DIY Outdoor Wedding Decorations
Wedding budgets can quickly be depleted when decorations are factored into the overall cost. By creating personalized decorations with natural accents, a career theme meaningful to the couple, or with items purchased at discount stores, hundreds of dollars can be saved. Weddings held in picturesque outdoor settings add to the beauty of the event, for little or no cost.
Other People Are Reading
-
Career and Hobby Themed Outdoor Wedding Decorations
-
Career or hobby themed outdoor wedding decorations can add a fun twist to the ceremony. When using a theme, which is an important aspect of the couple's life, many items will already be on hand for decorating. A firefighter themed wedding can incorporate the department's uniform, and utilize fire helmets for table centerpieces. Items from discount store firefighter toy or birthday party packs can be used for small table decorations, and be placed in glass jars for added decoration. A plastic ax, often found in toy kits, can be used for cutting the first piece of cake. Most fire departments will allow the firefighters to use fire trucks during wedding ceremonies to transport both the couple, and wedding party to the event. Similar cost saving decorations can be created for law enforcement and military themed funerals. Sports fans can use a home plate and bases to line the ground, instead of a traditional red carpet walkway. A grass walkway can be enhanced for a football or soccer themed wedding by simply lining the grass with white spray paint, to offer a playing field style entrance.
Fall Outdoor Wedding Decorations
-
Fall outdoor weddings offer an already decorated natural backdrop for the ceremony. Pumpkins, gourds, and corn stalks offer a free or no cost outdoor decoration alternative. Growing pumpkins in preparation for the ceremony should begin in early summer, and produce nearly a dozen pumpkins from a single pack of seeds. Fall produce can be purchased from markets and discount grocery chains, generally for less than $5 per large pumpkin. Pumpkins can be adorned with artistic phrases, or even photos of the couple with computer cling paper, or with clear contact paper available from craft stores. Cornstalks can be used to create a walkway to the pastor, or as area dividers and decorations at either the wedding or the reception. Colorful rocks and sticks offer a no cost table centerpiece for the guest tables. Gourds and small pumpkins, along with inexpensive fall flowers, can be added for color. Sunflowers are also inexpensive alternatives for bouquets and decorations. They can be planted in containers, or outdoors in May, and mature to three feet tall in time for fall events.
-
Spring Outdoor Wedding Decorations
-
Spring wedding decorations can be simple, yet colorful. Fresh spring flowers such as tulips, lilac, and daisies offer inexpensive options for wedding party bouquets and table centerpieces. Easter eggs dyed to match the wedding colors are a cost effective alternative to traditional store bought wedding décor. Simple white baskets can be found at dollar stores, yard sales, and discount retailers. Baskets can be spray painted white if necessary, and adorned with colored lace.
Beach Themed Outdoor Wedding Decorations
-
Beach themed weddings allow the couple to be creative with both the style of wedding dress, and the decorations used at the outdoor ceremony. Seashells, palm leaves, and beach sand can all be found free while visiting nearly any beach location. Couples who don't live near a beach can purchase the items for little cost from online auction houses like eBay, from discount retailers, and yard sales. Weddings, which are held on the beach, offer an opportunity to line the bride's walkway with shells, and use palm leaves as table centerpieces. Inexpensive table decorations can include plain white glass containers with sand and a few seashells inserted. Ocean glass and shark's teeth also offer interesting additions to a beach themed wedding. Artificial shells, ocean glass, and petrified wood can be purchased from discount retailers like Wal-Mart, and at party supply stores. The Oriental trading company also offers cheap ocean themed party suppliers and artificial ocean themed décor. Air plants can be easily found in tropical areas and beachside communities. The plants inhibit tree growth, and are picked from tree limbs and thrown away by homeowners at the beginning of spring. The curvy air plants can be used in bouquets, and as outdoor wedding decorations. The plants offer white puffy daffodil like flowers, or purple and yellow flowers, depending on the variety selected. Air plants can be purchased at flea markets and flower shops for as little as $1.99 each in most locations. Bottle brush tree flowers can be picked from trees, giving bright rose color to any bouquet or centerpiece.
Winter Outdoor Wedding Decorations
-
Outdoor weddings in the winter are less common than during warmer months of the year, but can be marvelously decorated on a shoestring budget. Outdoor weddings in public parks are often already decorated for the holiday season. Shelter houses, gazebos, or pavilions adorned with white lights offer couples less space to decorate for the ceremony. Pine tree branches cut from live trees by tree farms are often thrown away. The tree branches can be used to adorn the bride's walkway to the groom. Poinsettias and old-fashioned sleds can add to the holiday atmosphere of an outdoor winter wedding. Feathers can be used in bridal bouquets, offering a unique and less expensive alternative to bouquets. Flower shops offer feather bouquet services, or brides can create a bouquets inexpensively herself by purchasing feathers from a discount retailer and use green floral tape to hold them together. White candles placed in clear glass saucers, surrounded by pine cones, create an elegant centerpiece for the reception.
-
Resources
- Photo Credit Tara Dodrill
