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How to Plan an Outdoor Wedding

August 10, 2017 by Sarah 37 Comments

Growing up I didn’t dream about what kind of engagement ring I’d get someday, or even about the dress. Instead, I dreamed about one thing, other than my husband, of course. I wanted my wedding outside. Even more specifically, I always wanted it facing Lake Ontario (one of the Great Lakes in New York!) Thankfully, my husband agreed and I began to plan an outdoor wedding. Obviously getting married outdoors opens itself to a whole new set of problems but with proper planning, you can pull it off without leaving anyone in the cold (get it?)

How to Plan an Outdoor Wedding

How to Plan an Outdoor Wedding

*This post contains affiliate links which means I may make a small commission if you make a purchase through one of my links but it won’t increase the cost for you.

1.// Yes, We Need to Talk About the “Backup Plan”

I feel like this is the obvious elephant in the room. So obvious that you’re probably like “Why are you even mentioning this?”

I mention it because I’ve heard of so many people who plan outdoor weddings and say, “Well it better not rain or we’ll in big trouble! But we’re willing to chance it.”

How to Plan an Outdoor Wedding

For many of those people, God granted them a beautiful sunny day. And I’m happy for them. But you don’t want to be the one person who doesn’t have a backup, and your wedding was ruined.

Just ask Alanis.

Guys, it rained on my wedding day. And it was ironic. I really did think.

How to Plan an outdoor wedding!
BUT, we had a backup plan. I already decided to move dinner indoors (sad face) just to be safe. I had dreams of beautiful tables overlooking the lake but it just wasn’t practical. We had a backup plan for the ceremony too but thankfully God stopped the rain for exactly 45 minutes to have our ceremony outside. More of that later.

RELATED: Want to save money on your wedding too? Here are 10 Ways to Save $1,000 On Your Big Day. 

How to Plan an outdoor wedding
But rain is not the only limiting factor of an outdoor wedding. Sometimes it is too cold. Sometimes it is too hot. If those cases you have to…

2.// Think Like a Guest

If you went to an outdoor wedding what are some things you would like to see to protect you from the elements?

If your wedding is in the heat of the day it might be nice to provide fancy umbrellas for the guests to sit under, or even provide ponchos for each guest to cover themselves with. If it’s hot you might want to think about providing pretty paper fans for your guests.

If there is a chance your wedding might be cold for your guests, think about providing heating lamps or even cute blankets that can double as your wedding favor.

Also, I’ve heard of people passing our SPF and bug spray. Thoughtful.

3.// Give Your Guests a Heads Up

If your wedding is outdoors you will want to mention that in your invitation. That way people do not wear their formal dresses, but instead, something more fitting for the occasion. It also gives women a chance to wear flats or wedges to more easily walk on uneven or grassy terrain.

Another thoughtful thing to do is provide cheap flip-flops for those that end up wearing heels. I ended up wearing heel protects on my shoes to more easily walk around, another option to offer to your guests.

4.// Make Sure Your Dress/Bridesmaid Dresses Fit the Outdoors

I’ve seen a lot of women throw their wedding together with bits and pieces of what they like with no thought to the overall picture. My suggestion – for any wedding – is to come up with a theme and pick four colors that match that theme. It will make all your other decisions so much easier – trust me.

And if you have a wedding outdoors – Spoiler alert – part of your theme was already chosen for you. Now you don’t have to wear white overalls to match your outdoor theme, but it’s not necessarily the right place to pick a ballgown dress either. Believe me, I’ve seen it.

How To Plan an Outdoor Wedding

A flowing or simple dress fits in with an outdoor theme like butter on bread. It just works. Your pictures will make more sense and you will be more comfortable, too. If you’re wondering what kind of makeup look to go with you will enjoy this post from a wedding makeup artist on how to look beautiful on your big day. 
How to Plan an outdoor Wedding

5.// Use Your Surroundings To Your Advantage!

Friends, if you are in a beautiful outdoor setting, use it to your advantage. Face the lake/mountain/river for your ceremony. Plan your hors d’oeuvres outside so people can enjoy it.

How to Plan a Wedding Outdoors

Set up a photo booth outside. While planning my wedding I wanted to hang picture frames from trees with the Lake in the background for cute “Instagram-ready” photos. We still ended up planning something cute inside, in case of rain though.

Set up lawn games like a giant Jenga set. How fun!

How to Plan an Outdoor Wedding
How to Plan an Outdoor Wedding

Yes, I planned to have beautiful lawn games but moved them indoors because of the rain. I don’t know about you when weddings are so awkward when you are just standing around talking to people. I love an activity to save me from boredom and people’s conversations. (I’m an introvert, forgive me.)

