How to plan flowers for an elopement-style micro-wedding

Should you have a bouquet for an elopement?  In my opinion, ABSOLUTELY!  Your bouquet is often the only decoration piece at your small microwedding.  It also pulls together your style, makes your photos "pop", and can add symbolism to your special day, especially if there are family members that cannot be present or have passed-on.   

But, elopement florals and decorations don't have to be elaborate.  We've simplified ways to add florals without going over-the-top and spending elaborate amounts of money.  I recommend starting with the basics and then if your budget and logistics allow, add decoration elements.  This article will give you ideas and guidance when planning elopement flowers.  

First, consider your vision and style.  When consulting, I teach couples to decide your style and vision very EARLY on, and stick with that decision so that everything flows together.  We use descriptive words like "organic" or "whimsical" or "romantic" or "vintage" or "country".  Whatever your style, stick with it throughout your planning.  If you haven't decided on a style yet, contact me for a fun & free introductory course. 

1. ​Write down your style.  Click here for a list of ideas. 
2. Write down your colors.  Tip: look at photos of the location & time of year in which you'll be getting married.  Notice how the environment changes and pick colors that will complement.  For example: though we love whites and blush, in the outdoors they tend to look bland and there is no "pop" in photos. 
3. Consider your attire.  Are you wearing a white, ivory, champagne, red, pink, blue, vintage, contemporary? 
4. Seasonal & local.  Work with a florist who uses locally sourced seasonal florals that will also be resilient in the outdoors.  

START WITH THE BOUQUET

In our elopement packages, we include a fresh floral custom designed florals for the couples and matching florals + greenery to decorate the wedding cake.  When looking through Pinterest, save bouquets that match your style in the following ways: 

• Colors:  yes, look beyond the blush and beige.  You can add color to your florals without being electric.  Corals, burgundy, plum, peach, copper, rose and anything jewel-toned all look amazing in the outdoors without being neon. 
• Shape:  bouquets tend to come in 3 different shape.  The more structured look is tight and rounded, the cascade shape is more of an inverse triangle hanging elements, and an asymmetrical shape is more whimsical, wild and free-form. 
• Season: locally-sourced seasonal flowers are going to work best for your elopement.  Florals in the mountain of Colorado will be not only stylistically different from flowers on the beaches of Hawaii, but their availability and tolerance to the environment will be different. 

After you have picked out several bouquets, all of which are similar in style, shape and color, start thinking about accoutrements.  Embellishments Ideas:  add a floral crown or floral hair comb, an arrangement spilling out of a backpack or picnic basket  And, if it is a true elopement where Mom and/or Bestie won't be there, have their local florist deliver them an arrangement on your wedding day - same colors/style.

​Working with a Florist.  We ask couples to give us at least three photos of florals they like which are similar in shape, style and colors.  Then, our florist custom designs a bouquet pulling those elements together with locally-sourced seasonal flowers.  Our onsite coordinator is the one who picks them up from the florist and delivers them to the couple's getting ready location.  If you don't have a professional onsite coordinator, then have friend or extended family member (but not your besties) pickup the flowers for you.

ADD FLORALS FOR ATTENDANTS

Many of our small wedding couples will have attendants - bridesmaids/men, groomsmen/women, a MOH or flower girl, ring bearer.  Its is a good idea to add florals for them to carry and/or wear.  Also, think about any other people that will be part of your wedding ceremony, like an aunt who will be officiating or your father who will be escorting you.  Mothers often like wearing a corsage - just make sure to ask if they would rather have a wrist corsage or a pin-on (sometimes florists will use a magnet to not ruin clothing) lapel corsage.

And, don't forget your fur-babies - there is nothing more sweet than adorning your pooch with a floral necklace.  

There are alternatives to bouquets and fresh florals for your wedding party, such as holding paper parasols, carting lanterns or other items like signs or ring boxes.  But, our florist includes a bouquet vase.  Thus, you can place the bouquets around the restaurant for re-purposed decorative pieces. 

