When planning for your garden wedding, there are a lot of choices for themes. The style can be for a simple wedding or an elaborate one. A few planning tips can help you create your ideal garden wedding ceremony.
Brides: Planning a Garden Wedding
Garden weddings offer bridal parties a wide variety of options. The simplest variation is the garden as the location for the wedding. Gardens are naturally romantic with their lush surroundings, beautiful flowers, and picturesque opportunities. Just as there are numerous kinds of gardens, so too are there numerous kinds of garden weddings.
Renaissance Garden Wedding
Renaissance fairs take place all over the country at various points during the year. Many of the locations that play host to the Renaissance fairs also have ideal settings for planning a garden wedding. The wedding party may make it a theme wedding and come dressed in period garb, they may go the traditional route, or meet somewhere in between -- but the benefit of hosting a garden wedding at a renaissance fair is that there is plenty to do before, during, and after the ceremony for the happy couple and the guests.
Arboretum Weddings
Arboretums are beautiful locations to host a wedding. At the Dallas Arboretum for example, wedding parties can host their wedding and reception amidst the beauty of the botanical gardens. The facilities are available for daytime or evening wedding planning. Some botanical locations will allow the use of exotic birds such as peacocks, doves, and more to create the right balance of natural and mystical atmosphere.
Natural Gardens
A country wedding is just a garden wedding in a much larger setting. Country weddings offer a homier, more organic feeling. They can be hosted in the backyard, in a beautiful field or on at a farm location. Country weddings need little in the way of decoration and the reception can be hosted at picnic tables with informal settings, music, and rituals.
Autumn Weddings
Garden weddings are ideal any time of the year, but the natural autumn wedding decorations offer a rich variety of red, gold, and orange colors that can really dress up the wedding location. Dahlias and mums bloom in their rich variety in the fall. A garden wedding in the fall can be held just outside a picturesque church, in the woods with the fall colors turning the trees, or in the backyard garden. Raked leaves can provide an aisle or garnish to the already colorful event.
Christmas Garden Weddings
Christmas is celebrated in many different areas in different ways. In southern locations, December can be quite pleasant. Planning a Christmas garden wedding, however, can be done anywhere. Add a few Christmas trees to create a cheerful atmosphere. In a snowy location, white lights can add a mystical atmosphere. Use garland to decorate the chairs and wreaths to dress up the trellis or gazebo.
Garden Wedding Planning Tips
When you host a garden wedding, there are five things to keep in mind during your location and ceremony planning.
- Music - Whether you host live music or recorded tunes, you need dry, firm ground for the musicians. Consider a gazebo, a deck or temporary platform of some kind so the musicians can set up their equipment in safety.
- Weather Conditions - When planning an outdoor wedding, the weather is always a factor. Be prepared with an alternate location if you get rained out, a protective tent or some kind of covering if it is in the high heat of summer. Because weddings last anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes, be sure the bride and bridesmaids are wearing sunscreen.
- Allergies - If anyone in the bridal party is allergic to something in the environment, you'll have sniffling noses and watery eyes that aren't associated with the joy of the environment. Be prepared with allergy relief if necessary.
- Wedding Dress - You don't want your beautiful wedding dress covered in grass or dirt stains, so be sure the length comes to just above the ground without actually touching it. If you have a train, have a bridesmaid or flower girl hold the train as you walk down the 'aisle' or create a faux aisle that keeps it off the grass.
- Create the Wedding You Want - Don't let anyone talk you into planning a garden wedding if you aren't 100 percent invested in the idea. While there are any number of allowances you have to make for an outdoor, garden wedding (insects, allergies, weather, location), it is also a wedding idea that is filled with romantic possibility. Never forget this is your wedding day and you and your prospective spouse should host it where you wish.
Create a Beautiful Wedding
A garden wedding is naturally beautiful because of the natural setting. A garden can be dressed up, dressed down, or left exactly as it is. It can provide the theme, the location or simply the backdrop for the romantic wedding of your dreams.
