Fall themes for a wedding reflect the natural beauty of the season while celebrating the couple's love. Mother Nature's harvest colors provide the bride and groom with endless decorating opportunities to make their special day memorable.
Choosing a Fall Theme
The most obvious reason for a couple to choose an autumn wedding theme is because they plan to marry in the fall, typically between very late August and late November, depending on the seasonal variations of their wedding location. This makes planning the theme quick and easy because the natural landscape already has the crisp, seasonal touches to make the setting perfect. On the other hand, a couple may choose to create a quirky fall theme in the spring or summer, perhaps because they met or first fell in love in the fall. Whatever the reason, a fall theme can be a beautiful option for a coordinated wedding.
Specific Themes
While a general "fall" theme is popular for autumn weddings, some couples may choose to specialize their theme with one particular aspect of the season. Options include:
- Leaves and foliage, perhaps choosing oak, maple, or some other specific type of leaf
- Halloween or Thanksgiving autumn holiday themes
- Harvest themes that may focus on one type of fall produce, such as apples or pumpkins
- Western themes that incorporate the rustic old west with autumn accents
Whatever overall theme a couple chooses for their fall wedding, there are many decorative fall wedding ideas they can use to create a memorable autumn event.
Fall Theme Wedding Ideas
The best theme weddings use more than one or two touches to convey the essence of the theme. By coordinating different aspects of the celebration with the chosen theme, a fall wedding can be a beautiful, well-planned event.
Colors
The colors most suitable for fall weddings mirror the natural autumn palette of nature. Popular choices include sage green, rust, mustard yellow, burgundy or bright red, wine, navy blue, orange, chocolate, gold, and black and white. These colors can be used for flowers, bridal party dresses, table linens, cake icing, and more to help coordinate the overall theme. Many fall brides also choose ivory wedding dresses to lend a soft, romantic touch to their attire that matches autumnal hues.
Food and Cake
The menu for a fall theme wedding typically embraces the rich flavors and spices of the season. While any menu is suitable depending on the couple's preferences, adding seasonal favorites such as fresh pies, caramel apples, hot teas, cider, and fresh fruits and vegetables keeps the seasonal theme going with every taste. A fall wedding cake, in particular, will showcase the richness of the season, and may even be decorated with edible leaves. Popular fall cake flavors include:
- Apple spice
- Cinnamon
- Carrot
- Chocolate and orange
- Cakes with nut fillings
If a couple has a groom's cake, the decorations should highlight the groom's favorite fall activities. Football-shaped cakes are popular options, or a fall hunting cake could be iced with camouflage colors.
Flowers
There are many beautiful fall wedding flower options couples can choose from that match the most stunning autumn color choices. Adding twigs, leaves, grain stalks, or other natural fall touches helps make any bouquet or floral centerpiece more seasonal.
Decorations
Decorating for a fall theme wedding can be as easy or as complicated as the couple desires. Simple ideas include adding hay bales, corn stalks, or piles of pumpkins and squashes to the setting, while more elaborate decorations may involve hurricane lamps to protect pillar candles, leaf garlands, and raffia bows. Table linens can be coordinated with fall colors, colorful leaves may be strewn along the aisle, and spicy scented candles may add an air of fall to the ceremony or reception atmosphere as well.
Favors
Finding fall wedding favors is easy for a themed wedding. While any favor can be coordinated for an autumn celebration by adding an appropriately colored ribbon or a themed wedding favor tag, some favors are more closely related to fall, such as:
- Candles with fall scents such as cider, apple, vanilla, or cinnamon
- Leaf-shaped chocolates wrapped in bright fall colored foil
- Packets of hot cider or tea
- Small wine wedding favors
More Fall Wedding Ideas
While all the major aspects of a wedding - decorations, food, flowers, etc. - can be easily coordinated to a fall theme, smaller accents can also add to the richness of the autumn emphasis.
- Invitations: Choose an ecru or ivory wedding invitation and place a colored leaf into each one.
- Attire: Opt for longer dresses with straps, sleeves, or wraps to offset chillier fall temperatures.
- Photography: Use some outdoor settings for dramatic fall wedding photos.
- Lighting: Choose warm lighting such as candle arrangements.
- Location: Opt for a location that enhances a fall theme, such as a barn, vineyard, orchard, or other rustic setting.
Don't "Fall" Into Fall
While it may be easy to coordinate a fall theme wedding, couples should be sure not to overemphasize the fall theme. Nature is simple in her autumnal garb, and a simple wedding that incorporates the beauty of the natural season will be a glorious event without matching every inch of space to a specialized leaf, single color, or exacting motif. Variation, too, is a characteristic of the season, and will lead to a more natural, beautiful setting for a fall wedding.
