help me decorate!

KlassyWithaK

My ceremony is going to be in the back lawn space of this beautiful house.



The area has a fountain on each end and is surrounded with trees. What type of ceremony decorations could I use to keep with the style of the house? My idea so far is either lanterns or pails on shepherd hooks, but I don't know if that is really vintage or not.

smallsmp8

I love that idea and not every aspect has to be vintage.

vintagefix

I love the lantern idea, but both would look very nice!

Nukke

I think your ideas sounds lovely.  Also, I just wanted to add that you probably don't need many decorations at all!  Your gorgeous venue speaks for itself, you know? 

Do you have any photos of the types of lanterns you had in mind?

weddingspinster

Your venue looks GORGEOUS! 

 

I have a little (amateur!) vintage wedding website that might help you get started with your decorating plans.  I’ll write down the pages you might want to look at, to see what I’m talking about.  (If the links don’t work, you can just go to the website and flip through it.)

 

In the past, weddings were, for the most part, less showy than they are today. 

 

Here are photos from some bigger budget, 1940s weddings that will show you how basic things used to be. (These won’t necessarily help you decorate your venue, but they might give you ideas on how to set up your reception tables and how to decorate the area around your cake.)

 

www.weddingspinster.com/The_Prescotts_of_Detroit.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Platinum_Wedding_Reception_%281930s_40s%29.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Al_and_Hildies_1946_Hitch-Up.html

 

 

Here’s a photo from a vintage Mexican wedding.  I love the use of the flower garland around the doorway.  If your venue has an impressive front door, you might want to add a garland like this to it.  Also, if you like this “garland” idea, you might want to place a garland of flowers around the top of the base of your fountains.  If the fountains are large, you could also place low columns in the water, then balance vintage looking flower arrangements on top of the columns.  (I’ll show you some vintage flower arrangements in a moment.)

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Mexican_Wedding_%281935%29.html

 

In weddings from the past, people sometimes used to decorate the inside of their homes with crepe paper streamers and those paper, “honeycomb” wedding bells.  You might want to get some waist-high shepherds’ hooks and paint them white or one of your wedding colors, then string some streamers from one hanger to the next, and hang paper wedding bells on the hooks in your FRONT yard, along the driveway. 

 

Here’s a photo that shows crepe paper streamers being used to decorate the inside of a house.  Also notice the fancy, trellis backdrop.  The next photo shows an indoor, flower archway.  You might want to have a flower archway like this one over the area where you say your vows in the backyard.  In addition to this, you could also have a fancy, trellis backdrop behind your minister/rabbi/whoever marries you. 

 

www.weddingspinster.com/1920s_Home_Decorating.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/1920s_Flowery_Archway.html

 

 

A lot of vintage flower arrangements featured long flowers that looked like the flowers were exploding outwards, like fireworks in the sky.  You can see what I mean in this first photo.  The second photo shows other kinds of flower arrangements. 

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Same_Church_and_Flowers_%281948%29.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Flowers,_Flowers_Everywhere_%281920s_30s%29.html

 

 

If you decorate the inside of your venue, you might want to include potted palms, just like vintage couples sometimes did at their weddings.  (NOT palm TREES, just leafy plants.) 

 

Also, remember, there are other ways to evoke a vintage feeling, other than just decorating the backyard.  Wearing a vintage-style veil (easy to shop for on ebay), carrying vintage-style bouquets, having your flower girl wear ringlets or a big bow in her hair, playing vintage music – all these things help to recreate the past.  Here are a couple more photos:

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Brides,_Bridesmaids,_and_Bouquets.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Flower_Girl_Looks.html

 

 

Lastly, you can add a vintage feel to your cake table if you use tuk-n-ruffle under the cake, surround the cake with greenery and flowers, and put a lace tablecloth on the cake table.  You can see what I mean in these photos: 

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Tuk-n-Ruffle.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Three_Cakes,_One_Bakery_-_1940s.html

 

www.weddingspinster.com/Cake_Table_Tablecloths.html

 

 

Anyway, there are a few ideas for you.  I’m sure your wedding will be lovely!!!

 

www.weddingspinster.com