately scream “wedding.” You might also be the person who has a hundred ideas saved but no clue how to make them all belong together.

That is where planning changes everything. Not because your ideas need to be controlled, but because they deserve to be executed well.

That's exactly what planning looked like for Sierra and Eli. My job wasn't to convince them to choose something different or steer them toward a version that felt more traditional. It was helping them take the vision they already had and build a wedding around it. One where the bright colors, the Corpse Bride vows, the heirloom dress, the cemetery portraits, and all the other meaningful details felt like they belonged together.

At the end of the day, the goal isn't to have the most unique wedding in the room, it's to have a wedding that feels like yours. If you already know your wedding is not going to look like everyone else’s, good. It shouldn’t. My job is to help you take the ideas, the meaning, the weird little details, the bold design choices, and the guest experience and make all of it feel intentional from start to finish.

If you’re planning a Día de los Muertos wedding theme, a gothic wedding, a Halloween-inspired celebration, or something completely your own, I’d love to help you bring it together. Reach out here to start the conversation.