If on your big day you want a laid-back, casual vibe, then a rustic wedding may be for you. In order to create a relaxed environment that encourages mixing, mixing and having a good time, this style uses nature-inspired elements and outdoor spaces (with a bit of country flair). Keep reading about how to pull off a rustic wedding and some of our favourite rustic decor and other ideas to add to your celebration for all the details.
What is meant by a rustic wedding?
The great components of the rustic wedding style are nature and the outdoors. Rustic weddings, such as barns and other countryside venues, are often associated with rural locations, but with the right approach, you can pull off this relaxed aesthetic almost anywhere. A combination of farmhouse, vintage, and robust elements, such as wooden logs, burlap, baby’s breath, mix-and-match vases, barrels, and galvanised metal, is typically a rustic wedding style. You can achieve a classic rustic wedding style by adding sleek details such as chandeliers, greenery garlands, candles, and twinkle lights.
For a rustic wedding, what are the best venues?
Barns, ranches and farms are the most obvious venues for rustic weddings. Due to their rural locations and informal settings, these types of venues easily lend themselves to the rustic wedding style. The rustic style is also appropriate for vineyards, mountain lodges, and recreational parks or campgrounds.
Some barn or farm locations, particularly if your area is notorious for heavy snowfall, may close for the winter and early spring. This means that during the winter you are more likely to be limited to traditional indoor venues, and as a result, in order to achieve a truly rustic effect, you may need more decor. If you find a barn or farm available during the winter, ask about the inclement weather policy of the venue, and don’t forget to create a “Plan B” in case there are other ideas for Mother Nature. Finally, in the winter, barns can be very draughty, so ask the venue if space heaters are provided if necessary. If not, in order for everyone to stay cosy and warm, you will need to take into account the added cost of renting them.
What are the good colours for a rustic wedding?
One thing about the rustic wedding style that we love is that it’s super versatile. It works with many different palettes of colour, and depending on the decor you choose, each one can help you achieve a different look.
Yellow and navy, burgundy and orange, or coral and turquoise are popular rustic colour palettes. Stick with a softer colour palette composed of pastel hues, such as blush, dusty blue, mint green, or even gold for a more ‘rustic chic’ look.
How are you decorating your rustic wedding?
The rustic wedding style focuses on handmade details, rough accent pieces, and vintage items that have been repurposed. If you want your wedding to be traditionally rustic (more on that in a second) or something along the lines of a ‘rustic chic’ look, you need to decide before you choose your wedding decor.
Traditional rustic décor, like hay bales, twine, raw wood pieces, and antlers, is heavy on the outdoor elements. Also popular at traditional rustic weddings are burlap table runners, mason jars, and baby’s breath. To play up the pastoral theme, you can even add seasonal details, such as sunflowers in the summer or acorns and pumpkins in the fall.
The rustic, chic style is all about creating a laid-back yet elegant setting. This traditional rustic style twist retains the basic elements, but adds romantic and classic details, such as loose greenery, whitewashed chairs, muted metallic accents, and basically anything you’d see in a Fixer Upper episode.
What are the best flowers for rustic weddings?
The rustic wedding style is all about creating a welcoming feeling, so you’ll want a loose, slightly undone look for the bouquets, centrepieces (see our favourite ideas here), and other floral arrangements. Nothing, in other words, that feels too perfect or overly arranged.
The rustic style works well with most types of flowers, but we especially love sunflowers, hydrangeas, daisies, roses, delphinium, dahlias, poppies and lots of greenery (imagine wildflowers you might see growing in a country field). The baby’s breath goes hand in hand with the rustic style, but the lace, craspedia, goldenrod, and even cotton puffs of Queen Anne are some other floral accents that look just as beautiful.
What are you going to wear at a rustic wedding?
Generally, because of the informal atmosphere associated with rustic wedding venues, rustic weddings allow for more casual dress codes. For example, asking your guests to wear tuxedos and floor-length gowns may not be the most practical route if your ceremony takes place in a 200-year-old barn or a field at the edge of a forest.
When choosing your own attire, you’ll also want to consider the venue. Slimmer silhouettes in lightweight, breathable fabrics are ideal for rustic settings if you’re wearing a wedding gown. This gives you plenty of freedom to easily move around, a must if you get hitched outdoors. A more casual dress code also means you should remain relatively understated with your accessories, but don’t be afraid to have some fun with them! This is a chance to wear things that at more formal venues may seem out of place, such as swapping your stilettos for a pair of sandals, flats or even cowboy boots!
Opt for a more casual style in a lightweight material, such as seersucker, cotton or linen, if you’re wearing a suit. Without being overdressed, these options still look polished, and for warmer temperatures they are ideal. For rustic weddings held in cooler weather, wool suits are a great choice. Skip the suit altogether for the ultimate laid-back look and sport a button-down with dress pants, a tie, or suspenders.
At a rustic wedding, what kind of food do you serve?
We love the look of buttercream frosting for rustic wedding cakes, which will give your cake a slightly more relaxed look. Dress up with fresh flowers or greenery for each tier or skip the allover frosting and instead opt for a naked or semi-naked cake. For additional rustic flair, Fondant gives your wedding cake a smoother finish and can be decorated with a faux bois pattern or burlap ribbons.
Homemade pies, doughnuts, waffles, and even pie pops are just some of our faves. Rustic weddings are a prime chance to try out some alternative dessert ideas. For fall weddings, pies are particularly festive, since you can incorporate seasonal ingredients such as pumpkins and apples. Besides your traditional cake, you can serve pies or send your guests home with pre-boxed slices or mini pies as favours. As rustic wedding treats, we also love cupcakes, candy apples, and flavoured kettle corn.
Our favourite Rustic Ideas for Weddings
Hay bale seating ceremony
This creative seating idea is spot-on for a rustic wedding if you are exchanging your vows outdoors. Even better, just add assorted quilts and blankets to dress them up when you get married at a farm or other venue that already has hay bales on site.
When it comes to rustic weddings, a wooden ceremony arch is a staple decor piece. We love this birch branch backdrop, decorated with greenery and garden-inspired flowers, and you can either make your own or source one from a local event rental company.
Loose, overflowing bouquet for wedding
Bring an oversized bouquet filled with vines, greenery, pampas grass, and other botanical accents to add to the laid-back vibe of a rustic wedding. To attain the market-inspired look of that farmer, focus on using wildflowers and cheerful blooms, such as daisies, sunflowers, roses, ranunculus, and poppies.
Boots Cowboy
Without cowboy boots, what would a rustic wedding be? Not only are these shoes suitable for a rustic aesthetic, but if you have an outdoor wedding and do not want to ruin a pair of new shoes, they are also practical (or deal with uncomfortable heels and laces).
Lightweight Costume
Even with an informal dress code, if you have a rustic wedding, you can wear a suit. The trick is to find the appropriate style. Look for suits that are on the less fancy end of the spectrum, made from cotton, linen, or tweed. Another option: skip the full suit and choose a sports coat and jeans (no rips, though, please!).
Throwing fleece blankets
Even in the height of summer, if you are having an outdoor wedding, it can be chilly when the sun goes down. A cute and practical solution that your guests will appreciate is to provide a basket of fleece blankets.
Wagon decoration
It’s a perfect addition to any rustic wedding theme, whether the waggon is purely decorative or you use it in a practical way, such as wheeling a young flower girl down the aisle or displaying ceremony programmes. To jazz it up, choose one in a colour that matches the rest of your decor, and then add streamers, greenery or flowers.
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