admin said:

My wedding is going to be in November and I want an outdoor garden wedding.  My fiancé’s family offered to host our ceremony in their back yard and it’s perfect.

With this on mind I have two questions: 

First: I want a decorated arch and a candle’s path for our ceremony and rectangular tables for the reception. How should I divide these two different spaces in the yard?

Second: I’m not sure about the color palette. I want to use red and gold. Will this work for an afternoon wedding !? I think it may look a little aggressive.

Any tips?

We are having a backyard wedding reception in our backyard in October for our oldest daughter.  The first thing my husband and I did was to go outside with legal pads and we divided the areas into sections.  We also have an above ground pool which we thought would be a pain to decorate……but with some really creative ideas and brainstorming…..we planned our yard into five different sections:  The tent: we are borrowing hay bales from a local feed store (i live in Tallassee Alabama) and turning them into quick and easy benches (my daughter wants the guests to mingle more instead of sitting…good way for both families to get to know each other.  I purchased about 20 yards of sage (that's right….sage) burlap from Walmart and (using fabric glue) glued pink polka-dotted ribbon around the burlap as trim.  Thus….we made burlap covers to go over the hay bales.  I'm also adding tiny tiney pillows our to felt to decorate a little bit more.  Then we have the pool section:  we boughy a devise that creates a 3 tier fountain in colors….and if you push another button on the devise….you have a groovy light show on the sides and bottom of the pool.  My oldest daughter (Tabitha) picked her gerber daisies for her theme. We found floating daisy candles to put in the pool.  I also purchased bride and groom rubber ducks to float around the pool. My husband owns a electrical wholesale company and he brought home empty wooden wire spools that will be adorable as small tables (with vintage tablecloths).  These spools really work well for outside parties too.  My youngest daughter who is eleven has her own patio in the garden made from the leftover bricks when we built our house.  She has decorated her patio over the years with her own flowers, chairs, tables, and terra-cotta pots that we painted and shaped into different animals (like a frog or a caterpillar (ideas for these came from FamilyFun magazine….they have great crafting ideas)….so we are putting the candy shop in that section of the yard and let her and her friends be in charge of putting candy in the favor bags for the guests (she even made a menu to hang up).  Then came the problem with what to do with the swing set that is cemented in the ground.  It is right in the middle of all the section.  Solution……we are decorating it with garland, christmas mini-lights, tulle, ivy and gerber daisies and we will use it for photo booth (sitting in the swings…hanging from the bar..etc. etc., etc.).  The food buffet will be on the main patio outside our kitchen which has a cabana already over it because it's beside the pool…..good place to put the food.  We don't drink alcohol….so i ordered these 2.5 gallon mason jars to put the ice tea in one and pink lemonade in the other.  It might be a little cool that night (reception starts at 6:00 p.m.) and we bought some cheap material and made lap blankets which we will roll up in place in plastic tubs we found at Target for anyone who gets cold. 

I think that is about it…..but i would suggest first to divide your yard into different sections for what every you will be doing for the ceremony and reception.  Oh Yes! one more thing……we are taking white pumpkins and putting floral arrangements in different places through out the yard to take up space along with giant pots of white mums.

Hope this help……good luck with your planning

here's a great site that may help

http://www.specialeventfavors.kateaspenshops.com