Best of 2016

By Dr Alan Viau

I conduct wedding ceremonies in all sorts of locations. Restaurants, backyards, specialized venues and hotels are all standard fare for me. Whereas [some] wedding magazines feature exotic and extravagant decorations, those sorts of lavish frills are out of reach for most brides and grooms, who have budgets.

Being mindful of their budgets, brides and grooms executed their decor accordingly in 2016. The trends I’ve seen include:

• Sweetheart tables for the bride and groom
• Upscale country/ rural look with more flowers and lace
• Leveraging a venue’s decor by keeping yours consistent with the venue’s style
• Use of seasonal flowers not just the usual, such as roses and peonies

Below are snapshots of real wedding decor at nuptials throughout the Ottawa-Gatineau area. I have two favorites. One is by Elise Schmitz from Toast Special Events at Le Belvedere where she used three decor themes in one event. You can see that each row of tables has a different setting.

My second is Michelle Vandenbosch from Rebel Petal who re-used the flowers in the aisles as table centre pieces at the Canadian War Museum.

Here are other real-wedding decor ideas from 2016.

Alan Viau is yoga teacher, minister, health scientist, & cancer survivor who teaches & coaches achieving fitness & well-being at LoveOfLifeYoga.com.

This story was originally published at alanviau.com.