Want To Plan An Outdoor Wedding? Here Is What You Need To Know.

Outdoor weddings are arguably the most beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, and enjoyable types of weddings for both the wedding party as well as guests–that is, as long as the planning is well thought out.

When it comes to planning an outdoor wedding, there are a few vital considerations that may take some higher levels of planning than an indoor wedding would. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t have your wedding ceremony or reception in the open air, but it’s important to make sure you’ve covered every aspect of the wedding planning process and checked it twice to make sure that everything will run as smoothly as possible. 

Choosing The Right Wedding Planner

Because you’ll want to sit back and relax as much as possible to enjoy your big day, we always encourage brides to find a wedding planner that knows how to take the weight off of your shoulders. In order to accomplish this, you’ll want to find a wedding planner with experience and raving reviews for outdoor wedding planning. This person should know the ins and outs of outdoor weddings, have suggestions for perfect outdoor wedding venues, incredible wedding vendors and caterers, and a checklist of details that shouldn’t go unnoticed. 

This article is a small glimpse into the brain of your outdoor wedding planner. We’re sharing a few tips and tricks to help ensure the success of your outdoor wedding as well as some essential planning tips. 

Booking A Venue

Looking for the outdoor wedding location of your dreams? Well, we might be biased, but we highly recommend San Diego County. Outdoor wedding venues in San Diego reign supreme because of their unparalleled year-round great weather, beautiful ocean views, relaxing palm trees that sway in the breeze, and stunning high-desert landscapes. 

Surrounded by Escondido’s valley and mountainscape, The Centre boasts some of the best wedding reception venues in San Diego. Our venues are perfect for an intimate wedding with your closest friends and family, or a massive 600-person celebration. Our experienced event team knows the ins and outs of our outdoor spaces and has all of the tools and equipment to ensure a headache-free wedding planning experience.

How To Decorate

When it comes to outdoor wedding decorations, there are a few important details to keep in mind. 

Use Natural Beauty To Your Advantage

While it’s easy to get lost in the world of wedding decorations, we always remind our outdoor wedding parties to utilize what mother nature has already provided–going all out on the decorations is not necessary. If you’re trying to pinch your budget a bit, decorations are a great place to do so. 

Nail Down A Color Pallete

Working from a wedding palette is a helpful way to narrow down the decision-making that comes with picking out your wedding decorations. Having a set group of colors to pull from creates a coherent and aesthetic look for your wedding and decreases decision fatigue since most of the decision-making was established early on in the planning process. When picking your wedding colors, we recommend looking to the natural landscape of your venue’s surroundings for influence and inspiration. 

Keep Durability In Mind

One of the more challenging parts of having an outdoor wedding is weather unpredictability, which is why it’s important to keep the durability of your wedding decorations in mind. Wind, heat, rain, direct sunlight–these are all factors that could obstruct your decorations if they are not durable enough. 

This is where having a knowledgeable and experienced wedding planner really comes in handy. They’ll know the ins and outs of your wedding venue and will have all the tips and tricks to make your wedding decorations a smashing success. 

Keep The Weather In Mind

It’s also important to be transparent about the weather and terrain with your wedding guests. If the sun is shining directly on the venue, suggest bringing a hat or a light coat to protect from harsh sun rays. Additionally, if the ceremony or reception is on grass or another potentially malleable material, it’s best to recommend wedges or thicker heels that won’t dig into the ground and be challenging to walk in. A good place to express this transparency is on your wedding invitations or on your wedding website where guests will RSVP. 

Chose The Right Rental Partners

Not only should your wedding planner have great advice regarding the right types of decorations, but they should also have top-tier recommendations on rental companies to work with. It’s important to make sure that your chosen renal company has experience with outdoor weddings and is familiar with proper outdoor wedding etiquette. Working with rental companies who have experience in outdoor weddings and events in the environment and general location of your venue will help to narrow the risk of running into problems on your wedding day. 

Don’t Miss This

There are a few rather specific details that should not be overlooked while planning an outdoor wedding.

Be Mindful Of The Sun 

For instance, it’s important to think ahead and consider which direction the sun will be facing on the day and time of the wedding. Will the sunset fall just beyond the wedding arch when the couple exchanges their vows? If so, the sun might go directly into guests’ eyes and make it challenging to see and enjoy the moment. A better option might be to shift the aisle so that the sun won’t be a nuisance during the ceremony. 

Don’t Be Bothered With Bugs

Another detail you won’t want to overlook is the potential bug situation. Especially during the spring and summer months, bugs like mosquitos come out to play around sunset. If you’re near a body of water like a pond or lake, you may want to consider citronella candles or bug repellent. 

Know Your AV Needs

It’s important to make sure that you have access to electricity. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes tech and AV work that goes into a wedding because it’s important to make sure that your guests can hear what’s going on throughout the ceremony, and so that any music or DJ setup can be enjoyed to the fullest. 

Let Go And Have Fun

Lastly, but definitely not least, we want to remind you of the importance and beauty of letting go of all control. With outdoor weddings, this is an important thing to remember since there are a few more factors that cannot be tamed. We often want everything to go perfectly as planned, but there is beauty, magic, and fond memories to be made in those imperfect moments.  

We cannot wait for you to bring your outdoor wedding dreams to life. For more on The Centre Escondido’s wedding venues and to reach out to our event planning team, visit our website. Cheers to you and your wedding planning adventure!