Top 10 Tips on How to Decorate Your Home For A Wedding

You don’t have to have your wedding in a grand cathedral or a massive ballroom in order for it to be stunning. You can have your wedding at home and get the intimate, warm atmosphere you envision for your big day.

Here are our top 10 tips on how to decorate your home for a wedding ceremony and reception that will help you transform your space from top to bottom.

Wedding Ceremony Under a Floral Arch in a Backyard: Martha Stewart

Pick the Perfect Ceremony and Reception Spots

Before you get into the nitty gritty details of figuring out how to decorate your home, you have to pick the perfect ceremony and reception spots.

They could be anywhere from the steps leading up to your home to an ivy-covered wall and even the front of the garage, if you know how to decorate it. If you plan on inviting quite a few guests, your reception will likely work best in the yard, while a smaller guest list could enjoy a dining room reception.

Decide Where Guests Are and Aren’t Allowed

There’s no need to decorate every single room in your home. Instead, narrow down the rooms and areas where guests are allowed. For example, they may be allowed in living spaces, but not bedrooms. You might want to keep them out of the garage, but invite them into your vegetable garden.

Lock doors and block off areas where guests aren’t allowed and focus on decorating the spaces where they are welcomed.

Bride and Groom Standing With the Officiant in Front of a Fireplace: Danielle Moss

Declutter and Rearrange

Your house is great as-is when it comes to everyday living. Hosting your wedding at home is an entirely different matter. In order to decorate your home for a wedding, you need to create a canvas that can be decorated. That means decluttering and rearranging furniture.

You might take an old recliner down to the basement and clear items from the mantle on the fireplace. Eliminate décor on the floor that can create a tripping hazard, and consider borrowing chairs, lamps, and tables from rooms that are off limits to make other areas of your home more comfortable.

Wedding Vignette With Two Chairs and a Side Table: Over the Moon

Create Vignettes for Small Groups to Connect

Home weddings are naturally intimate affairs, so a giant corner sofa or single table set with chairs isn’t going to cut it. Instead, you should create vignettes so small groups of guests can connect on a more personal level.

Break up modular sofas and create cozy corners with just two or three chairs with at least one end table so guest have a place to put their drinks. Vignettes should be sprinkled throughout your space so guests have a place to sit and catch up.

Bride Standing at the Bottom of Steps That Are Decorated With Colorful Flowers: Green Wedding Shoes

Make Entrances Extra Special

You want your home wedding to be cozy and familiar, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dress it up! Focus on making entrances extra special so you and your guests feel the festive spirit of your nuptials throughout your home.

You might decorate the front door, but the entrance to your backyard, ceremony space, and even your driveway can be decorated with flowers, ribbons, streamers, or balloons to make them feel special.

Bride and Groom Surrounded by a String Light and Candles: Carissa Marie Photography

Rethink Lighting

When you’re decorating your house for a wedding, it’s important to take a fresh look at your lighting. Harsh overhead lighting, dark hallways, and unlit walkways aren’t going to cut it.

Place lamps with low-wattage light bulbs throughout your home, including hallways and bathrooms. Hang fairy lights and use candles to create a romantic ambiance. Outdoor areas should be well lit, as should walkways.

Bride Sitting on Wooden Steps Surrounded By Flowers: Ruffled Blog

Don’t Skimp on Flowers

Just because you’re having your wedding at home doesn’t mean you should skimp on flowers! Using fresh blooms in bouquets and flower arrangements is one of the easiest ways to dress up your home.

Dried florals are a great option too! Pampas grass and palm fronds can be used alone, or they can be incorporated with fresh flowers to transform your home for your wedding.

Do Some Landscaping

Even if you’re planning on having guests inside your home, they still have to walk through your yard to get to your front door. That’s why it’s a good idea to do some landscaping, whether your wedding is inside or outside.

Spray weeds and dispose of dead foliage and fallen branches a few weeks ahead of your wedding. You can plant new flowers and bushes in key areas and created potted arrangements to flank entrances and decorate patio spaces.

Tabletop Covered in Antique Silver and Old Family Photographs: Intimate Weddings

Bring Out the Photos

Weddings at home are supposed to feel intimate. Enhance the intimacy of your celebration by displaying pictures throughout your home.

That means finally hanging those frames you’ve been meaning to get around to, but it means setting frames on tables too. Display photos your guests will love looking at, like your grandparents’ old wedding photos and photos of the bride and groom when they were kids.

Clean The Windows

Cleaning the windows isn’t something we think about day-to-day, but you’d be surprised how much grime can settle on your windows—both indoors and out.

Clean both the inside of the windows and the outside of the windows. It will let more sparkling light into your home when you pull back the curtains and open the blinds.

Your home really can become a magical place for a wedding. Follow the tips on this list and you will create the right mood for a romantic, memorable wedding at home.