A Rustic Country Wedding
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
Country Colors
Start with a palette of earthy tones: yellows and golds, tans and umbers, sage and russet, celadon and cinnamon.
Farmhouse Flowers
Then, try building the theme around your favorite rustic flower (like
sunflowers, black-eyed susans or
daisies). Or borrow a carefree member of the insect world, such as bees,
butterflies or
dragonflies.
Festive Fields
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.
Add Inexpensive Accents
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.
For more country touches, draw on 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
Let There Be Light
It's simple to set the table with a little down-home glory. Candles are inherently rustic, so start with tea lights floating in water-filled mason jars. Or tuck pillar candles into terra cotta pots, or place in glass cylinders filled with popcorn, dried peas or coffee beans.
Farmers' Market Flowers
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 try sprays of shasta daisies, lupine and viburnum mixed in with small green apples wired to birch branches, or stuck to dowels. Or group colorful Gerber daisies into simple mason jars.
Twig to This Clever Idea
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 window sills with evocative punched tin lanterns.
More Rustic Touches
Give your guest an adorable first impression by hanging escort cards from wooden clothespins on a clothesline strung near the entrance.
When 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.
BRIDES, have a great wedding to show you!! simple and rustic!! unfussy which i love!!
* A Real Wedding, II
I need a little help. I’m getting married in May at a barn! The actual ceremony will take place outside and reception up in the loft and some outside. My fiancee and I both grew up on a farm and we still work in agriculture (mostly livestock). My colors are lime green and hot pink because I love spring time and spring colors. I still want the farm/country look though. Any ideas????
april, the key is to pull in rustic elements like clothesline with pictures held by clothepin, mason jars full of flowers, a sign that read your names on old piece of wood, make sure ribbon in your colors can be country like. and bm dresses, with a country feel.
See:
* Brides.com: Shawna and Zachary in Nye, MT a barn wedding just add your colors!
* Ariella Inspired, Part Two
* Sweet Tarts for Sweethearts
* Danielle’s Rustic and Chic Real Wedding
Do you have any idea where I can get lime green and hot pink striped ties. I’ve seen them in two different photos but it doesn’t say where they got them and we have looked all over for them.
april, try these:
* Wailea Beach – necktie
* Pink & green silk, Tied Up (australian — these are 40)
i just read where macy’s had them but i cant find them online. go to some men’s shops and department stores. good luck!!
just use one for groom and keep solids to gm. this is a very hard tie to find! smile!
I am getting married in June and having a country/ barn theme. A few ideas we are planning on are having Ball jars with flowers and later candles in them. We are having cupcakes with an animal on each one and a barn in the center of the table of cupcakes. We are filling mini galvanized tubs with candy corn and peanuts on the table. We are also putting mini hay bales on the tables. We would like to put the presents in a cow trough. Thinking of hankerchiefs for napkins. Borrowing tons of old farm stuff to decorate like milk cans, cream seperators…
BRIDES, HERE IS A PIC I KNOW YOU WILL LOVE!!
ALL BRIDES……
Check out this six page article Country Wedding Decorations: Keep Things Natural And Simple, very helpful! Be sure to scroll down the page past the ads because the article shows up below, depending on your browser.
I am having a Rustic Fall Wedding in November of 2009. My favorite season is fall and it reminds me of my fiance….I see a lot of people are having problems with FAVORS, I am making gourmet apples, caramel, apple pie, chocolate dipped apples. Hope this helps
You should take some coke cans, and put holes in the sid-
es of them ,and cut the silver top off, and put a small can-
dle inside of it. Finally take some wire or[fishing string],
and tie it to the middle of the can then hang it on a tree,
fince post ,and[or] rail of the deck.
Please use my
idea Thank You
Lynlea Welch
me and my fiance met at a steam rally we own 3 vintage stationary engines a vintage allis chalmers B tractor and loads of old models we want to base our theme around the rallies more so our tractor any ideas what we can do for decorations and favours? just to give you an idea the rallies are held in fields with loads of traditional homemade cider the wurzles music etc so thinking country with a twist maybe ideas please!!!
Hi mrsread2b –
A Country Wedding / Graceful Ease in the Country
google image tractor wedding favors for ideas. or give out honey or jam. google image farm wedding
See Colorado Carla | Wedding Couple on Farm Tractor Topper
google image homespun wedding inspiration board,
and rustic wedding inspiration board.
go to brides.com and check out the real weddings it is listed under wedding style look at rustic, and destination wedding. also see A Wedding of Good Old-Fashioned Fun ( i gave this link before all brides could look at this one its great!!)
I’m having a wedding on May 18th and I’m hoping it would be a rustic conutry wedding because that’s the surroundings I grew up around. I live a mile away from the Mississippi River and I live far out into the country. My yard is 10 Achres and I’m getting married on my Uncles Front Lawn. It’s a gorgeus surrounding of trees, which makes it look like a forest along with a barn in the background. I’m having my reception across the street at my house and I have no idea how I’m going to decorate it! I’m trying my hardest of a cute, simple country theme… But I keep going blank! >.
