Decor Inspiration for an outdoor wedding

Today marks the one year Anniversary of my daughter Alex’s wedding which we hosted here at the lake house last summer. With all of the wedding plans shifting for brides right now (my heart goes out to each of them), I thought I’d share some outdoor wedding decor ideas with you. As a bonus is it gives me a chance to look back at how beautiful the yard looked last year! Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine as this post is a long one. :-

Beach side wedding. That is one happy Bride and Groom

When Alex and Ross started planning their outdoor wedding they knew they wanted it outdoors but were still wanting it to feel a bit more elegant than a regular backyard bbq. Once Alex chose her dress which had some elements of Art Deco/ geometric patterns we began planning the decor details. Since the bride loves blue and its perfect for a beach vibe she ran with that. After debating several shades of blue, Alex settled on dusty blue and grey for her bridal party and we added mixed metals and a pretty peachy pink for some contrast in the decor. When you are having a wedding outdoors I believe it’s best to let your beautiful surroundings shine through.

A lot of the decor was DIY because it’s kinda what I do as a Home Decor blogger. Having worked as a floral designer years ago I decided I could handle DIYing the flowers. Even with that experience, I was still a bit nervous about finding the specific colors and flowers my daughter liked so I found Kukka Flowers that sends you pre selected flowers and you arrange them yourself. This made it so easy. I’ll write a post about the actual arranging next week. They also have videos to help you if need more support. I ordered the Yours Truly collection which they allowed me to personalize a bit and the flowers were so beautiful! I also ordered additional flowers from a local supplier for the Arch arrangements and for the table decor.

Bridal Bouquet with Hydrangeas, Delphinium and Juliet Roses

Baskets for the flower children — Basket for the flower petals

Having a wedding at your home basically allows for your Pinterest dreams to come true! And we took full advantage. We rented tents and chairs to fit the 100 invited guests (about 90 showed up) and separated the ceremony space (beach) from the backyard space (reception) and even designated the patio as the dance floor. We did have a plan “B” in place for rain but the day turned out stunningly beautiful.

A big bonus of having the wedding outdoors was the Best Man felt very much at home

Peter looks so handsome in his wedding attire!

Some of my favorite wedding DIY’s

Personalized tags for the Bridal Party robes

Dinner was catered from a favorite farm to table restaurant. If you are local to Grand Rapids, MI I highly recommend Romanas Table out of Rockford, MI. They were amazing! We rented tables, glassware and linens for dinner which was served buffet style.

We hung faux garland borrowed from a friend at the last minute to cover the poles in the tent. We mixed in lights and it looked lovely once the sun went down.

For the table decor we used Italian Ruscus for the greenery and ran it down the center of the tables on top of cheesecloth that I bought from the local fabric store. It was light and airy and perfect for a summers night reception.

The couple have a favorite wine they call their LOVE wine. They made it part of the wedding ceremony and then served it to the guests during dinner. We labeled the bottles so they could share the story with their guests.

After the ceremony, the Bridal Party took a spin around the lake for some pics and a private moment while the guests enjoyed cocktails and yard games.

Talk about a CHEESE CAKE!! Instead of a traditional cake after dinner these foodies chose to serve a “Cake of cheese” which tuned out to be a huge success with the guests it was not only beautiful the guests were able to nibble throughout the evening. It was beautiful as well as tasty. If you are local to Grand Rapids, MI it’s from The Cheese People The layers are Triple Blue Cheese, Donatello and Cheddar.

Serving cheese at a wedding. An alternative cake for a wedding

After the ceremony and before dinner the guests walked the property with cocktails and played various lawn games or took photos for the couples guestbook.

Yard games are perfect for outdoor weddings.

We had a Polaroid Guest book where the guests posed for pics with props. The Puppets below were a shower gift to the couple from me. I have a thing with puppets and each of the kids have gotten a set at their Bridal shower. It’s a weird random thing but the wedding guests love the Ross puppet!

One of my favorite things we did was to print out and frame several verses of the poem I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg which was read at the ceremony and placed them around on the tables. Printing on the dusty blue paper helped carry the color theme through out the reception.

For the dance floor we used whiskey barrels filled with quick crete and eight feet 4 x 4’s. We planted flowers around them. We then strung the lights at the top. I wish I had a better shot but they worked beautifully. We bought outdoor string light from Home Depot. The shape of the patio is a circle which made for a lovely, intimate dance space.

The finale of the evening was the send off. We purchased extra long sparklers so the guests could send the happy couple off in style without any mishaps. It added such a magical feel to a perfect day.

And that’s a wrap! For some Fall wedding decor inspiration check out the decor we did for my youngest daughters wedding here (and yes they got married in the same YEAR! LOL.

Special shout outs to Chantal Elise Photgraphy - Kate @Valley and Oak who were both amazing at their jobs (Kate rocked that Cake of Cheese table!

I can’t resist posting an update on the happy couple. This photo was from her baby shower two weeks ago!!