Nuptials in Nature

More informal than a traditional church wedding, a garden wedding calls for simpler, more natural décor.

Written by Carole Ottesen and Photographed by Dick Hunsche

There’s no such thing as a stress-free wedding. But there are ways to minimize wedding stressors. One of loveliest is to opt for an informal venue and hold the wedding in a garden.

Becky Baker held her daughter Carrie’s wedding to Darren Remsburg in the Baker’s McLean garden. “It was kind of fun how the outside emerged as a place for the wedding,” she says. While there were some of the jitters normally associated with a wedding, she “was amazed at how smoothly everything went.” She credits two people: her interior designer, Joy Runyon of Phenix Designs, and her landscaper, Matthew Steele of Country Casual Landscaping, for well-oiled operations. But, most of all, she attributes the wedding’s success to the venue. Her garden was the perfect place to accommodate a large extended family and the family’s dogs.

Casual and Comfortable

“Being in the open-air makes it more casual,” says Debbie Ziadi, design manager at Johnson’s Florist and Garden Center in Kensington. And “more casual” means that all aspects of a traditional wedding get toned down.

The things that go wrong‹reluctant ring bearers, crying babies, overlong pauses‹may cause baited breath in a very formal setting such as a church. In the garden, small contretemps are likely to be received with indulgent smiles and helping hands. Guests tend to involve themselves to a greater extent in the event because they feel more at home in the setting.

Gardens are familiar, comfortable places. Over-the-top décor is out of place out of doors. The garden is one place where “you don’t have to spend thousands upon thousands to get a beautiful look,” says Ziadi. “Nice things can be done on any budget. There’s a whole range of choices.” Most of what is needed to furnish a garden for the big day can be found at your local garden center.

“Just come in, state what your needs are, and we’ll match you up with one of our people,” says Peg Bier at Merrifield Garden Center. “We have everything it takes to do a garden wedding-from arbors to containers to flowers to topiary.”

Beautiful Disguises

Topiary and containers are endlessly useful props. They can direct traffic, form aisles, or create backdrops. They can be used together with an arbor to make the place where the couple will say their vows. However, that place doesn’t have to include an arbor.

“Sometimes just a suggestion works,” says Ziadi. “Even if you have an open patio, you can create a place with two large flower arrangements...on pedestals or do something with branches such as curly willow. Joined at the top, they suggest an arch.”

Flower arrangements and plants can also be used as camouflage. At the Baker-Remsburg wedding, Runyon designed floral arrangements that turned an ordinary yard into a special place, while Steele built a wooden stage for the wedding ceremony. It was “in an area with cathedral-like trees,” says mother-of-the-bride Baker. The only problem was that her son’s large, skateboarding half pipe dominated the area.

To disguise the half pipe, “we used leftover lumber from the wooden stage and built shelves onto the half pipe to put plants on‹just enough to support small evergreen trees,” says Steele.

Garden Wedding Perks

The evergreen trees as well as other plants Steele used “made a huge impact around the stage andŠaround the pool and the house,” but did not go to waste after the wedding. Steele, who has worked for the Bakers for more than six years, killed two birds with one stone by using plants that could be incorporated into their permanent landscaping. “I used natural, native plants that will go well in their garden,” says Steele.

Permanent additions are the bonuses of garden weddings. Frequently, they are bigger, better versions of long-anticipated home and landscape improvements.

“Quite often we end up building patios to suit a certain number of guests,” says Dave Reed, vice president of Meadows Farms in Chantilly. “When the wedding is over, people rarely have issues with a patio that’s too large for their everyday needs.”

Patios and natural-looking landscaping are in keeping with the informal mood of a garden wedding. The casual look should also be carried over to the flowers, believes Ziadi.

Flower Power

“If it takes place outside,” she says, “I try to do something simple and garden-y” and seasonal. Spring flowers look out of place at a summer wedding and don’t hold up well. Ziadi suggests choosing “flowers that tolerate the heat such as lilies and fresh rosesŠin a monochromatic color scheme that is more eye-catching and dramatic outside, where there is more visual competition.” She avoids “anything too manufactured looking.” Rather than “big satin bows,” the aisles should be decorated “with more greenery, possibly just a bouquet of wild greens.”

Once the garden is dressed for the wedding, there is only one more thing to do to make the whole event as stress-less as possible: formulate a plan B. “You’re always at the mercy of the weather,” says Ziadi. Plan on “a tent or some other shelter” in the event of rain. Then relax and enjoy.