Earlier this year I worked with Megan Gunderson to create a custom soap for her wedding! She agreed to chat with me about the process and answer questions for anyone interested in getting their own custom soaps. 

We worked together on a custom design, a label that matched the rest of her wedding signage, and picked the perfect fragrance. Check out our deep dive into the process below! If you’re interested in creating your own custom soap you can reach out here. 

Why Get Soaps as a Wedding Favor?

There are endless options for what you can choose for your wedding favors. Getting something that's not only personalized, but can also be used after the wedding is a great way to give your wedding guests a thoughtful gift. 

Megan decided on soaps because “I wanted something that would be consumable, and useful to everyone. I had previously ordered soaps from Sara and knew they were great quality and so pretty!”

Customizing Your Soaps

There are hundreds of different combinations I can create for customized soaps. The biggest things to narrow down are the shape, color and scent:

The Shape

Megan and I started our process by narrowing down the shape she wanted for her soaps. Out of the ten different molds I have, she was most interested in the flower soap options. After seeing what each flower soap would look like, she chose the rose shape. 

Tip: Don't know where to start? Browse my soaps for over two dozen designs and see what catches your eye!

The Colors

Color can be hard to pick! Every time I make a new soap, I spend way too long choosing the right colors, so I know how much of a challenge it can be. Megan knew she wanted a lighter colored soap, and once she picked the rose shape it all came together as a shimmery white and gold combo that matched two of her wedding colors. 

Tip: Struggling to pick the soap colors? Two to four colors will create visual interest without being overwhelming. Also, look at your wedding colors as a starting point!

The Scent

The last big decision when creating a custom soap is picking the scent. This was one of the more fun parts for Megan, “I had a conversation with Sara about the type of fragrances we were most interested in. She sent us a few samples of different scents that matched my description and I liked one of them… so it was really easy to pick! She offered to create a custom fragrance blend but we didn't need it since I loved the one she sent.”

Tip: There are several major scent families: Woody, Floral, Amber and Fresh. Choosing one or two of these is a great way to start!

Megan had about six months before her wedding when we started this process, so we had lots of time. She picked Floral and Woody as her top scent families, and from there I recommended a few of my soaps to look at, each soap on my website has a scent description that makes it really easy to narrow down specific scents. That helped choose which scents within the Floral and Woody families she liked best. Once we had some key fragrances picked out, I sent her 4 samples and the rest is history. 

Scent is the most specific and particular category, so depending on how much time we have to work with, I can create a custom fragrance or work with one I already have. My goal with each custom order is to make sure you LOVE your soap!

Personalizing the Label

If you’ve been following my social media, you’ve likely seen how important branding is to me. I’ve created a very unique look for Mainland Vintage and know it likely won’t match your wedding design. That’s where the custom label comes in! 

Megan sent me several graphics and the fonts that she was using for her wedding invites, and I used those to create a custom label for her. I made her the important names and dates were there, as well as my website and soap information, so all the important details were easy to read. 

Also, my soap labels are typically tied onto the soaps with a blue, red and white string, however for Megan’s favors we decided to make the labels single sided and taped them on the back of the plastic packaging. 

Hands On, or Hands Off - You Decide

With everything going on prepping for a wedding, sometimes the last thing you want to do is help create a custom wedding favor. After our initial conversations about your wedding soaps, I’ll make sure we’re on the same page about how hands on (or hands off) you want to be in this process!

Megan chose a middle ground, “After choosing the scent and colors, I was ok not being too involved in the design process and letting Sara be the expert. Sara did send photos along the way to make sure I liked the soaps and labels, which I greatly appreciated! The conversations and photos made me feel very confident in what I was going to receive.”

Partnering with Megan in this way was fun, I loved seeing her feedback along the way. I’ve also worked with customers on custom projects where they have a general idea of what they want, but prefer to let me have full creative control over the fragrance and design after our initial conversation. Whatever makes you feel the most comfortable is ok with me.   

Check out how Megans soap’s turned out below, and to get started on your own custom soaps reach out here!