Have a Memorable Wedding at Home

A wedding in your home can be infinitely memorable and meaningful. In fact, celebrating at home seems to offer even more opportunities for making your wedding special and claiming the day as your very own.

To plan, start with a theme, event or significant memory that you have as a couple and capture it in every detail… from your save-the-dates to your menu. If you met while horseback riding, for example, make it an equestrian-themed event, with beige, cream and taupe dresses and table linens and rich accents of chocolate brown.

Perhaps you’d like to take inspiration from your cultural background. For a casually elegant Southern-style wedding, for example, incorporate roses, hydrangeas or magnolias in clear vases or mason jars for your tablescapes, with dusty pink or white tablecloths and a mix of antique chairs and new wooden folding chairs for seating. Serve Southern-style favorites like po’ boys, crab cakes and cheesy grits.

Seasonal weddings offer a wealth of inspiration: red and white with touches of holly at Christmas, black and gold by candlelight at New Year’s, autumn-leaf colors in the backyard in October. Choosing your favorite season will help you determine the decor and build on every detail.

Find the focus

Most private homes will be naturally limited in space, so determine where to place the focus: ceremony and cocktail hour, ceremony and sit-down dining, ceremony and ballroom dancing.

• Small wedding? You might have your ceremony inside in front of a beautiful fireplace, followed by a simple cocktail hour.
• Generous outdoor space? Perhaps a patio or large deck is available for a summer ceremony, with a backyard reception.

Layering, texture and scale are important when designing the space.

Think about layering in literal terms, for example: literally layering tablecloths in varied hues of one color, i.e. dark pink, light pink, dusty pink. But layering also adds interest when using the same family of pinks across the space: dusty pink tablecloths, pale pink flowers, dark pink bridesmaid’s gowns.

Texture is using one color, such as white, but in many different tones and types: linen white, true white, cream and off-white in your flowers, dresses, candles, ribbons. Another way to incorporate texture is literally, such as with burlap tablecloths, linen napkins, wooden candleholders and birch-bark vases. Offset those textures with satin ribbons and sparkling glassware.

To incorporate scale, use both short and tall vases, large and small floral arrangements on one table. Use big hurricane vases as candleholders along with tea lights to accent the details and light up the tables. Playing with scale keeps your decor interesting, your guests happy and your future memories that much sweeter.