It’s no secret that certain scents can stir strong memories and transport us back to a special time and place. For me, the smell of watermelon always takes me back to barefoot summers as a kid and my great Uncle George’s watermelon patch. Christmas and Thanksgiving each have unique scents too, and when I catch a whiff of my aunt’s home cooking, I fondly remember my grandmother cooking those same meals during the holidays and us kids sitting elbow to elbow at the kids’ table. And if I happen to smell Giorgio Armani’s Sensi, I’m transported back to my early 20s, when my now husband and I had first started dating. I get instant butterflies.
But it’s not mere nostalgia that connects these scents to our memories. There’s a science behind it. According to HowStuffWorks.com, “the olfactory bulb is part of the brain’s limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it’s sometimes called the ’emotional brain.’ The olfactory bulb has intimate access to the amygdala, which processes emotion, and the hippocampus, which is responsible for associative learning.”
Basically, once a smell is associated with an event, our brain remembers it the next time we encounter that specific scent and floods our brain with those memories.
For this reason, I chose a unique scent to wear on my wedding day. For the longest, my go-to daily perfume has been Calvin Klein’s Euphoria. But for my wedding day, I wanted something different, something unique that when I smelled it again, I would get those same feelings I had on my wedding day. I chose Marc Jacobs Daisy, a sweet, summery scent with base notes of vanilla and musk, heart notes of violet, jasmine and gardenia and fruity top notes of strawberry, violet leaves and ruby red grapefruit—a very summery, Southern scent indeed. On my wedding day, on a beach in South Carolina, this heady scent wafted on the breeze, surrounding me and committing itself to my memory.
Have you considered or chosen a signature scent for your wedding day? Recently, while in a local boutique, we stumbled upon a new scent by Chloe—L’Eau De Chloe—and we instantly fell in love. Pefect for a summer wedding, this lighter version of the original is chic and sophisticated with notes of grapefruit, cedrat, peach, violet, rose petals, natural water of rose, cedarwood, patchouli and amber. It’s made with 22 percent natural rose water, and it is simply divine!
If you’re planning a fall wedding, choose a deeper, spicier scent. We love Bond No. 9 New York Andy Warhol Lexington Avenue for its cinnamon-y warmth.
Already married? What fragrance did you wear on your big day?
