Outdoor weddings
One of the biggest challenges that we face with any outdoor destination weddings is the inclement weather. Gusty wind and pouring rain… we get them all here in Hawaii, especially between the months of November and March. But even during our regular wedding months, there will still be a constant breeze from the ocean. Here are a few ideas for some of your decor items…
PHOTOS
Unless your photo frames are heavy, most of them won’t sustain the breeze and they won’t stay on your guest book tables or guest tables. You may opt to hang them on the trees (if it’s a sunny day) with clothes pins like I did with my wedding last Saturday:
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MENUS
Most of the menus will be tucked into each napkin at each place setting, but I have spent a lot of time chasing after them in the past (even last Saturday) because they were printed on very thin paper. Make sure you use heavy card stock for menus and have your wedding favors placed on top of them to add the extra weight:
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AISLE FLOWERS
Rose petals on the aisle are really difficult to work with when it comes to outdoor ceremonies. We normally try to sprinkle them a few minutes before the bride walks down the aisle, but on a very breezy day, the petals won’t even last a few seconds. If you really want some florals to decorate the aisle, you can do little arrangements such as these on every other chair and on each side of the aisle, or you can hang leis on the back of the chairs too. After the ceremony, we can move them to the cocktail tables or the cake table…
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ESCORT CARDS
There are so many ways of displaying your escort cards at the guest book table. It all depends on what your decor/theme is. If you are doing a beach theme, then sand dollars on a tray of sand will work:
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And if you are going for the nature look, then river rocks surrounding a nice centerpiece will look great:
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BATTERY OPERATED CANDLES
Whoever invented these battery operated LED tea light candles is a genius! I have used them a few times for my weddings and they were wonderful. They last at least 5 hours if not more, and I never have to worry about the candles blowing out. I don’t know if I will ever want to use real candles again for my outdoor weddings. They are insanely difficult to work with. My bride last Saturday asked me why the votives on the dining tables were not lit. The reason - they wouldn’t stay lit! :(
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PARASOLS
A lot of my brides provide parasols for their guests during the ceremony, but unfortunately most of the time I have never seen them used. I think they look great as a parasol aisle, especially if the parasols are in your wedding colors… but again, they are very light-weight and won’t stay in place. However, they make great photo op for the bridal party after the ceremony!
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PROGRAM FANS
These are becoming more and more popular for outdoor destination weddings. I love them and I had them at my own wedding 4 years ago. However, they are not going to stay on the ceremony chairs. The best way is to do what I did, place them in a nice basket, and the guests will grab one as they check in to the ceremony:
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Tags: Destination wedidngs, Outdoor wedidngs
April 29th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Great Blog - I just signed up for your RSS Feed.
Looking forward to more of your posts.
Thanks
Your friends at the Wedding Favors Association of Atlanta, GA