Rustic Wedding Ideas

Ideas for Creating a Rustic Wedding

A rustic wedding may be something you associate more with autumnal weather, but the style’s versatility allows you to adapt to the season. There are a few key concepts that you can use, whatever the weather, to create a rustic wedding that you and your guests will never forget!

Below, we’ve outlined our rustic wedding ideas to help you get planning. The key things to consider are the venue, the decorations, the lighting, the cake and the flowers.

Choose an exposed wood venue

Exposed wood is a great option for your venue when creating a rustic wedding. You may want to consider a barn for the location of your big day. They are elegant, spacious and romantic. Plus, they feel closer to the outdoors than a building or a church, giving them a rustic atmosphere as well as appearance. Barns are a popular wedding venue so you will find that they’re not hard to come by online if your local farm isn’t offering one up!

Opt for natural decorations

When creating a rustic wedding, the decorations are just as important as the physical building you choose to tie the knot in, if not more so. The entire atmosphere of your wedding relies on how you decorate the walls, tables and chairs of your venue. Natural materials are the best option for maintaining a rustic feel.

For instance, wooden signs pointing guests to the venue, to the toilets and to the dance floor are a fun personal touch which will give the impression of emulating nature. Carving the guests names into a small wooden plaque at each place setting would also be a small but significant keepsake for your guests to take home with them.

To continue with the theme of exposed wood, consider dispensing with tablecloths and instead use picnic benches at your reception. This will seem less formal and encourage your guests to mingle. With a rustic wedding, a minimalist approach will never steer you wrong. Remember, the more decorations you use, the more you obscure the natural qualities of the materials you’re using (and the more there is to clear up afterwards!)

Dress the venue in fairy lights

Where you have kept things simple and exposed in terms of the decorations, you can keep the venue from looking too bare by really going for it with the lighting. When creating a rustic wedding, those who try to emulate A Midsummer Night’s Dream will never go wrong. This will provide beautiful opportunities for photos and give the impression of either fairies or fireflies attending their very own do!

Arrange wildflowers

Flowers are also a key component to any wedding but when your theme is more rustic, you don’t want your arrangements looking too pristine. Wildflowers will give wonderfully natural messiness to your centrepieces and your bouquets, especially if you wrap the bunches and vases in burlap.  Flower seeds would also be a lovely gift to your guest to go along with their engraved place settings, encouraging them to take some of nature home with them!

Go for a less traditional cake

Finally, an icing-less wedding cake will top off the rustic atmosphere beautifully. Exposing the sponge adds a touch of simplicity which will only add to your preferred rustic atmosphere. This won’t make it seem any less grand; they can still be tiered and covered in mounds of fruit or iced flowers.

Hopefully, these rustic wedding ideas have got your creativity flowing! Overall, the more minimalist you can make the wedding, the better. Having some key statement pieces against a backdrop of exposed wood and fairy lights will leave your guests wonderstruck.