Want a country-style wedding with rusticity and charm by the bucketful? Envisioning a glorious ride for two around the hayfield? See yourself gliding down the aisle in a fresh-as-summer cotton eyelet gown?
Then you've found the right place to help you pull off that special event you've always dreamed of!
Back to the Land
Start with a palette of earthy tones: yellows and golds, tans and umbers, sage and russet, celadon and cinnamon.
Then, try building the theme around your favorite rustic flower (like sunflowers, black-eyed susans or daisies), or a carefree member of the insect world, such as bees, butterflies or dragonflies.
For a venue, try a cornfield or a wheatfield, barn or cabin. Tents can travel to all kinds of charming spots. Call around for camps and lodges that lightly booked and eager for business (though be aware that really remote locales may pose challenges for grandparents in the Lincoln Town Car ... not to mention tricky logistics involving electricity, catering, DJs and so on).
A Touch of Country
Fancy up wedding arches, rafters and other focal spots with branches, bundles of corn stalks and sheaves of wheat. If you're lucky enough to be holding your event in a barn or a lodge, wrap any rafters and pillars in elegant twinkle lights.
More great accents: ears of dried corn, grapevine wreaths, hanging lanterns, and gourds and pumpkins (carve out your monogram, then give them some glow with a votive or a battery-powered light).
To jazz up personal focal points like favors and place settings, start with raffia ties and cinnamon sticks, individual wheat stalks or lavender springs, or Mason jars, burlap bags and small pots of jam or honey.
Country-Style Centerpieces
It's simple to set the table with a little down-home glory. Candles are inherently rustic, so start there: tealights floating in water-filled mason jars, for example. Or tuck pillar candles into terra cotta pots, or place in glass cylinders filled with popcorn, dried peas or coffee beans.
Casual flowers make a big, joyous statement at a reasonable price. Try massing cheerful sunflowers in galvanized pails or watering cans. (You can even use a sunflower's enormous, friendly face as your ring pillow.) Or instead of sunflowers, try sprays of shasta daisies, lupine and viburnum mixed in with small green apples wired to birch branches, or stuck to dowels. Another popular choice: group colorful Gerber daisies into simple mason jars.
Speaking of birch branches, elegant bare-branch centerpieces can be set in any pot and anchored with Quik-Crete for sturdiness. They look especially lovely when lit with hanging votives. Then, warm up those dark corners and windowsills with evocative punched tin lanterns.
More Ways to Make it Country
Give your guest an adorable first impression by hanging escort cards from wooden clothespins on a clothesline strung near the entrance.
Want some drama when it's time to walk back down the aisle as husband and wife? Equip your best men with the goods to create an arch of pitchforks!
Finally, once it's time to eat, dress up the chair backs at the sweetheart table with dramatic sheaves of wheat tied off with russet ribbons or roses. And if your main meal's held outside, you could set the stage with homey touches like buffet or serving tables made from planks set on hay bales and sawhorses. As for the guests, set up picnic-style seating with checkered, gingham or eyelet linens.
Galvanized washtubs look gorgeous filled with ice and drinks in vintage-style bottles (think: Stewart's Sodas — and ask your local suppliers about their best-tasting microbrews.) Don't forget the oversized jars filled with fresh iced tea and cold apple cider.
Treat your guests to home-cooked soul food like pot roast and pulled pork, fritters and cornbread, apple cider donuts and fruit pies.
As for cake, try any of the Autumn-style flavors on for size (spice or carrot, apple or pumpkin ...). Decorate with your favorite fresh flowers, making sure they're unsprayed and organic.
You Might Also Like ...
A Western-Themed Wedding
Sizzling Sunflower Weddings
Autumn Theme Weddings
Fields of Gold: November Weddings Full of Natural Beauty
Daisy Theme Weddings
Pages: « 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 [1] Show All
Hi,
I am getting married this fall, 09.08.07. Putting the colors and theme of fall and coffee together. I really love the idea of having burlap favor bags but am on a very tight budget. Is it possible to make this? or is there a website that i can buy wholesale burlap bags?
My wedding is going to be indoors, but we are using a facility that is on a lake and looks like a log cabin with exposed beams and hardwood flooring. It is going to be in March of 08, so we will just begin to see flowers and spring blooming in the southeast. I plan to use mixed spring colors of gerber daisies, bulb flowers like daffodils, tulips, lillies, etc. We are having a country fair picnic theme w/ checked tablecloths, BBQ, plasticware and paper plates. We are adding touches like using raffia to tie plasticware together, goldfish in a bowl with colored glass beads on bottom and archways with lots of greenery and silk flowers to add to the spring picnic feel. My wedding planner is calling it Spring Wedding Fling: Bringing the ourdoors inside.