Hi Kara, google image barn wedding, for rustic ideas and colors. google image outdoor wedding and under the trees wedding. See English Country style weddings ( i love this) and then at brides.com Check out Shawna & Zachary Real Weddings in Montana.
Vickie! I have the perfect idea for you for favors if you have not foudn them yet! You should do either jars of honey or small bags of flower seeds. How cute to do something earthy for a rustic outdoor wedding. You could say something like “As we grow closer together in marriage, we hope you plant these in your yards to help us celebrate this day!”
Jars of honey are also a cute outdoors favor. and you can buy them in bulk online. Hope it helps!!
For my fall party favors, I am doing mini cones of dry hunny roasted almonds.. cover the cone with tissue paper to match and tie with raffia.
i’m getting married in Aug. 09 and i want to go with the whole country theme and get married in like a rustic barn but i can not find anything that i like. i live in Athens, Tn so if anyone knows any good ideas please please tell me?
My daughter will get married on July 11, 2009 in Athens Wi. She will also have a barn wedding. We thought about putting flowers in cowboy boots. We also have a few old wagon wheels that we will dress up with wedding bows. Do you have any ideas?
oo your wedding sounds pretty vickie! mine isnt here yet either it is 4-25-09. i love the sunflower diea was thinkin bout doing that with cowboy and girl boots as the centerpieces. my colors are v.lilac and teracota and ivory. what is your dad wearing like as a suit or something? ws wondering bc idk what my stepdad and my real dad should wear. i kinda found stuff at http://www.satinspurs.com but nowhere else really that is ligit.
Hello all. I have not got married yet but I am getting married Sept. 20th, 2008. I thought I would share some ideas that I am doing at my wedding. First of all I am getting married in a field with willow and apple trees. We are renting a tent for ceremony & reception. As for colors I am doing a chocolate brown and dark red theme. I wanted to go for rustic fall harvest look and not fall halloween look. The centerpieces are ball jars with sunflowers, wheat, different grasses, & hydrangeas. Very harvest looking. For candles I have hot glued cinnamon sticks around candle holders and tied them with twine. Instead of serving buttermints and salted peanuts like most traditional weddings I am setting candied pecans and baked caramel popcorn out for people to snack on. As for cake I am not having any and going with different types of pies and my grandma’s homemade candies. I am going to hang ball jars from with candles in them from trees and set out mums and hay bales. I still have no idea what I am doing for favors. Soo I just thought I would give you my ideas. Hope this helps!
Hi all. My husband and I had a rustic outdoor wedding this past May. I wanted to post the website where you could veiw our pictures and maybe get some ideas. I got lots of ideas from people here and I wanted to help in the same way. Here is the website:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/4890909_fkjVz#291815066_UCDAd
or you can go to:
http://exquisite.smugmug.com/Weddings
and then click on Crystal and Keith May 3 2008, and veiw our photos.
Also, to those who want an outdoor wedding (which we did) go for it. I was so worried about the weather because it stormed the night before and the next morning, but turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. We just had tents and shelters rented as weather provisions which you can see in the pictures. Hope all this helps.
Crystal
I have enjoyed reading this site!!! Am planning a July 2008 country wedding and have gathered some great ideas. Was wondering what you did for the rain plan. We have a beautiful site picked out but I’m worried about bad weather. The reception dinner is a BBQ and we are looking into renting a tent. Also, my fiance is not sure about dancing. Do you think people will be bored not dancing? Any ideas for entertainment? Thanks!!
We did a western wedding a few years ago and instead of music while the guest were being seated, we had my uncle read “cowboy poetry”. It was a different way of doing things, but it came across great. Good Luck.
How cute is this?? Green crinolines and butter-yellow dresses with black-eyed susans and ivy! (Source: atomic0x)
I love blues and periwinkles for country weddings, and this is one of the most beautiful arrays of bridesmaid gowns I’ve ever seen. With the delicate texture, layering and subtle shimmer they look like gorgeous hydrangeas … and not at all matchy-matchy. (Source: GirlWriter).
Hi gyuys! I saw somewhere that they took ball 1/2 pint and pint jars and made a hanging light. They took wire and wraped around the rim then took three more pieces of wire and spaced them around the rim, wrapped them around the other wire and pulled them up to make a hanger. Then hung them from rafters and put a candle in them. It was a really cool looking country accent.
Im getting married Aug 08, and were doing it out at an old country resturant, the place is pretty rustic so were just using that mainly for decoration. I am doing alot to my tables though, im not doing white everything will be ivory. My flower is bright yellow sunflowers and my main accent color is rich chocolate brown. Im doing my tables in ivory table cloths with a tan burlap runner that im making. which is easy because all you do it cut and let it fray a little bit for more of a country feel. Im having buckets filled with sunflowers and a few other flowers. then placed around those im going to get small cylinder bud vases, and put coffee beans in them with a votive pushed about halfway down in them (each vase will have a diff. amount for a not so uniformed look) they’ll have that country look, my color, and plus it entire place will smell good! I know this is long but i dont have any pictures and i was trying to give a detailed idea. i would just stick with simplicity. after all, thats what country is all about!
