Fall weddings are becoming more and more popular, but how do you even begin planning a fall wedding? What color scheme should you use? What decor should you use? While most of those questions are completely up to you as a couple, I'm here to walk you through some fall wedding ideas to show you what other couples have done, and what you can do to make your fall wedding stand out, and stay true to the theme.

1.) Have Your Florals Give off Fall Vibes

Fall Iowa Wedding — Photo By: Touch of Love Photography

Your florals will be in 90% of your wedding photos, so by including fall themed floral and florals that match your color scheme, you're ensuring that every photo you take matches your fall theme. But how do you ensure your florals give off a fall vibe? You can either include fall colors like terracotta, tans, and neutrals, OR you can use fall inspired florals like pampas, dahlias, and even sunflowers. You can include your florals in your bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, in the groom and groomsmen boutonnieres, in your centerpieces, or even in your ceremony floral arrangements. The easiest way to ensure your floral give off the fall vibe you're looking for, is to talk to your florist. By explaining to them your vision, you're ensuring that your florist understands the assignment and will help to create stunning arrangements that fit your theme! One thing I always reccommend to couples when it comes to picking florals, is to create a moodboard using Pinterest. Go onto Pinterest and save photos of florals and bouquets that you like. That way when you meet with your florist, you can show them exactly what you're going for, rather than just explaining it to them. Tell your florist the colors you're looking for, what types of flowers you like, as well as any other descriptions you can think of like loose bouquets or tight arrangements. The more descriptions you can give to your florist, the better!

2.) Hire a Photographer That Matches Your Vision

Halloween Wedding — Photo By: Missie Lafrenz

More than likely, you're not going to want a light and airy photographer for your wedding, but rather a dark and moody one. Dark and moody photographers are able to show off ALL the fall vibes, and can even work their photoshop magic to edit the scenery to match your vision even more. By hiring a photographer that specializes in dark and moody photos, you're ensuring that vision you have for your big day is transitioned to every aspect of your wedding. Afterall, after the wedding, all you'll have to remember the day are your photos and possibly even a video. You won't want to look back on your fall themed wedding and see photos that don't match your theme, right? Imagine if this photo was taken by a photographeer that specializes in light and airy work; it wouldn't match the couples vision at all! They wouldn't have photoshopped the sky, or switched up the contrast, but rather made everything brighter, defeating the purpose of a dark and moody fall wedding. However, you don't NEED a dark and moody photographer for your wedding, you should pick a photographer who's work you love! Regardless if that's a true and rich color photographer, light and airy, or a dark and moody one. However, you'll want to make sure you relay your photography vision to your photographer before you book, so they can help you decide if they'll be the right fir for your wedding or not.

3.) Your Color Scheme Matters

Fall Wedding Bridesmaid Colors — Photo By: Eleven Eleven Imagery

You can pick whatever color scheme you want! But if you're aiming for a fall themed wedding, you'll want to stick with burgundies, terracotta color schemes, tans and neutrals, or even darker colors like black, maroon, and plum. By picking a color scheme that will match your fall vibes, your ensuring that all your photos will match with your theme. To include your color in your wedding, you can have it match your florals, bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen suits, your table decor, and even your wedding invitations. This helps ensure that all your wedding details match, and are consistent throughout all your photos.

If you're having trouble picking a color scheme you like, check out Pinterest! There are a ton of color scheme ideas on there that can help you get started. Whatever you decide to pick though, make sure it represents you as a couple. For example, you're not going to pick a color scheme with black if thats not a color you like. More than likely, you'd go for a color scheme that includes colors you use often, like this bride did. Keep in mind, your wedding photos will be hung all over your home, so you'll want the color scheme to match your home decor too. If you use a lot of tans and neutrals in your home, then a black, maroon, and plum color scheme probably isn't what you're going for; but if you have a darker home aesthetic, then that color scheme would be perfect for you!

4.) Pampas EVERYTHING

Pampas Wedding Decor — Photo By: Pricsilla Ryan Photography

Pampas grass is going to match with your color scheme (no matter what it is) and is going to look SO COOL! I mean just check out this wedding; the brides color scheme was blush pink, tan, and other neutrals and the pampas grasss looked great with it! To see if pampas will look good with your color scheme, I reccommend checking out pinterest; type in your wedding colors and pampas and see what other couples have done! At almost every fall wedding I have, pampas is included whether its apart of the bridal bouquet, groom and groomsmen boutonnieres, centerpieces, venue decor, or even decor for the ceremony. Wherever you decide to use it, pampas grass screams fall wedding, and it looks incredible in your photos! However, you don't need to have a fall wedding to include pampas; you can include it any time of year and I promise you, it'll look incredible! Same goes for a fall wedding; you don't need to include pampas to get the message across that you have a fall theme, but it certainly does help! This bride opted to have pampas in her floral bouquet, on the groomsmen boutonnieres, in her centerpieces, in her floral arrangements for the ceremony arbor, and she even staged some infront of her head table.

