After saying “yes” to his romantic marriage proposal, your next step to take on as a soon-to-be-wed couple is: planning the wedding. Even if you decide to hire a wedding coordinator, there are still 1,001 things to do and dozens of little details to attend to. You and your fiancé would need to decide together on the type of wedding that you will have, where the ceremony and reception will be held, your budget for the wedding, how many guests to invite – and then there’s the wedding decoration.
The Initial Stage: General Planning for your Wedding Decoration
Remember that when planning a wedding, it’s the intricate details of the planning that counts. First, to help you out, here are a few questions that you need to ask yourself so that you can decide on a theme for your wedding decorations:
- Are you going to have a summer, winter, spring or an autumn wedding and what time of the day will it be held?
- Are you sticking with a wedding theme or one particular color scheme?
- Where will the wedding ceremony and reception be held?
- Are you going for a casual, formal, romantic, fairy-tale like or a sophisticated ‘mood’ for your wedding?
- Are there any family or religious traditions that you need to follow?
- What is your budget for the wedding decoration?
What’s Next? Dealing with the Little Details of Your Wedding Decoration Now, after thinking about what the general look of your wedding decoration will be, it’s time to get knee-deep on the tiny little details of your wedding decoration. Basically, the wedding decoration can be divided into two parts: décor for the ceremony and for the reception. Here’s a quick look at the several aspects which make up your wedding decoration for the ceremony:
- Entrance: Whether you’re saying your I do’s in a church or in another venue, the entrance where the ceremony will be held should be aptly decorated. Make sure that there’s a guest book or a wedding scroll that guests can sign. The steps or walkway leading up to the site should also be decorated for maximum impact.
- Aisles, chairs and pews: Flowers, lights, bows, tulles and fabric which all coordinate with the wedding theme or color scheme can be used to decorate the aisles, chairs and pews.
- The altar: White flowers or potted plant, a lattice arch decorated with ivory tulle, a unity candle set with flowers at the base and lots of tea lights candles can be used as a wedding decoration for the altar, which will serve as a backdrop for your wedding vows.
After deciding on the special touches that you would like to add to the ceremony, it’s time to move on to where the bigger brunt of the work on the wedding decorations will be done: the reception.
- Entrance: If you are working on a budget, you can actually have the wedding decorations at the ceremony transported to the wedding reception. The same thing holds true for the décor at the entrance to the reception.
- The gift table: This does not necessarily have to be a table – it can be just a space on the reception hall which you can decorate with potted plants or an object which coincides with the theme of your wedding.
- Tables, centerpieces and chairs: Since an arrangement of tables, centerpieces and chairs will be the highlight of the reception wedding décor, this is something that you need to prioritize. There are a lot of nifty things that you can use as centerpieces: flowers, a balloon arrangement, potted plants, water-filled bowls with floating candles – the possibilities are endless!
- Buffet table and the cake table: Decorate the buffet and cake table with edible treats. A fountain or an ice sculpture can serve as a great centerpiece for the buffet table. To sum it all up, the number one rule to come up with the ‘look’ that you want for your dream wedding lies in the little details – so use your imagination and let the ideas fly when thinking of the wedding decorations for your big day!
