Outdoor weddings are becoming increasingly popular as budget weddings gain in popularity, and soon-to-be-weds embrace everything ECO and natural for the theme of their big day.

Generally most people will plan to have their outdoor wedding during the summer, which is why so many of us have several ceremonies to attend between June and September. If you’re in the position of planning your own outdoor event, you have many challenges ahead of you. When you’re dealing with an indoor space you have a template to work from. When you’re dealing with an outdoor space you’re working with a blank canvas, especially if there aren’t any amenities nearby that you can use.

So where do you start?

The best thing to do is work on key areas that will define your special day. When you focus on the main areas, you will then find everything else naturally falls into place. It is important to remember that whilst it is daunting to create a ceremony from scratch, it is also incredibly rewarding when everything works together and you’ve successfully planned all elements of the wedding yourself.

Here are some tips to help you decorate your outdoor wedding:

Plan and remain flexible

Before you do anything you need to try and make a plan. If you can get a diagram of the area you are working with this will help you tremendously. Outline a budget and theme and try to collate a selection of pictures and articles that inspire you. Once you have a good plan to work from, you must then try to remain flexible. It is so easy to set your heart on a particular design or theme, but often things can crop up that will mean you have to change your ideas slightly. This can be a difficult pill to swallow but, if you’re prepared to be flexible from the beginning you’ll find it’s a lot easier to chop and change ideas to create something amazing.

The ceremony area

The seating area can be difficult to plan at an outdoor wedding. In regards to sourcing the chairs in the first place you have a few options. The first option is to rent the chairs from the venue attached to the outdoor space (if there is one). The second option is to rent the chairs from a chair rental company. Your third option is to buy and borrow the chairs. This option is a really good one for those working on a budget wedding. If you don’t mind your chairs not matching (you could cover them with wedding seat covers) you could ask friends and family to lend you any spare chairs they have. You could then top that up with cheap chairs from car boots and charity shops, which can be purchased for as little as £5.00 each.

When you know where your chairs are coming from you’ll have to think about how they are arranged. You’ll have to do a lot of hot seating to check that each seat enables the guest to see the bride and groom.

Consider the weather in case the ground is soft, in which case you might need to place thick sheeting or matting underneath the chairs to stop them sinking.

When thinking about chair decoration decide if you want every chair decorated or, to save money, you could just decorate the back row of seats. Large ornaments or flower displays look lovely placed along the outside of the chairs as they create an intimate and enclosed feel.

The Altar

This will be your centrepiece as this will be where you get married! So you’ve every right to place the biggest decorative emphasis here. There are many different alter designs and ideas available so make sure you do your research and follow your heart when you see something that feels right. Altars can range from huge floral displays to quirky hand woven wooden designs. People often hire or commission special pergolas, arbours and trellises and work from those structures to create the perfect backdrop for the exchanging of the vows.

The indoor area

If you are worried about the weather, you could consider hiring a wedding marquee. Many people hire these for their wedding reception, however, if you simply don’t trust the weather it could be worth hiring one for the wedding itself. You will need to check the legalities of it as there can be restrictions on where you can get married. However if you have already had the green light on the outdoor area you have hired you shouldn’t have any problems – nonetheless it’s always good to check!

Remember to look at lots of different marquee shapes and designs and think carefully about how many people you are inviting along to the wedding. When you hire a marquee for your wedding it can take away some of the stress of planning a ceremony area from scratch, and you can feel assured you won’t have to worry about the weather on your big day.

These are just some of the aspects of decorating an outdoor space for a wedding. Remember, there’s no reason you can’t create the most incredible design and theme for your big day. Just stay calm, stay focused and enjoy it!