Outdoor Wedding Decoration Tips

Outdoor wedding decoration planning involves a lot of factors for consideration.

Examine the location grounds ahead of time.

If your wedding venue is located on the grounds of your favorite country club, then you need to inspect the wedding location ahead of time. Personnel and staff of your local country club will take care of getting the ground ready like raking the leaves or cutting the grass but other than that, you are more or less responsible for your own outdoor wedding decoration. If you are planning to get married in a public park or your own backyard, then you are pretty much on your own.

When inspecting your wedding location, make sure you keep note of important but usually overlooked details like availability of electrical outlets for your wedding's sound system and lighting needs. How about structures like pavilion, gazebo, arbors or trellises - are they available? And again, do they have electical outlets that you could use? I can never stress enough the importance of these.

Are there trees surrounding your location? If so, make sure that there are no dead branches sticking out. These could be an eyesore for you and your guests during your wedding day.

A day before your wedding, strung white lights on the low-lying branches and wrap white lights around the trunk. You can also hang china lanterns on the trees for an added touch of elegance. Test your lights to make sure that they are working properly. Wires should be properly tucked away so as not to trip guests during your wedding day.
Arbors, trellises and arches might be available. If they are, check to see if there are vines or flowers already planted since these could be natural decorations for your wedding. If not, then these structures can be very easily decorated using tulle and organza coupled with cut flowers. You can ask your own florist to do this for you or you could do it yourself. Using silk flowers, vines and tulle can do wonders to a wedding arch.

If a gazebo is present in the location and you are planning to use it during the wedding ceremony, make sure that it is nice and clean at least 2 days before your wedding. Flowers, vines, tulle and ribbons can be used to decorate the gazebo. Do not overdo it though. Simplicity is the key in decorating for outdoor weddings.

How about wedding chairs? Wedding chairs are very important for outdoor weddings, that and the altar where the bride and groom will exchange vows. White wedding chairs against a backdrop of greens is absolutely stunning. If you can find white, elegant garden chairs, you can go the minimalist route and just decorate the chairs lining the aisle. Place a single flower on the side or hang a small bouquet. You can space it out, placing the flower after every two or three chairs.

Elements of Nature

These are the things that you cannot control. You can just be prepared and be ready for them, most especially if your entire wedding will be held outdoors. Provide a sturdy tent in case it showers on your wedding day. There are companies that specialize in wedding rentals and as experts, they are a very good resource for all your wedding tent questions and concerns. You can ask them about outdoor wedding decoration and wedding tent accessories like side walls, including cathedral windows and frames which could provide a look of elegance for your wedding tent structure.

For your guests' comfort (and yours too), provide a relief for those pesky bugs creeping or flying around. Place citronella candles in strategic places around your wedding location. Aside from its functionality, these candles double as decorations for your wedding venue.

Word of Caution

When planning your outdoor wedding decoration, make sure that everything is sheltered from the wind or heavy enough to withstand the wind. All structures should be grounded firmly to the ground. You do not want your decorations to be blown all over the place even before the wedding is done.

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