You're in the middle of planning a rustic wedding, complete with all of the bucolic fixings—a barn venue, plenty of burlap accents, and oaky wood furnishings. If this is your exact wedding vision, or at least pretty close to the look you're going for, then you likely love a rustic aesthetic. And we can't blame you. We so often use the lush green, nature-filled setting of the countryside as a retreat. Why not carry these relaxing vibes directly into your big day?
Don't confuse a rustic wedding with one that looks laid-back and casual, though. While they can be just that, this wedding style can also feel as luxe or formal as you'd like. The secret comes down to the overall polish of your wedding-day details. If the rustic wedding complete with bales of hay and dirt paths isn't for you, consider a nature-inspired venue with ultra-modern amenities (think a revamped carriage house or finished barn!). Or, opt for incredibly refined details that still read as country.
Ahead, you'll find fresh, elevated ideas that cover both types of rustic weddings—the casual and the formal.
Fresh Ceremony Programs
Welcome your guests to your wedding ceremony with subtle, natural touches—which are a design pillar of rustic weddings. Alexa Pulitzer tied these programs with sprigs of cedar and wildflowers picked from the venue grounds.
Glam Barn Portraits
If you're planning a glam barn wedding and have asked your bridesmaids to wear formal attire, consider posing for portraits in front of your venue's door. This will result in a stunning juxtaposition, as this stylish bridal party proves. The bride wore a lace Martina Liana wedding dress, while her bridesmaids sported BHLDN and Fame and Partners gowns in shades of coral, blush, toffee, ivory, and dusty rose; their fancy looks (and bouquets created by Flower Blossom Design) popped against the neutral wood.
Modern Barn
Use your barn venue—like this modern black one at Roblar Farm—as the backdrop for your big day. The bride, Meghan Dubitsky of Green Apple Event Co., included blush chairs to bring eye-catching contrast and a contemporary feel to the ceremony.
Wooded Venue
Hosting your wedding in a wooded area brings natural, rustic appeal to your big day, something this organic setting has plenty of. The couple made the outdoor amphitheater at Montage Healdsburg their own (and more comfortable for guests) by adding cozy details, including plush blankets and throw pillows, to the redwood benches.
Rustic Dessert Bar
Over the Rainbow Desserts created this dessert bar with an array of miniature treats. Everything from crème brûlée and banana-pudding shooters to cheesecake bites topped the chic, rustic wooden table.
Barn Venue
The right décor can transform just about any venue into a rustic oasis, but an actual barn will do a lot of the heavy lifting. If the classic red structure is a little to country for your taste, search for a refurbished option (like The White Sparrow Barn, seen here) or carriage house, complete with the modern amenities your event requires.
Natural Tablescape
Set a (literal) rustic scene on your reception tables, complete with a hearty floral arrangement filled with dahlias, mums, and plenty of leaves, natural wood chargers, and linens you'd expect to find in a country store. Greenwood Events finished off this tablescape with horse-illustrated coasters from The TOP.
Lantern-Lit Aisles
If you're planning a rustic wedding, you've likely gravitated towards plenty of wood and lots of natural greenery. This ceremony aisle vignette, featuring lanterns, as well as garlands by Haute Floral, fits the bill on both fronts.
Natural Invitation Suite
An earthy invitation suite is the best way to introduce your guests to your pastoral aesthetic. Take inspiration from this suite calligraphed by Isidore & Augustine, which looks like it was torn from an old book in both style and color palette.
Ceremony Arch
Notice how this Faye + Renee ceremony arch pulls in several autumnal hues, like green, yellow, cream, and rust. Use this classic fall color palette as your guide, since most rustic décor pulls from it.
Escort Cards
Enlist an illustrator to hand-paint small laurels onto simple escort cards, and then present the notes in sliced logs.
Chicken Wire Seating Chart
Or turn to another farm motif (chicken wire!) when setting up a seating chart display. Display the prop on a barrel-bottomed table with a few distressed lanterns to complete the look.
Rustic Meets Industrial
There's a way to marry the country and city aesthetics—just introduce a few industrial touches. We love how Eclectic Hive Event Design paired a wooden farm table with masculine iron chairs from Catering by Design. The wire-framed chandelier (which hung from the venue's exposed beams), though, was the ultimate touch.
Rustic Bouquet
When it comes to sourcing blooms for a rustic bouquet, wild is often better. The dahlias, chrysanthemums, daises, and leaves seen in this Sassafras Fork Farm clutch look as if they were freshly plucked from harvest.
Sweetheart Table
The best part about the rustic aesthetic? It's so easy to make it feel like home. Which is exactly why you and your new spouse should dine on table that could have been sourced from your home—or the country home you'll build together over the years, that is.
Wheat Crown
A wheat tiara is the rustic iteration of the flower crown. Get a unique headpiece like this custom-made to complete your big-day look.
Rustic Exit
A horse-drawn carriage—complete with a "Just Married!" sign, of course—makes for the ultimate country wedding exit.
Dried Centerpiece
Mix fresh and dried blooms when curating rustic reception centerpieces. Here, brown-palette preserved sunflowers, strawflowers, and wheat popped against the lush cream roses. A wooden vessel unified the display.
Floral Installation
This incredible overhead floral installation proves that rustic décor can also feel epic, curated, and refined. Mindy Rice Design spent months preserving 2,000 PeeGee hydrangeas—a late-summer crop—for this country-inspired, November celebration.
BBQ Favors
Homemade BBQ sauce caters to both your theme and your guests. They'll surely use the savory dip post-wedding.
Naked Cake
Since the rustic is so often associated with the simple, a pared-down naked cake, dressed up with just a few fresh flowers, will look right at home on your distressed-chic dessert table.
Harvest Table
Formalized floral centerpieces filled with dried hydrangeas, wildflowers, and pampas grass are well and good. But there's an advantage to styling fresh fruits like pomegranates, plums, and blackberries into a type of runner, especially on a rustic tabletop—it's natural, organic, and best of all, edible. Bonus points if you pair it all with on-palette table linens (like these burnt orange napkins from West Country Wedding Planner) and set the scene on a vintage wooden table.
Cowbell Display
A sure way to break the ice? Have guests pick up sheep and cow bells along with their escort cards. It's a call to supper, table assignment, and favor in one. Plus, it will make the seat-finding process sound like a game of musical chairs.
Hitching Posts
Spread your big news in a small-town way, with this cross between a frontier poster and a modern concert flyer. Plaster them around town to lead guests to your location, or line a wall at your reception to create a graphic photo-booth backdrop.
Silo Backdrop
A distressed silo provides a photo-worthy ceremony backdrop. An arch made of old farm machinery and covered in colorful flowers could also serve as an altar.