WEDDING DECORATIONS A LA NATUREL
Ladies (or gents!) if you’re in the process of planning the decorations for your wedding, you are in luck: a la naturel decorations are trending big time, which means great news for your budget. You more than likely already have unsuspecting materials in your backyard or recycle bin for that matter. This natural type of earthy decorations especially lends itself to the rustic style, country themed weddings that are everso romantic and popular at the moment.
CONFETTI
Save the earth and be bang on trend with some leaf confetti. Have your guests sprinkle you with confetti made from hole punched leaves of various colours and textures.
For a more feminine approach, use semi –dried flower petals from flowers in tones to match your wedding theme. Both leaf and petal confetti look great in ready to grab cones made from rolled up paper.
TABLE NAMES & NUMBERS
If you (or a friend) have nice writing, you have nice table settings. Simply source your choice of au naturel base, such as cactus patty’s and write your guests name and table number. Stones, large leaves, pinecones and log rounds are other ways to display table numbers and names.
CENTREPIECES & CANDLES
Once your guests have found their table with the cactus patty escot card, wow them even more with your natural creative flair (mind the pun). Centrepieces is where you can really get your creative on, the options are endless and this is where your backyard and recyling bin may have some goods to offer.
You heard it here first, tin cans are the new mason jar. Whilst mason jars are still a classic decorating feature, raid your recyling bin for tin cans, the varying shapes and sizes the better for creating different levels for the eye to view.
Once you have cleaned and dried the cans thoroughly give them a spray paint with your colour of choice, we are totally feeling soft metallics of gold and rose gold. Same process works for glass bottles with an amazing result.
Twigs & branches add a rustic texture in centrepeice arrangements and also help reduce the sometimes expensive florists bill. Arrange in vases amongst flowers or get creative and create a twig tee pee centrepeice. If you have some time for light gardening the day before your big day (haha) you could trim branches from your backyard tree and arrange in tall glass vases down the centre of a long table. As ridiculous as it sounds the green leaves, bushing out from a slender glass vase creates a stunningly simplistic earthy centrepiece. Pair with neutral linens to complete the look.
A mainstay in wedding décorations, no matter the era, has always been candles. Again, spray painted bottles holding a long tapered candle is classicially romantic. Or for a more minimalist, clean version leave the bottles unpainted, fill with water and slip in some branches then top push a long tapered candle in the top of the bottle. Alternatively bunch together long green leaves around a thick white candle and fix in place with ribbon.
If your wedding has a rustic feel including wood in the form of logs or twigs is a must. Bundle together twigs around a candle and fix in place with ribbon, guage a hole in the top of logs to fit tea light candles, or simply place mason jars with tea light candles on logs of various heights.
When it’s time to hit the buffet, continue the theme with a caligraphic menu on a large palm leaf. Don’t let nature end with the decorations. Set up a table with stones and nikko pens for your guests to write lovely messages that you can keep forever. Don’t forget the guests bombonieres, succlents wrapped in burlap or mini kokedamas.
With any luck you are now inspired to get ‘a la naturel’ with incorporating nature into your wedding, and save some money in the process. Why not get together with your friends, enjoy a few drinks and catch up while letting your creative juices flow, you could even start the next hot trend.
Amber E Ries