Planning a Nature-Themed Wedding: Using the Outdoors Can Reduce Your Decorating Expenses!

The great thing about a nature-themed wedding is that supplies do not have to be costly. Whether you have it outdoors or try to bring the outdoors in will definitely cause a difference in cost. Having an outdoor wedding can be a bit risky weather-wise, but can pay off in the beauty of the surroundings.

First, having a spring or summer wedding outdoors in a lush, tree-filled setting will fulfill most of your decoration needs. The leafy greenness will provide the perfect backdrop. Depending on your tastes, you can add a few simple hanging or potted plants for a pop of color. You could eliminate those and depend on the bridal bouquets to provide a splash of color or even the bridesmaids dresses, which can virtually be any color to go with the green natural setting.

Fall weddings with vivid leaves as the backdrop can be breathtaking. It takes a bit of planning to pick the right time of year, but it will pay off enormously if you hit the mark. Dried flowers, graceful armfuls of wheat, pumpkins, gourds, and other items from nature make decorating easy and stunning. Bridesmaids dresses can range from shades of brown, green, or russet to fit in with a fall nature theme.

As far as the reception, if it is also outdoors, there are simple ways to decorate the tables which are striking and not costly, which continue the nature theme.

Instead of costly candles, globes, mirrors, or other table decorations, plan ahead and buy Christmas lights right after Christmas when they are half price. This is a easy way to achieve a romantic, fantasy look for your tables. Simply string them down the centers of long tables. Depending on the season, add some grapevine, tree fern, and baby's breath for spring and summer, or add leaves, berries, and baby's breath for fall. Either way, the decorations are easy to set up, unique and beautiful, and easy to remove. Best of all, they don't have to cost much if you do it yourself!

Grapevine can be free if you know anyone who grows grapes. If not, again after Christmas, buy some grapevine wreathes and deconstruct them, stretching them out and relaxing the curl. Go online to a wholesale florist who sells to individuals, such as Grower's Box. The difference in cost is amazing. For example, if you order baby's breath from a florist, a recent price quoted to me was $3 per stem.

At Grower's Box, you can buy 200 stems for $155. Compared to $600 from a florist for the same amount, that is quite a savings! Tree fern is also available from Grower's Box at 200 stems for $100. This is plenty of material for decorating tables with the feel of "nature" to them. For more do-it-yourself folks, any number of free local grasses, flowers, berries, and twigs can be used at no cost at all. Some people do prefer to paint the sticks/twigs white, but that is a small cost.

A simple google search will bring you a variety of sites devoted to preserving leaves and other fall foliage.

Unique nature-themed bridal bouquets can include twigs, berries, leaves, ivy, and fern along with any flowers that appeal to the bride. Try an arm bouquet instead of a traditional hand-held bouquet. If the bride is a true nature buff, she may opt to wear something gauzy, floaty, or simple and even go bare-foot to complete the look.

The most important thing is that the bride and groom are surrounded by the aspects of nature that they enjoy the most and people that they love. Happy planning!