Planning the Summer Wedding

Summer is the most popular season for any wedding. Warm temperatures ensure that the bride and her bridesmaids can wear lighter, strapless dresses without feeling a chill. Summer colors also offer many possibilities-red, blue, emerald green, bright yellow, orange, and dark purple are all excellent choices.

Picking Out Summer Wedding Flowers

The summer months evoke images of roses, lilies, and orchids. The bride's bouquet, bridesmaids' bouquets, flower girl's flowers, and décor all can tie into popular summer flowers: roses, calla lilies, dahlias, chrysanthemums, and baby's breath. These flowers are inexpensive at this time of year because of their availability.

Creating a Summer Wedding Theme

Summer themed invitations are simple to do. So many cards carry beach themes, barbecue themes, and can be designed to tie into your color scheme or flower choices.

There are many branches that a summer theme can take. Dreams of Hawaii can be turned into a reality. All it takes are a few grass skirts or vibrant sarongs, Hawaiian music, and flowery leis for the wedding party. The reception can find the backyard becomes home to an exquisite Luau.

A casual barbecue can follow a low-key backyard wedding in which the wedding party wears casual clothes and bare feet. You can also jazz an outdoor wedding up with tea length summer dresses and the men wear suit jackets over cooler cotton shirts.

Planning for a Summer Wedding Reception

Summer receptions leave plenty of room for imagination. Barbecues, pig roasts, picnics, even a luau, are all excellent choices. Summer brings a wide variety of produce from fresh zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, and Swiss chard. Meals can be simple barbecue fare such as hamburgers and hot dogs for an informal meal to a full roasted pig or lamb to barbecued chicken or ribs. Grilled seafood or a clambake is other excellent and appealing ideas for fancier occasions.

Check with area state parks. Many will allow you to hold your wedding, including reserved campsites, for an extremely reasonable fee. These state parks often have large covered dining areas where the wedding party can dine under cover. This alternative allows for you to have public restrooms that you can utilize without having to rent a portable toilet. If the state park is near a lake, it can be an excellent choice for weddings to which children are invited. The children can play on the beach or in the cool water while the parents enjoy the conversations.

Because the days last longer in the summer, your wedding can be held later in the day while the reception goes late into the night. Daylight hours are extended and suitable to nighttime weddings. If you do choose to have a sunset wedding, keep citronella candles burning or use some Yard Guard spray to keep mosquitoes to a minimum.

Selecting the Summer Wedding Cake and Treats

Your wedding cake can be easily decorated with slices of lemon, lime, and orange peel. The bright colors and perfumed scents represent summer in a strong manner. Delicious bowls of punch, a keg of beer, and coolers full of soda and water bottles all fit in well to an outdoor summer theme.

One thing to remember, summer weather can be unpredictable. Do keep an alternate location in mind in case of inclement weather. Whether you rent a tent or have a building or house that can accommodate the crowd, you do need to have an alternate plan in mind!