5. To Pumpkin, or Not To Pumpkin?

October Wedding in Iowa — Photo By: Touch of Love Photography

Let's be honest, pumpkins are a symbol of fall, but are they ACTUALLY going to go with your decor and theme? That depends; if one of your colors is orange or terracotta, than absolutely! Or, if you're opting for a more fall themed wedding, then yes! But, if your color scheme is blush and navy, and you don't really have any other fall aspects beyond the pumpkins, than it might not fit as well. Pumpkins are considered very rustic in weddings, so if you have wood tones in your decor, then they'd match great! This wedding for example used terracotta and tan tones for their color scheme, and used tons of pampas, so the pumpkins fit in perfectly with their theme and decor! However, if you don't want to use pumpkins at your guest tables, you can definitely include them elsewhere, like lining the aisle of your ceremony, including them at your entry and gift tables, lining them up infront of your head table (like this couple did), or even include them with your ceremony decor by staging them up at the altar! However, if pumpkins don't fit your theme, then you don't NEED to have them. Although they do tie in a very fall and rustic vibe, they're not needed for a fall wedding. You can include other aspects to your big day that tells your guests you are aiming for a fall theme, like including special floral, a fall themed color scheme, or other types of decor.

6.) The Use of Black

I'll be honest, using black in your wedding is not for everyone, but it IS very elegant, sexy, and memorable. You can use a black wedding dress, have your entire bridal party dress up in black, include black accents in your wedding floral or decor, or even include black in your color scheme. I've had weddings where the bride and groom ask all their guests to show up in black to the wedding, but the couple stands out in a white dress and white suit. It's super unique, and makes for some AWESOME wedding photos! This couple for example, had their entire bridal party dress in black mismatched outfits, including the groom, so that the bride would stand out in all her wedding photos. It was a great idea that made all the wedding photos stand out in a dark and moody way.

7.) Taking Advantage of Candle Light

Halloween Wedding Ceremony — Photo By: Missie Lafrenz

Ok picture this, you're sitting at home watching a Halloween movie, and you light a candle and have some light up decorations in the background that overall just set the mood, right? Candle light does the exact same thing! Candles give off such a romantic and magical feel, especially during the dance hour when all the lights go out. By placing your candles strategically around the venue, you can create some really cool moody vibes not just for your wedding day, but for your photos as well! Take this photo for an example. We placed these candles infront of the headtable for the reception, but during the sunset photos, we took them outside and staged them for this perfectly awesome dark and moody shot of the couple! The candles definitely add a touch of romance to this shot, but during the dance hour on guest tables, they have the same effect!

Then for the dinner hour when the overhead lights were turned down low, the candle light at each table gave off such a romantic feel, it really just pulled everything together! So what kind of candles should you use? Honestly, any kind! You can use taper candles, votive candles, pillar, candles, floating candles, or if your venue doesn't allow open flames, you can bring in LED candles or twinkle lights to have the same effect!

8.) Having Special Fall Themed Food and Drinks

Wedding Cocktail Hour Charcuterie — Photo By: Touch of Love Photography

To incorporate the fall vibe into your wedding day, you can add special fall themed food into your day like caramel apples, s'mores, apple pies, etc. along with special drinks like hot cocoa, apple cider, or even fall themed specialty his and her cocktails. Adding in specialty food and drinks is such a fun an unique addition to your wedding that your guests are sure to love and remember for years to come.

When it comes to fall themed food you want something warm and comforting, so you can opt for wood fired pizzas, grilled cheese and tomato bisque shooters, butternut squash and sweet potatoes, brussell sprouts and/or artichokes, even pulled pork and brisket. Some other favorites including a grazing table with heartier cheeses and seasonal fruits and veggies, as well as a popcorn bar which is fun for every season!

Some fall themed desserts can include mini pumpkin pies, caramel apples, a s'mores bar, warm apple cider donuts, and cake with fall flavors like cinnamon apple, maple butter, and anything spiced.

For fall themed drinks you can go for hot chocolate, hot apple cider, or even a specialty cocktail! Fall wedding cocktails focus heavily on rich and dark flavors, such as dark rum and bourbon which can be infused with apple cider, cinnamon, vanilla bean, and pumpkin. To take a peek at some fall inspired cocktails, click here.

9.) Leaf Confetti and Sparkler Exits

Wedding Leaf Confetti — Photo By: Pecos Springs Photography

It’s no secret that sparkler exits are a hot wedding trend, but did you know there are other types of wedding exits too? While a sparkler exit or leaf/petal toss are considerably more fall inspired, you could also opt to have a bubble exit, champagne pop, or even a glow stick exit. If you don't know what a special exit is, it's when your guests line up in a row, with sparklers for example, and the couple runs through the tunnel of sparklers at the end of the night as their grand exit, while their photographer takes photos. This couple for example decided to do a leaf/petal toss. The bride used different shape cutters on different colored leaves, along with flower petals, and had her guests toss them at the end of the night for their grand exit. It was a great photo op and really stayed true to their fall theme! It's also eco friendly as the bride used actual leaves and flower petals, so as the wind took them away, we didn't have to worry about any cleanup.

However, sparkler exits fit the fall theme as well, and are super fun for your guests; just make sure you have a bucket of water for your guests to put their sparklers after the photo op is done!

10.) Incorporating Your Vision Into Your Stationary

Fall Pampas Wedding Stationary — Photo By: Pricsilla Ryan Photography

Your invitations and other stationary set the tone for your wedding theme. This couple for example, decided to stick with their pampas theme even for their invitations, which when it came time to take their detail shots on the wedding day, made everything tie in perfectly! Afterall, you're not going to have a rustic themed wedding and not have your invitations match the theme, right?! That's like having a woodsy outdoor wedding theme, but sending out ivory with gold accented luxory invites; that wouldn't match at all! So why not incorporate your fall theme into your invites? This is also a great opportunity to incorporate your fall color scheme! If you get stuck when creating your invites, check out Pinterest for some cool fall inspired stationary, it'll really help you to see all your options and pick out a color scheme/theme that will help to match your vision.