Does anyone have any ideas for a reception in a barn. We were going to do Ball jars with candles in them and different things like wheat and maybe some tole around the beams with white christmas lights and paper laterns. Any other ideas? Also we haven’t decided on a color I wanted to do something that would look good with the red barn. Any web sites with pictures would be awesome, I’m a very visual person. Thanks
BEV AND KAT
THANKS SO MUCH I WAS THINKING MORE OF THE BIODEGRADABLE (EASY CLEAN UP AND EARTH FRIENDLY)
I THINK I HAVE EVERYTHING ELSE FIGURED OUT BUT THE CAKE, OK SO WE DECIDED TO DO CUPCAKES AND THEN JUST A SMALL CAKE FOR US TO CUT, WE ARE DOING RED AND WHITE WITH SOME “WILDFLOWERS” AS DECORATIONS AND HORSESHOES ARE A BIG PART OF THE DECORATION, AND WE ARE MAKING THE CUPCAKES OURSELVES AND I WAS LOOKING FOR HORSESHOE PICKS FOR ON TOP OF THE CUPCAKE OR ANOTHER SIMPLE IDEA I COULD DO…THANKS
SOON TO BE MRS COPELAND~~45 DAYS TO GO!!
Michelle
I don’t think you need real plates and silverware neccessarily. Have you thought of biodegradable plates and cups? Then you can be eco-chic which is really fashionable at the moment and very country.
Michelle – I would suggest the clear plastic plates, silverware and cups that Sam’s sells.
Hi Ashley and Michelle,
I haven’t got married yet but mine is booked in a gorgeous oak beamed barn in the English countryside next summer. We’re going to have a daisy theme (I think) and hang green foliage and fairy lights around all the beams. We’re having a buffet inside (you can’t trust the English weather!) and have a Ceilidh (celtic dancing but line dancing would do the same thing) to get everyone dancing after the meal. Later we’re going to get all our favourite party tunes together on an I-pod – we are asking people to let us know their favourite songs when they send their RSVPs so that everyone feels included and then just drink and be merry! Also as it’s in the middle of nowhere we’re offering people the chance to camp so they don’t have to drive or get taxis (this won’t suit everyone obviously so we’ll hire a bus to go to the nearest town at midnight). Later in the evening we might have a hog roast and something for the vegetarians. I have no ideas about colours though – having a nighmare deciding about the bridesmaid dresses!
IM GETTING MARRIED JULY 20TH 08 AND WE ARE DOING IT AT MY SISTERS RANCH, ITS PRETTY MUCH OUT IN AN OPEN FIELD, ITS COUNTRY RUSTIC THEME ALL THE WAY, WE ARE DOING A BBQ COOKOUT WITH CHICKEN, WE ARE AT THE END OF OUR FUNDS AND WERE THINKING OF USING PLATIC SILVERWARE AND STYROFOAM PLATES IS THAT OK, OR SHOULD I GET “REAL” PLATES AND SILVERWARE?
ALSO I WANT SOME MUSIC TO PLAY WHILE PEOPLE ARE WAITING AND I DONT WANT TO USE TRADIONAL WEDDING MUSIC, I WAS THINKING OF INSTRUMENTAL COUNTRY WITH LIKE GUITARS OR BANJOS OR ANYTHING, ANY OTHER IDEAS ARE WELCOME AS WELL….THANKS SO MUCH:D
SOON TO BE ~MRS. COPELAND~~
Ashley, welcome! Tell me just a little about your vision, or post or link to a pic that inspired you, and I’ll try to find some more ideas for you … country can mean so many things, just trying to find out what you’re thinking of. Do you have a venue?
Any Bride Out There That Has Had A Extremely Country Wedding I Need Your Help. Even If You just Had A Small Touch Of Country In Your Wedding, I Could Use The Help No matter How Small. If You Could Post Some Ideas I Eould Be So Thanful! Thank You Very Much.:P
Wow, I can give you a few ideas. I was married this last Saturday at a rustic church that was built in the late 1800′s. We had flowers that were just tied together with raffia and we used paper ribbon “paper twist” for all the bows. The lady hung grapvine wreaths in the windows and on some of the pews and we put bows on them. The men’s flowers had a little raffia tied around the stem. Very rustic. Our cake was set on a tree stump (you can find this idea at theknot.com). I made 5 kinds of homemade cookies and had large cookie jars (ikea…cheap) with brown paper sacks printed like our napkins for favors. My ring barrier carried a bird’s nest and the flower girl carried a plain basket with handle. The guys wore brown tuxes. We recycled our flowers from the wedding by making holders for the reception buffet table and we put them in there for the reception. We had a shoe string budget, so we made the most of everything. Our wedding was at 2:00 so for food we had meatballs in gravy, veggie tray, carved melon with fruit, cheese ball ring, and the biggest hit a potato bar. Everyone loved this. Instead of doing another cake we had a chocolate fountain for the groom. Everything turned out great and everyone loved the more laid back rustic approach. I hope all goes well for you too.
Can anybody out there please give me some ideas…
My wedding is aug of “08″. were getting married in the mtn.s the place is very rustic and it’s in ca. Need decorating ideas and colo scheme and music…
Thank you sooo much
do u have ides for a farm wedding