I am having a June 2007 wedding with the outdoor camping theme at my home and am struggling with a bouquet for myself. The wedding attire is casual and I am having a rustic type decor but need ideas for the bouquet. Is there any websites or ideas for this?
Janice. If you have an outside wedding in the fall and the wheather is cold, you can rent space heaters and opt to have sides on the tent. Look into it.
Just because I love the idea too check out Magicmud.com for custom made wedding toppers. Sooo cute. A little expensive, but it is a keeper you can put on display.
Katie, I deside to have an mid August wedding. Up here in New England it tends to rain less, the summer heat wave is hopefully and usually over, and it isn’t too close to July 4th and 2 weeks before school is back in and school shopping is on parents minds. Further, the night hopefully is not too late so we can light up our yard. ( I bought a ton of christmas lights the day after christmas )Further ideas for rustic seating. We are using stumps for legs of benches with 2 x 10’s for the seats and covered over with white fabric. We are actually arranging these for the ceremony with 3 or 4 rows on each side of the Path/aisle to look like an outside chappel.
I have mixed feelings about those disposable cameras. The last wedding I went to they had them on every table. Everyone had brought their own digitals along and were using them, in the end the father of the groom went around to use up all the cameras and try to get pictures and seemed to be a waste of money. I would check and see how many people plan on bring cameras. If there are alot then don’t use the disposables, you will have plenty of pictures from your photo happy friends.
Janice By the way, we are planning on using portatoilets. We are paying extra to have larger ones with sinks and that flush. If you are in southern vermont and having a wedding I can recommend Green Mountain Tent Rentals. You can find the exact address by googling. The owner is very helpful.
i have a few questions. I am going to have an outdoor country themed wedding. One questions is i am trying to decide when i want my wedidng…early summer, late summer or early fall…and the time of day….i really want sundowm do you think that will cause any problems?? i really want to give each guest ot each family a disposable camera to take pictures with and leave with us when they are leaving so we can catch a lot of moments…is that ok to do and is it really expensive?? please help me out!!
Allie, I’m getting married Oct. 6th. I’m kinda worried about money as well so here are some things we’re doing that I thought might help you out. Instead of chairs we are having everyone sit on bails of hay that are covered with fabric. With just two rows of chairs in the front for those people that need a backrest like my grandmother. The food is going to be a BBQ with all the sides. The tables are going to be covered with checkered table cloths that you can rent or make. We are using mason jars with ribbon tied around the top and we’re putting Gerbers, Sunflowers and Dasiys inside for the centerpiece. For the Favors we are putting wrapped cookies shaped like sunflowers that we are making in a big basket on each table. My bridesmaids are wearing sundresses. The grooms mother and my mother are making those, so those wont cost much. These are just a few things we are doing. I hope I helped! Good luck!:D
hey im getting married in october 7th and i want a outside wedding but i dont want it to cost me an arm and a leg either please help me
I am having a wedding in September and thinking of Blue bridesmaids dresses and fall theme - what would all go with this ?? :-?
I want a simple, fall, outside wedding! Any ideas?
The Fall Weddings sound beautiful, but put some color into your weddings…Beautiful Red Roses are classic and go with a Fall themed wedding…just a suggestion.:?
Hello - trying to decide between a fall wedding or a winter wedding. I would love an outdoor fall wedding - with a large bonfire with smores after, but what do you do about the weather!!! In VT there’s no guarantess and what do you do with folks - and okay, having a tent is a fun idea, but I am not sure about guests using portolets… I’m struggling!!!!
I’m looking for ideas for a 4th of July weekend rustic country wedding. Any ideas?? email imjustpeachy44@hotmail.com. THANKS!!!
I’m having a Oct. wedding and I want sunflowers and daiseys, flowers that are seasonal. We’re getting married outside and everyone will be sitting on bails of hay and behind that is a white picket fence and I’m walking through the gate. I’m kinda stressing abou the colors…I don’t want a ton of brown and orange. What colors should I use?!?
i am having trouble trying to figure out ideas for a wedding in october of 2008 and i dont know of any specific colr that i want of theme that i want so if you have any ideas let me know at Dawngarywedding@yahoo.com
planning a fall wedding, am using carvable pumpkins for vases and small pumpkins carved for luminaries, am building a twig arbor with grape vines and fall garlands, question, does this seem too rustic, not planning to use any tuille or ribbons, just berries, pods and seasonal flowers. my daughters colors are chocolate and copper, my daughter is wearing ivory.
This website was great. I have been planning my wedding for awhile now and these tips just put the finishing touches on my June wedding! Thank you!!
This was wonderfully helpful. It took the ideas I had and gave them some direction, especially with the smaller details.