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You’ve decided to get married outside and luckily Florida does not disappoint with it's romantic landscapes. You may be envisioning yourself saying “I do” in a peaceful orange grove under moss covered oak trees or maybe on the beach with your toes in the sand and palm trees swaying in the ocean breeze. Not every outdoor wedding is the same, however, if you plan to tie the knot outdoors in The Sunshine State, you’re going to need to consider the following 5 things. We asked some local Florida wedding professionals to give their best tips for considering the location, lighting, wind, bugs, and restrooms when planning your outdoor Florida wedding. BONUS: Download our Florida outdoor wedding planning checklist at the end of this blog post!  The open air pole barn at McKinnon Groves includes market lighting and the use of a nearby fire pit to create a cozy outdoor ambiance. LOCATION & SPACINGOutdoor wedding locations can be quite spacious. If the layout of your reception area allows for guests to spread out too far, your guests could miss all of the special moments you’ve planned like the cake cutting and bouquet toss! We encourage couples to try to keep the bar, photobooth, restrooms, food, and dance floor within a visible distance from each other and be sure that the DJ or sound system can easily be heard within ear shot.
LIGHTING & SUNI think we can all agree that using nature as your back drop creates some of the most magical wedding photos! You can plan a picture-perfect day by using the sun to your advantage. When selecting your ceremony site, be sure that the sun will set behind your officiants back. This gives a natural backlighting effect. Be sure to check the sunset time for your actual wedding date in advance and remember to consider daylight savings!
 This breathtaking ceremony site at McKinnon Groves is just steps away from their open-air pole barn reception space. Their entire property is surrounded by Navel, Hamlin & Valencia orange trees as well as 3.5 miles of lake front. WIND & WEATHERIn our last blog post we took a deeper look at the weather in Central Florida. One thing we didn’t touch on, however, is wind. Depending on the time of year and how close you are to the coast, wind proofing your outdoor Florida wedding will bring you peace of mind. We actually designed our entire collection of rustic wood rental pieces with high winds in mind. Farm tables create beautiful backdrops for wedding tablescapes without any fancy linens so you won’t have to worry about tablecloths taking flight! You’ll want to be sure that centerpieces are weighted down enough to withstand wind gusts and try to stay away from floral arrangements that are top heavy if you can. If you are considering a tented outdoor wedding and it’s likely to be windy on your wedding day, ordering a tent with side walls may be ideal to shelter your guests and your décor from blowing away.
BUGS!Outdoor wedding venues like McKinnon Groves include commercial grade bug repellant treatment in all of their wedding packages. If this is not the case for you, citronella torches, candles, or even potted citronella plants around the area could help fend off mosquitos. If you are permitted to treat the area yourself a few days in advance, backyard bug control sprays like Cutter are another option for defending your wedding against bugs. Regardless of your approach, if you are planning an outdoor wedding in Florida you will want to provide several cans of bug spray for your guests to use as needed. Be sure to look for a clear formula and stay away from powder formulas so that your guests don't ruin their wedding attire with white powder streaks!
 RESTROOMSWhether your dream outdoor wedding is a mini-mony with just family or your guest count is in the hundreds, restrooms are always a necessity. If your outdoor wedding location has access to an indoor restroom inside of a home or another building on the property, be sure that you post clear signage to point your guests in the right direction when they have to "go". The stunning outdoor Florida venue featured in this blog post is called McKinnon Groves and they actually include an eight stall luxury restroom trailer standard with all of their wedding packages!
Click the link below to download our Florida outdoor wedding planning checklist. If you would like to learn more about renting any of the rustic wood rental pieces you see featured in this blog, click below to schedule a consultation call!
Central Florida Vendors featured in this blog include: Goldenbear Event Rentals - @Goldenbear Event Rentals McKinnon Groves - @McKinnonGroves Grace Jicha Photography - @GraceJichaPhoto Taber Leigh Events - @TaberLeighEvents Lee James Floral - @LeeJamesFloral Farm Nine - @FarmNine Trove Rentals - @TroveRentals
4 Comments
11/13/2022 02:53:40 am
Actually professional either including relate. Power key outside person. 1/23/2023 12:52:48 pm
Thank you for explaining how you should consider the restroom situation when looking at outdoor venues. My daughter wants an outdoor wedding next year, but we hadn't considered this during our planning. I'll have to share it with her so we can see if we may need to budget to rent our own trailers. 3/14/2023 05:12:47 pm
Thanks so much for the advice to keep activities and amenities closer together to avoid people spreading out too far and missing things. I have a friend planning his wedding and they both want it to be outdoors. We want to make sure the guests stay comfortable the whole time though so we've been looking into renting portable bathrooms for the event. We'll have to look into what the proper spacing for things like that would be so everything goes smoothly the day of. 3/27/2023 03:48:20 pm
I thought you made an interesting point when you mentioned that outdoor wedding locations can be quite spacious. With that in mind, it seems like it would be important to make sure that the furniture that you rent for a wedding is spaced and organized properly. An outdoor wedding would probably be much more comfortable if everything isn't crammed together. Leave a Reply. |
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