Planning a wedding is an exciting but also stressful time. This is particularly the case when it comes to the cost of the wedding. If you want a wedding day to remember, but your budget is small, we’ve got some ideas to help you.
We have found 12 beautiful budget rustic wedding ideas for your big day, so you can relax and enjoy the experience. From wedding invites to the outdoor bar, we have money – saving ideas that cover just about everything.
For your rustic themed wedding, what better place to start saving than with your wedding invitations. Using recycled card or paper for your save the date cards or invites is budget friendly as well as ecologically friendly.
Use some garden string to tie around them to give an even more rustic feel and choose a woodland or countryside theme for the invite design itself. Some companies offer wedding invitations that are biodegradable and have flower seeds embedded in the paper.
This means when your guests are done with the invite they can plant it in their garden or window box and have a beautiful reminder of your wedding day.
One of the most expensive parts of a wedding is paying for the venue. Save on your rustic wedding by having your ceremony outdoors. How much more rustic can you get than being surrounded by trees, flowers and fresh air.
If you have a large garden or can hire a piece of woodland for the day then this would be a beautiful backdrop for your wedding. It also saves on having to buy lots of decorations and floral arrangements if they are already growing around you.
You could also hire a yurt or tipi if you want to insure against the weather or want to have somewhere to get ready for the ceremony.
A great budget saving way to have the best rustic place settings, signs, and cake stand is to use slices of cut logs.
Get a log sliced to two or three inches thick and a couple of inches bigger in diameter for your cake to sit on. Of course, you will have a cake board between the cake and log. Decorate around the cake board with foliage and flowers to disguise it.
Smaller diameter pieces of log can be cut across the top to accept the card place settings for your reception tables. You can also use log slices to put flower arrangements on for your tables or to paint as wedding venue signs.
For lining your wedding aisle a great budget tip is to fill galvanized pails or buckets with flowers such as baby’s breath. On the tables use different sized jam jars filled with wild blooms. Wrap them in burlap tied with string for a cheap but beautifully rustic effect.
Other containers can be used for flowers such as watering cans or even old enamel jugs and wooden flower boxes. For a fall wedding, baskets full of autumnal fruit and foliage make beautiful venue decorations.
Mix and match all these different vessels on the tables and around the venue to create a bucolic and rustic feel. Petite glass bottles arranged with single large blooms or wispy fronds also look beautiful as table decor.
Be different and make a conscious effort to create a rustic atmosphere with mismatched furniture. Keep a basic theme of wooden chairs but use different styles and designs for a charming laid-back feel. Colors can be mixed and as colorful or muted as you want.
Large farmhouse style tables are ideal for using this mismatched style with and eschewing the tablecloths adds to the relaxed theme. Instead use a burlap runner and lots of flowers and foliage on the table.
For the outdoor ceremony you can hire some wooden benches or set out some mix and match chairs. As the ultimate in rustic outdoor seating, buy some bales of hay for guests to sit on.
As venue decoration the combination of burlap and lace is a budget saving and pretty choice for a rustic wedding. You can create large burlap bows for the backs of chairs, tying them up with the lace in the center.
Use burlap runners for your table settings instead of the traditional tablecloths. You can lay a narrower lace runner over the top of the burlap for a beautiful effect. Alternatively you can place round lace pieces on log slices and sit your jam jar flower arrangements on them.
Ribbons of lace and strips of burlap wrapped around your eclectic mix of flower vessels will tie the look together. You can even use these two materials to tie up your wedding bouquet.
Saving money on your wedding cake can be a lot easier when you are having a rustic wedding. A naked or semi naked cake fits the whole theme beautifully, and they are less expensive than a traditional iced wedding cake.
Naked wedding cakes are tiers of sponge which are un-iced and typically decorated with fresh fruit, berries and flowers. Placing it on a log cake stand surrounded by greenery will add a simple but sophisticated touch to your cake.
Semi naked cakes have a thin layer of buttercream spread over them but are usually decorated in a similar way to a naked cake. Some couples think a semi naked cake is even more rustic than a naked cake.
Bohemian dresses are the most relaxed of wedding gowns and create a beautifully romantic and carefree look. They merge wonderfully with the whole rustic theme with their eclectic and whimsical designs.
Vintage dresses can incorporate old world elegance into a rustic wedding and also save you some money. Many vintage dresses can be found online or in stores and can provide you with a unique look while also saving money.
Choose anything from the 1920s up to the 1990s but the 1970s style is probably the most Bohemian if that is the look you want.
When trying to budget for your rustic wedding you will be looking at the big ticket items and one of these will certainly be the flowers. No wedding is complete without floral arrangements, table decorations and of course the bride’s bouquet.
Spring or summer weddings can afford the opportunity to find wild flowers to decorate your venue, tables and even to create your own bouquet.
Large blooms such as sunflowers and hydrangea are great for giving bursts of color and filling vases and containers with just a few blossoms in each. Using an abundance of greenery is also a great way to fill your venue with rustic charm but on a budget.
For the most romantic touch to your rustic wedding use lots of fairy lights for the venue, ceremony space and dance floor. Lighting is one of the most important decorative features of your wedding and fairy lights are the perfect choice for both indoors and outdoors.
Create warm glows everywhere around your wedding venue by adding candles to the tables or suspend lanterns from the trees outside or the ceiling inside. Use cut logs at different heights and place battery operated lanterns on them to light the outside areas.
In rural areas it is important to check if using naked flames is allowed as there could be a fire risk to nearby crops or woodland.
An outdoor bar is a popular choice for a rustic wedding and can be a simple wide plank between two wooden barrels or a more elaborate structure made of hay bales.
Whichever you choose, an outdoor bar doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive, instead save the money for the drinks. Dress up the bar with some inexpensive greenery to maintain the rustic theme.
For a really countryside touch fill a wheelbarrow full of ice and store your bottles of beer in there.
As a thank you to your guests, give DIY wedding favors a go to save some money. If you are a good gardener, put some tiny succulents in miniature pots as gifts.
On the other hand if you are a whiz in the kitchen maybe make a bunch of cookies and put them in small gift boxes.
Tie some burlap and lace around your DIY wedding favors to tie them into your rustic wedding theme.
Final Thoughts
Weddings are expensive, there is no denying that, but there are always things you can do to save some money. Whether it is the cake, seating, flowers or bar, it just takes a little imagination.
Rustic weddings are one of the simplest to cut costs for as you can make so many elements yourself or improvise with less costly features.
We hope that our guide to 12 beautiful budget rustic wedding ideas for your big day has inspired you for your wedding.