Micro-wedding Ceremony Flowers & Decorations

There are hundreds of ideas on ceremony floral pieces.  Before getting too far down the Pinterest and Instagram rabbit-hole collecting ideas, there are a several of things you need to identify FIRST:  

• REGULATIONS:  Read the regulations of the ceremony site.  Many ceremony spots are either on public lands, National parks, State parks, US Forest Service lands, etc. and will have regulations against staking or setting up florals as their first priority is preserving the natural environment, and bringing in florals or plans could be considered invasive.  For example, Rocky Mountain National Park does not allow anything to be setup at their ceremony site.  Another popular overlook in US Forest Service land does not allow anything to be affixed or staked to the ground.  
• TIME: Know how much time you have prior to the ceremony for setup.  Some of the small wedding venues in Colorado only give you 2 or 3 hours even time TOTAL.  That means time for setup, the ceremony , post-wedding photos and tear down.  Thus, if you want ceremony decor, the species have to be pre-assembled with very minimum on-location assembly.  
• WEATHER:  be familiar with any weather patterns.  For example, many of the overlooks in Colorado are windy.  That does not bode well for top-heavy pieces balancing on a stand.  And, forget about dropping aisle petals (until the last minute) as those are at risk of blowing away. 
• COST:  some of the elaborate arches and large floral species will cost $1,000 or more.  It is not unusual for favorite Pinterest floral covered arches to run $2,00 or more because not only are you renting the arch, you are needing a florist to drive to the site in their floral van, assemble the arch, decorate it onsite, and then wait to tear it down.  
• LABOR:  if you are wanting to add floral decorations, who will be the one setting up and tearing down?  It is best that it is NOT a close family member or anyone in your wedding party as they will need to be getting ready and in photos.  Thus, it is best to hire a full-service florist or if you are trying to be budget friendly, then recruit the assistance of a distant friend/relative - like a work friend or neighbor. 

After you have given some thought to the five criteria above, then there are some great ideas for ceremony decorations.  The first is to add accent pieces to ceremony chairs, or line the end of benches with arrangement on the ground that also are small enough to be transported to the restaurant to serve a dual-purpose as centerpieces.  If you like the idea of an arch, make sure that it is weighted at the base so that it doesn't topple over and add a couple of smaller accent pieces that can be pre-arranged and easily zip-tied to the arch.  

You can also add non-floral elements like rugs to stand on during the ceremony, or lanterns (no open flames please, use fake candles) - though we think those look best accented by fresh florals.  

Reception Florals for Your Small Wedding

One of the reasons we like restaurants for celebrating your small intimate wedding is that they are already decorated - the interior of restaurants is not like a blank-slate banquet hall.  They often will have unique seating, decorative china and glassware that fills the tables.  Very little decorations, if anything, needs to be done at restaurants.  

However, if you want to carry-on your style, here are some ideas for decor at restaurant or a vacation home that you rent: 

• Keep it on the smaller side: small arrangements are best on restuarnat tables as the venue will likely already have place settings, and glassware.  Restuarnts don't often have large banquet tablest that need filling, so keep arrnagements on the smaller side.  
• Grennery and candles add a nice touch and that may be all that you need.  Be sure to ask the restaurant or vacaiton home owner if they allow open flames.  If not, you may need to purchase battery operated candles
• Filling bud vases.  Many times our couples will order small bud vases and we'll bring a bucket of loose stems/blooms and greery to fill the bud vases.  We recommend about one bud vase per two people.  We can cluster them around the restaurant tables or line them up down a long table.  If you plan to go this route, keep your bud vases 6" tall or smaller. 
• Double-dip:  you can place medium size arrnagement from the ceremony (idea: placed beside the seating down the aisle) can be transported to your restaurant.
• Avoid bring a bunch of unnecessary decor to "fill" tables.  Ask the restaurant to send you a photo of their regular table settings.  Then decide what (if anything) you need to embellish it with.  True story:  we had a client bring chargers, napkins, place cards, langerns, garland, table runners, candles - so much that there was barely room for the food + salt/pepper shakers.  Trust us on this:  unless you have rented a banquet hall with banquet tables that are larger, you do not need that much decor for smaller restaurant tables.

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Whatever you decide for your elopement decorations and florals, download this free planning guide to give to your florist.   And, if you haven't booked your small destination wedding yet, reach out to Wendee to see what options there are in Colorado for your micro-wedding.

A bud vase for a small restaurant table. © Kathryn Kim Photography.

A table decorated with herbs, bud vases and smaller arrnagements from one of our 2023 weddings in Buena Vista, CO. © Kathryn Kim Photography.

Less is best when planning decor for restaurant tables as they are typcially smaller than banquet tables. Consider how food, drinks and silverware will be placed. This example is from one of our 2023 weddings in Buena Vista, CO. © Kathryn Kim Photography.

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