Guys, I even had dreams of offering boat rides during my wedding. I can still hear my husband’s reaction when I told him and his eyes just about fell out of his face. “Boat rides? This isn’t a carnival.”

But how fun would a paddle boat ride be at an outdoor wedding? Maybe it’s just me. Oh well. Speaking of outdoor weddings, check out this casual background wedding from Shifting Roots.

Lastly, think about creative ways to display drinks or food to match the surroundings. Put bottles of water and special fun drinks in a canoe or old large tin buckets.

6.// Think About What Could Go Wrong.

And try to prevent it! Offering your guests umbrellas/blankets/flip-flops fit under this category, as does having a backup. Other things to think through:

If your wedding is outdoors in the heat you should consider fondant so it doesn’t melt. Are there any issues with the season you picked? Who is going to move all the benches in, then out, then in again in case of rain (Thank you wedding guests and brother in law who did this for me!) What kind of sound system will you need outdoors? Etc etc.

7.// Be Prepared for Something to Go Wrong and Roll With It.

I like to end on the story of it raining on my wedding day because that is every brides’ nightmare but I lived to tell the tale. SOMETHING WILL GO WRONG. Something won’t be perfect. Remind yourself of that before the wedding so it doesn’t come as a shock.

8.// Then Once It Hits – Roll With It.

I briefly mentioned this above but we (well not me I was getting ready but someone) set up all the benches and decorations outside first. It rained. Some good Samaritans dried off the benched and moved them inside. I checked my phone and it looked like the rain may hold off a bit. They moved the benches outside again.

I’ve also seen some darn right cute photos of bridal parties with umbrellas and rain boots. I wish I would have thought of that (although up until the day of your wedding you are on your knees praying for sun!)

Our photographer, however, took some pretty unique photos in rain puddles, and on top of that, the clouds were amazing that day!

How To Plan An OutDoor Wedding

There is always a silver lining. And if there isn’t you shrug your shoulders and say, “the show must go on!”

In that case, sometimes you do have to plan an outdoor wedding indoors.

Oh, and when the wedding is over, here are 7 Places to Change Your Name After Getting Married. It took me almost two years to change everything over so hopefully, this helps you avoid many of the same hassles I did.

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How to plan an outdoor wedding romantic and simple outdoor wedding

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Filed Under: Wedding Planning Tagged With: plan an outdoor wedding, wedding planning

Comments

  1. Nicole Kauffman says

    August 10, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Great suggestions! Ran can be SUCH a stressful thing when it comes to your wedding day!

    Reply
  2. Jess says

    August 10, 2017 at 11:31 am

    I love this!! Will definitely keep this in mind 🙂

    Reply
  3. Marissa says

    August 10, 2017 at 2:07 pm

    What a good guide to keep in mind! Cute pictures too. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Jennifer Smith says

    August 10, 2017 at 2:58 pm

    We got so incredibly lucky with our outdoor wedding! It rained during set up but it cooled everything down just right. These are great tips!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 10, 2017 at 4:11 pm

      Oh that worked out perfectly, then!

      Reply
  5. Victoria with One Sharp Mama says

    August 10, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    This is such a great post. We also had an outdoor wedding and had a back up plan but luckily the weather held out for our day. I really think a lot of people overlook the fact that they need to think about the bridesmaid dress and being outdoors for the whole time. I know some people have these lavish ideas for their wedding but they don’t put everything into reality perspective so I think that is great that you brought that up.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 10, 2017 at 10:11 pm

      Yes! I’ve seen some very heavy, formal dresses at outdoor weddings.

      Reply
  6. Jordan | Read. Eat. Repeat. says

    August 10, 2017 at 5:26 pm

    We briefly considered an outdoor wedding because they really are beautiful, but we wanted to get married the first week of August and it would have been unbearably hot and humid then where we live. So we opted for a traditional church wedding and obviously it didn’t hurt us because we celebrated 8 years Tuesday

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 10, 2017 at 10:11 pm

      Congrats on 8 years!!

      Reply
  7. Alicia says

    August 10, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    This is great. I love the think like a guest part. My ceremony was planned for outside and I wanted there to be no mentions of rain on my big day. Then a hurricane happened to come along…I had a backup indoor plan, but I wanted so badly to have the ceremony outside. I waited until as late as I could to make the decision to move it inside.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 10, 2017 at 10:12 pm

      A hurricane? That’s insane! Glad you had a backup

      Reply
  8. Andrea says

    August 10, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    I think as long as the weather holds up….

