Your wedding date is set, your marquee or venue is booked, you’ve got a good idea what style of dress or suit you’re going for, the guest list is drawn up. You’re in an amazing place with your wedding planning! And naturally, you’re starting to think about the styling of your space, and the mind-boggling amount of options out there. Do you need a little help figuring out what works and where to start? Then please read on!
Countryside Styling
Let’s start with the basics. You’re getting married in the countryside, so I would urge you to use what’s on the doorstep as your biggest source of inspiration. For example, the wild anemones and blossoms appear middle of March, replaced by tulips and bluebells in April and early May, followed by cow parsley in every ditch and bright yellow rape fields. In June, the roses and wild flowers will be blooming wildly, the trees and fields will be lushly green in July, August and September, and then we tip into hedgerow season, and the changing colours of autumn, in late October and November.
So here, I would recommend using the colours of the season and what’s growing outside to steer your styling choices. Why is that important? Because being sensitive to your surroundings will give your space a sense of belonging, a ‘rightness’ that can be hard to achieve when seasonality hasn’t been considered.
Let’s look at simple ways of incorporating this next!
Seasonality
Tip 1: Incorporate seasonal flowers and foliage
I can’t recommend this enough – if you do this one thing, your wedding styling is pretty much done! Instantly adding a luxe and immersive feel. In an ideal world, I would suggest working with an experienced florist (please hit me up for recommendations!).
But, if that’s out of the question, then ask anyone you can think of – parents, grandparents, friends – to try their hands at growing whatever will be in season by time of your wedding.
Alternatively, there are plenty of nurseries that offer trees and potted flowers to hire (Preston Bissett Nurseries deliver to Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire).
Tip 2: Focus your efforts on three main locations
The top three locations for your main decorations, i.e., your seasonal flowers or foliage, are your ceremony space, venue entrance and guest tables. A wonderful way of making the most of what you’ve got would therefore be giant pots of flowers at various heights, or a full arch installation, by the venue entrance; vases or bowls of cut flowers along tables and guest book table; and finally, a focal point (think height) in the shape of foraged branches and greenery in the ceremony that can later be moved to the bar or behind the top table.
If budget and time allows, then of course expand this further: Your cake table, ceiling and bar would love to be included. But start with the three locations above for the biggest impact.
Tip 3: Bringing the outside in
When we’re bringing the outside in like this, then let’s think one step further, and consider how we’re displaying all this seasonal bounty. Your tables will be able to handle shinier finishes, but in your larger entrance and focal point installations, it really helps to stay sympathetic to your countryside aesthetics, and use materials such as wicker, concrete, aged terracotta, clay and similar.
With your major decorations nailed, what else needs to be considered? Let’s have a look at that next – and we’re also going to veer into what to avoid.
Stylish Countryside Décor
Now that you’ve got the overall colours and seasonality sorted in the shape of flowers and foliage, let me share some easy tips on how you elevate this further for your wedding.
Tip 4: Style your centrepieces with candles at varying heights
First of all, adding various heights and incorporating shades of your seasonal flowers will instantly make your tables feel fuller and more ‘finished’. This can be easily achieved by mixing taper candles, and tea lights, ideally picking up a softer shade of your colours.
A quick note here on how many you use: Consider your food choices. If you’re having sharing food, leave some space for your candles and flowers to be shifted slightly, allowing for bowls and platters to go down once food is being served.
Tip 5: Choosing the 'right' table
Long or round, cloths or no cloths – the options are many and varied when it comes to wedding table choices. So, which is the right choice? Ultimately, only you will be able to decide what is exactly right for your wedding, but as a guide, I would suggest this:
Long wooden tables, left bare: Look stunning in tipis and very rustic barns
Long banqueting tables, with table cloths: Look stunning in sperry tents, sail cloth marquees, pole marquees and modern barns
Round tables, with floor-length table cloths: Look stunning in lined clearspan marquees, orangeries and contemporary venues
Tip 6: Completing the look with your choice of chairs
Just like the tables, there are quite a few options when it comes to chairs. While some venues will come with a set type of chair, investing in hiring chairs that work perfectly with the rest of your styling is an easy way to create a beautiful, refined look.
