While not as popular as spring or summer, with the wildflowers, sun and bright pastels that come with the season, there is plenty to love about autumn. With the bright colours of the leaves and the ubiquitous pumpkin, autumn can be a fantastic option for your wedding. With fewer people booking venues than in winter with the Christmas celebrations, as well as the warmer wedding season, you will probably find it much easier to find dates that are available at your chosen wedding venue.
Ironically given the cold weather, autumn is a season that most people associate with warmth – warm colours in red, orange, yellow and brown, as well as warm flavours such as apple pie, rich stews or pumpkin soup. This warm and cosy atmosphere can be used to create a fantastic wedding, utilising the furnishing of your venue to create an autumn wonderland with autumn foliage and flowers.
Venue
Selecting a venue for an autumn wedding can be difficult, as an outdoor ceremony will have become practically impossible due to the strong possibility of rain and cold weather. This means that you need to find a venue that can hold both your ceremony and reception indoors (unless you are considering holding the ceremony in a local church). Depending on the size of your wedding party this can be quite difficult to achieve, especially if many of your guests are looking for accommodation nearby.
If you are particularly fond of a venue which has a lot of outdoor space that you would like to utilise, looking into having a marquee or simply holding a photoshoot in the outside garden space can create some wonderful pictures of the day for you to keep and enjoy.
Here at Salomons Estate we have extensive indoor space, with a range of function rooms that can fit a variety of wedding needs and number of guests.
Menu
Whether you are serving a buffet to your guests, or have selected a few dishes to create a menu for your guests to sample, there are a few key considerations to take into account when planning a wedding menu:
- While most meals at an event are made up of three courses, you can choose to substitute a buffet for the different courses. Sending enquiries to guests to ask about any allergies or specific diets ahead of the event will help ensure that everyone has the perfect dish prepared for them.
- If you are holding your wedding on a Sunday, then what better to offer your guests than a classic roast dinner? With the cool autumn weather, a wonderful roast dinner is a warming dish that will delight all your guests.
- Most weddings will not serve dessert, as the usual large wedding cake should be adequate to feed the guests. If the cake contains gluten, dairy or eggs then having separate desserts available that are vegan and gluten free will ensure that everyone has a slice.
- When the meal is over and the reception is in full swing, having some lovely crudités taken around to guests will help ensure that the alcohol doesn’t go to people’s heads and everyone goes home having had a wonderful meal.
Décor
Autumn has a lot to offer, with Halloween, fireworks night and the autumn harvest providing plenty of inspiration for your décor. When decorating your function room, it is important to take into account the colours of the furniture and any decorations that are already there. Many venues, such as Salomons Estate, use more neutral tones in the function rooms so the colours are unlikely to clash with any of the decorations that are ordered by the wedding party.
Colour Palette
Autumn has a gorgeous colour palette, with the trees outside in numerous tones of red, gold, orange, brown and pink. These fantastic earth tones can create a truly gorgeous décor for your wedding. Using bare branches, pine cones and autumn leaves as part of your décor is a great way to bring the season into your decoration. Traditional roses, thistles and seed pods can create floral decorations that have a very autumnal twist to them that will help to ensure that your wedding venue looks stunning.
If you are creating a more modern look for your wedding, bare branches and seed pods used in your décor can have interesting shapes and can look very modern when arranged together. Consider adding cream tones as well, as the colour is warmer than white and will blend better with the red tones of the autumn season.
Themes
Having a theme for your wedding can be a great way to celebrate something that has brought you together as a couple – or even a future wish such as an around the world theme if you are planning to travel abroad together. Choose from a vast range of themes, from a Halloween theme to a rustic vineyard theme in order to create a wedding that you will look back on with delight.
Themes are generally used a guide for your decorations and how the wedding is planned. But when arranging a brilliant wedding to remember, make sure you bring in little personal touches that are meaningful to you as a couple, such as walking down the aisle to a favourite tune.
Photography
When booking your venue consider the opportunities you have for photography, both indoors during your ceremony and outside, perhaps in the grounds of your venue. Your wedding pictures will be displayed around your home and will be kept for years to come, and for such a significant event it is important that you have a lot of beautiful pictures to remember the occasion. Having a photography session around the grounds of your venue can provide great additions to your photo collection, as can guest photos of the event.
Handing out single use cameras for the guests to use, and having the photographs developed, is another way to create lovely keepsakes from the occasion for your future together.
If you are considering planning a wedding at Salomons Estate, then please contact us here. Our estate offers an incredible setting for an autumn wedding, with staff who have helped to arrange many other wedding events.