Bring The Harvest Into Your Autumn Wedding Decoration

If you're planning an autumn wedding, decoration ideas are as easy to come by as looking out your window. The colors of autumn are rich and deep, and make a perfect accent and frame for the bride in white - and isn't that what the wedding is all about?

You can pull your colors for autumn wedding decorations from the changing leaves, the crisp blue of the sky, the deep, vibrant colors of fall flowers and produce - everywhere you look you'll find beautiful combinations of colors and flowers that can form the basis for your autumn wedding theme.

The colors of autumn include vivid gold, burgundy, orange, deep green and violet. Add cinnamon and burnt orange, bittersweet and crimson - flowers, ribbons, leaves and even perfect produce can be used in centerpieces and decorations for your wedding hall.

For a different look, try a garland of leaves and acorns around the perimeter of the hall. Oak leaves and acorns are traditional symbols of marriage and fertility. And who says pumpkins are just for the holidays? They're abundant in autumn, and can be carved with a wedding motif as a centerpiece for the buffet table - or for each table.

Raffia and wheat sheaves are other autumn wedding decoration materials that aren't at home in any other season. Decorate the altar with sheaves of fluffy wheat tied with a burgundy ribbon into which you've tucked greens and colorful flowers, or hang bunches of wheat and miniature gourds with ribbons and flowers on the walls and doors of the reception hall.

A wreath of bare grapevine branches decorated with small apples and flowers and wound with ribbon in the wedding colors can form the base for a lovely table centerpiece decoration for an autumn celebration. Use a wreath at least 12 inches in diameter. Decorate on one side and lay flat on the table. Place a hurricane style lantern in the center of the wreath and use a candle in deep crimson or gold.

Accent the tables with autumn leaves. Use place cards and place card holders in the shape of maple leaves, or trace their shape directly onto table cloths and color with fabric paints. A spray of oak leaves accented with a single white or yellow mum and a burgundy ribbon to hold it all together makes a very pretty and different place decoration. Center a gold or burgundy doily in the middle of each plate, and lay the leaf and flower decoration in the center.

Instead of a traditional basket or vase, use a woven cornucopia as your wedding centerpiece. Tumble flowers, miniature pumpkins and tiny ears of Indian corn from the cornucopia onto a raffia mat. Make miniature versions and glue a magnet to the back of each to give away as wedding favors.

There's so many ways to bring the season into your autumn wedding decorations. Take full advantage of the harvest and bounty of the year in making your wedding warm and special.