Wedding Decorating Ideas for Wedding Reception Decorating

We all have those crazy dreams, in the months leading up to the wedding or the prom or another big event that we are about to walk down the aisle on our wedding day and we don’t have any make up on or your dress is still at the dressmakers getting altered or you are still at home and late for your own wedding or something else strange and it feels so real! Trust me, I had lots of these dream in the lead up to my wedding, and if you haven’t been having them you are lucky! (Or you are just very organized!)

To avoid one of those nightmares actually coming true, you need to plan carefully each and every element of the day. It’s a good idea to get yourself a checklist, (something that is interactive and you can keep on your computer in excel is good, write a long list of everything you need to do and make things that you have already done change color once they are complete or something like that)

Once you’ve got your checklist in place, of everything you need to do between now and wedding day, you can start concentrating on your wedding decorating ideas and refining them down from ideas into a beautiful reality.

Now, you probably want to do your own decorating for your wedding, which I can’t recommend enough! It’s great to be able to look around on your wedding day and get compliments from your guests on how beautiful everything is and know that you did it! There are a few things to consider before deciding to do the decorating yourself.

Many professional wedding decorating companies will tell you that all weddings fall under one of 3 categories, Traditional & Elegant, Trendy & Modern or unfortunately Tacky & Cheap looking. So to make sure your wedding doesn’t end up in the last category, you are going to need to do a bit of research and planning. Here are some tips.

A Traditional Wedding usually comprises of a few key elements;
- A church ceremony with a religious influence
- Dinner Reception followed by speeches and dancing
- The Bride wears a white ball gown with a train and a long veil. (although you can still be traditional in a cream or off-white gown)
- The Groom wears a Black or Dark Grey 3 piece suit or tux
- Having A large wedding party including Maid of Honour, Bridesmaids, Junior Bridesmaids and Flower Girl and Best Man, Groomsmen and Page Boy or Ring Bearer and Ushers.

Trendy & Modern weddings still comprise of the main features of a traditional wedding but are just a bit different or a bit "out there" it may be using a location other than a church for your ceremony, or using non traditional bridal colors, or writing your own vows or having a cocktail party wedding reception. As long as it is still a classy affair, you can be Modern but still elegant.

What you don’t want to be is Tacky, If you just remember this one motto, you should avoid the tackiness that some Brides unfortunately end up with.

Ask yourself this question. "Is it tacky?" If you hesitate, even for a second, THEN IT PROBABLY IS!

If in doubt, keep it all white or cream with only a touch of colour. And keep natural textures like linen, cotton, lace, silk, please - no plastic or glitter and you should be OK.

Some Great Wedding Decorating Ideas are;
- Minimal decorations to keep it casual with some photos of you and your fiance around the room. Flowers here and there and a beautiful view.
- Is it a Winter wedding? Lots of fur and fire places with deep reds and berrys and red candles
- Candles, baby pink roses and dimmed lighting. Tables named instead of numbered as romantic movie titles, your guests can say "I’m sitting at Sleepless in Seattle"
- A Paris theme with mini Eiffel towers or a Europe theme with leaning tower of Pisa or just beautiful photographs on each table.
- A Fall theme to your wedding decorating ideas with a beautiful sheer table cloth with fall leaves underneath.
- Cream Roses, Creamy Laces and Pearls for a Gorgeous Traditional look You could also add some Deep Red roses with deep red lips for you.
- A spring wedding with peach blossoms in tall vases and wicker or vines at a wreath on the table
- A Black & White theme with big white lily's and big black ribbons and feathers with mirrors and diamonds Hollywood style
- Something quirky and fun like goldfish in bowls as centrepieces for weddings
- Have an antique theme with finger-wave curls in your hair 20’s style and long strands of pearls draped over tall glass vases or tall silver candelabras.
- Mini chocolate fondue fountains on each table – they can nibble in between courses if your guests like
- If you are having a beach theme, use sand and some pale coloured shells as your centerpieces
- Peacock feather centerpieces with long white tulips or big white lilies

Your wedding decorations really can stem from anything at all, start with something simple like your favorite fabric or pretty paper pattern and let it stem from there.

Go to my wedding decorating ideas blog & read my article called "How to Choose a Wedding Theme" for more ideas.

And please leave me a comment to let me know your favorite idea!