10 Awesome Styling Ideas For Your At Home Wedding

As we celebrate staying within the four walls of our favourite places this month, today, we’re turning out focus to styling. Because while you may be choosing your at-home wedding for its low key vibes, if you’re searching for ideas to make your backyard a little more festive, then well, you’ve come to the right place!

Bring on the candlelight

We’ll sing the praises of candlelight until the cows come home but it remains one of the most beautiful ways of not only adding a little decor, a little sparkle, but adding plenty of ambience. Beautiful candleholders, paired with candlelight on the stairs of your home, across the tables and windowsills – even outside, on every surface, make a splendid space just a little more special.

Photo by Izo Photography via Vanessa & Keplar’s Modern Black Tie Perth Wedding

Make a focus on the food & drink

Food is delicious, and food is not only a feast for your belly but also a feast for the senses. Consider making the food you’re serving your guests part of the decor. Think beautiful grazing tables, beautiful cheese boards, spirit and drinks bars, marshmallows for roasting by the fire. Set out snacks and treats and make the most of the endless lazy hours of celebration.

Photo by Michael Briggs Photography via Alyce & Matt’s Mount Macedon Cocktail Party Wedding

Centre the ceremony

Have fun making a spot for you to say your vows. Add an oversize backdrop to really mark the spot (and you can even use it again later, photobooth backdrop anyone?) and really put the spotlight on your moment. Your ceremony space rightfully so, can be the highlight and focus of your decor easily!

Backdrop by Day made Event Co photo by Elinlights Photography via Janelle & Ben’s Sparkly & Pastel Sydney Cocktail Wedding

Create plenty of room for seating & lounging

You’re going to want to celebrate with your faves for many hours, so make sure there are plenty of comfy places to catch up and lounge. Corners of the garden with plenty of cushions, soft lounging chairs, spots so guests can grab their food and settle in. Create little seating areas in random spaces, and your space will look all the warmer and inviting for it.

Photo by James Day via Erica & Erin’s Romantic Hunter Valley Winery Wedding

Consider the unexpected

Your home is probably not meant to be a wedding venue, which means there will be plenty of unexpected spaces, nooks and crannies you can have fun with. Consider unexpected ways to use the space – ladders and shelves for your drinks station? A wheelbarrow for ice? Your favourite porch chair for your signing chair? A favourite tree as your ceremony backdrop? Photos tied to the picket fence? How can you reimagine your favourite parts of your home?

Photo by Sophie Baker via Lauren & Josh’s Relaxed & Modern Wedding At Gold Coast Farm House

Go lush with florals

You can do whatever you want for your wedding at home so why not go lush with florals? Consider a beautiful floral backdrop. Consider an installation in the space (like a patio) where people will be mingling the most. Dot floral arrangements around the home – in the bathroom and the kitchen. Flowers are such a stunning way to add a sense that something special is happening in your home.

Flowers by The Fleur Collective Photo by Sonja C Photography via Jenny & Aaron’s Bright Sydney Restaurant Wedding

Add personal touches

One of the reasons you’re tying the knot at home, is because you want your day to reflect you. So embrace it! Consider the decisions you’re making with decor, and make sure they reflect you. Hate pink? Skip it! Love transformers? Add them! This is the chance to really add your own personal flavour to your wedding. Photo walls that show off how you met, cocktails that are the first drink you shared. Add a hammock chair as a nod to your Sunday afternoon dreams.

Ellen and Tom featured plenty of hydrangeas (handpicked from family and friend’s gardens) as a nod to Ellen’s memory of her mother growing them beautifully in her garden when Ellen was a child.

Photo by Cloud Catcher Studio via Ellen & Tom’s Chic Country Wedding At Goonoo Goonoo Station

Get clever with signage

Signage is a brilliant way to be a good host to your guests – helping them understand where to go and where to be, when. And it’s an easy way to make spaces beautiful. You could add a sign at the entrance to welcome guests, and signage for the order of the night, the way to the bathroom, to help themselves to dinner – anything you want guests to know, can easily become a sign and can tie your decor together too.

Photo by Steve Doyle Photography via Casey & Mark’s Heartfelt Byron Bay Wedding

Create stations for fun

Your guestbook, your drinks, your food, your photo booth. Each of these can have their own unique spaces set up in your home and backyard, that can add their own sense of decor and character to your wedding. Creating stations (think a limoncello bar like the one below for a summer wedding, for example) can add your own personal flavour, but can also bring everything together easily. Plus, they’re just downright fun.

Photo by Emma Faith Photography via Sophia & Michael’s Tuscan Inspired Summer Wedding

Don’t forget lighting

Chances are you’re making the most of your outdoor space (though, we’ll admit this one is also very applicable for indoor at home weddings!) so we encourage you not to forget what happens after dark. Consider how the light hits (or doesn’t hit) dark areas and whether there is enough lighting for eating (and dancing!). Lighting options like festoons are not only sensible for brightening up space, but they’re stunning to look at and make a backyard look like a party. If you want to go more glam? Consider bringing in a sparkly chandelier, or even modern light shades for something unexpected.