Wonderful options for tasteful countryside weddings are wooden crossback chairs, limewash Chiavari chairs and Louis chairs.
Tip 7: Make your table linen part of the décor
Long gone are the days when white table cloths and napkins were the only options. There’s a plethora of options out there, and making smart choices with your table cloths and napkins is an easy way of adding lots of impact.
Patterned cloths and napkins create a super fresh and contemporary look – have a peek at Mason Margaux and The Luxe Collection for inspiration - but even when a white or cream cloth is the right choice of colour, I would suggest considering texture too. For countryside weddings, Northfield Linen’s ‘Natural Collection’ seamlessly blends with the location.
Even your bare, wooden tables can benefit from soft folds of cheesecloth or linen simply draped and ruched along the middle.
Tiptoeing gently into territory of strong opinions and boggy ground: Here I can only urge you to avoid polyester. While the price tag can be extremely tempting, it doesn’t match your beautifully styled countryside wedding.
All items, images and styling by Maison Margaux
Countryside Does Not Mean Rustic
From tiptoeing onto boggy ground to full throttle opinion-throwing, here are a few things I would suggest avoiding altogether when styling your beautiful countryside wedding:
Tip 8: Avoid hessian, jars of gypsophila (baby’s-breath) and apple crates
As soon as Pinterest gathers that you are not getting married in the city, you are suddenly taken down a deep rabbit hole consisting solely of hessian, log slices, oak barrels, apple crates, pallet boards, jars of gyp, beer barrows and blanket baskets. The only greenery in sight is eucalyptus and ruscus. (If you’re wondering what’s wrong with that, see Tip 1.)
If you’ve already been confronted with all of this, or maybe even started to consider these items for your own wedding, I beg you to influence the algorithm. Replace the search term ‘rustic wedding’ with ‘modern wedding’ and find fantastic countryside wedding inspiration from the likes of Katrina Otter Weddings, Wren Ark and Liberty Lane.
Tip 9: Avoid too many signs
Signs are super helpful, and if you’ve got more than 50 guests, you can’t really get away with not having a table plan. Other signs might also be necessary and helpful, like showing guests where to park, and where to walk when they arrive.
But going overboard, no pun intended, can make a venue feel cluttered with what is essentially unnecessary signs. Welcome sign, order-of-the-day sign, ‘pick a seat not a side’ sign, ‘cards’ sign, ‘guest book’ sign, ‘loved ones who can’t be with us’ sign… the list goes on. And in most cases, it’s actually quite obvious where guests – for example – put their card, and what to do with the guest book.
So, proceed with caution and careful deliberation. A welcome sign is indeed lovely, and if there’s plenty of space, go for it! But for all other signs, if it’s not necessary, I would suggest it’s better to not have it at all. So often, less is more!
Tip 10: Make stationery your final touch
Beautifully designed and finished table stationery will do so much more for your styling than any favour, sign or flipflop basket ever could. So, take your time here, find paper finishes that really complement your other choices, and favour lay-flat to anything upright when it comes to place cards and menus, to prevent the stationery detracting from your beautiful blooms.
Are you feeling overwhelmed or inspired yet? Let me outline these 10 tips in a shorter format to finish, in the hope that I’ve left you empowered when it comes to your countryside wedding styling!
10 easy tips for styling your countryside wedding
In conclusion, here are my 10 tips listed in order for a stylish countryside wedding:
1. Incorporate seasonal flowers and foliage
2. Focus your efforts on 3 main locations
3. Bring the outside in
4. Finish your tablescape with candles
5. Tables: part of your styling
6. Chairs: part of your styling
7. Your table linen is a key décor choice
8. Avoid classic ‘rustic’ items: hessian, gyp, apple crates, pallet boards
9. Avoid having too many signs
10. Make stationery your final touch
Are you feeling inspired? I would love to see your mood boards!
Warmest wishes,
Karin
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