    Reply
  9. Rachel R Ritlop says

    August 10, 2017 at 8:14 pm

    aweee you looked beautiful and these tips are amazinggg!! We had lawn games too, and loved using the outdoor space to bring everything to life!

    Reply
  10. Felicia @ The Starving Chef says

    August 10, 2017 at 11:51 pm

    Great advice – I’m not quite in the wedding planning phase yet, but I definitely want my wedding to be outside if possible!

    Reply
  11. Ashley Millar says

    August 11, 2017 at 12:25 am

    I’m the MOH for my best friend’s outdoor wedding in October- this is perfect! I love the idea of lawn games, I ma e-mailing her right now about this! BTW, your wedding looks beautiful!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 11, 2017 at 11:22 am

      Thank you to both! You’ll be a great MOH 🙂

      Reply
  12. Yolanda says

    August 11, 2017 at 1:36 am

    You had a beautiful wedding! We just got married last month and it was outside – which I always dreamed of too. Great suggestions here 🙂

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 11, 2017 at 11:22 am

      Hopefully you had better weather! haha

      Reply
  13. Kristen says

    August 11, 2017 at 2:46 am

    I’m glad that I’m not the only person who had rain on their wedding. I originally wanted mine outdoors but my Mom talked me out of it and in this one specific case I’m glad she did. Even though rain on my wedding day was not what I wanted, we did get some super cute pictures with umbrellas.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 11, 2017 at 11:22 am

      Lucky! I so wish we had done that

      Reply
  14. Lux G. says

    August 11, 2017 at 10:05 am

    Just earlier I was reading through some boho wedding. Thanks for this informative article.

    Reply
  15. Coral says

    August 11, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    I love the idea of outdoor weddings but it’s always a hit and miss with the weather… you make some great suggestions here!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 11, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      For sure. Can’t control that darn weather. haha

      Reply
  16. summer says

    August 11, 2017 at 12:58 pm

    So much goodness! Yep, I had our ceremony outside and it was the perfect day, praise God. But it took a lot of prep!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 11, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      Oh yes, always does! So glad you had a beautiful day!

      Reply
  17. Heather Rutledge says

    August 11, 2017 at 3:31 pm

    I just became engaged a few months ago and we’re still deciding where in the world to get married, so this is really helpful to have because regardless of where we get married, if it’s outdoors I’ll need a good contingency plan in case of rain!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 11, 2017 at 3:52 pm

      Definitely. Good luck with your planning and congrats on the engagement!

      Reply
  18. Faye Thomas says

    August 11, 2017 at 6:54 pm

    Such an informative blog full of useful tips, I think the things you mention do get overlooked on the big day. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  19. Nicole says

    August 12, 2017 at 12:05 am

    The same thing happened at another wedding we went to. The rain stopped just long enough for the ceremony and then it went back to raining cats and dogs. I think it’s often more than luck.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 12, 2017 at 11:26 am

      Me too 🙂

      Reply
  20. Rachel Ritlop says

    August 12, 2017 at 1:58 am

    Such beautiful pics! It’s stressful enough to plan a wedding in general, let alone an outdoor one. Great guide on how to plan one, love it!

    Reply
  21. Sarah Camille says

    August 12, 2017 at 4:10 am

    I love your thoughts! I’m planning my wedding for the end of April and the ceremony and reception are planned to be outside, which really fits the love of the outdoors my fiance and I have. We are going to do lawn games too.. just crossing our fingers that we don’t have to use the indoor/backup plan!! 😀
    Cheers, Sarah Camille // SCsScoop.com

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 12, 2017 at 11:26 am

      I hope you end up with a beautiful day! 🙂

      Reply
  22. Travelberries says

    August 12, 2017 at 11:56 am

    After reading this, how come Alanis haven’t thought of a back up plan???!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 12, 2017 at 2:50 pm

      hahaha I know, right??

      Reply
  23. Glenna says

    August 12, 2017 at 4:54 pm

    Oh I love this! I have always wanted an outdoor wedding! Thank you for sharing

    Reply
  24. Corey | The Nostalgia Diaries says

    October 19, 2017 at 5:07 pm

    These are great tips! Your wedding looks like it was just beautiful (even with the rain) and you looked absolutely stunning! 🙂

    Reply

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Hello! I’m Sarah

Hello! I’m Sarah

I'm a communications professional turned stay-at-home mom, wife, and writer. Here at Pretty Simple Ideas I help busy moms and working women simplify homemaking.

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