Top Outdoor Wedding Considerations for Nashville to Create the Perfect Day
An outdoor wedding is stunning and provides the perfect natural backdrop for your ceremony and reception. But as you prepare for your special day, you’ll have added considerations when moving the celebration outside.
Review these Nashville-area outdoor wedding considerations to ensure everything goes according to plan and your guests have a great time.
7 Nashville Outdoor Wedding Considerations
As you plan your open-air celebration, you’ll have added considerations for the location, food, décor and more. Here’s what you need to know for a Nashville wedding in the great outdoors.
1. Venue
Select your wedding venue carefully. The natural scenery and backdrop is something you can’t change no matter how much décor you bring in. Consider the mood and environment the venue provides.
For example, the Barn at Spring Lake Farms is situated among Portland, Tennessee’s, rolling hills. The family-owned farm is quiet, with a state-of-the-art wedding venue that includes 14,000 square feet of covered space in case of inclement weather.
The outdoor space is stunning, with two areas for your event or photos. Seat up to 225 with a dance floor and stage. The covered space has roll-up doors so you can move between the indoors and outside seamlessly during good weather.
2. Budget
An outdoor wedding at a non-traditional venue can offer a more rustic outdoor feel or allow you to take advantage of the backyard at your family home. But you might find it’s more expensive to rent the necessary lighting, restrooms, tables, chairs, etc. to outfit the space.
Take time to review the necessary rentals you’ll need to turn a casual green space into a wedding venue and select between that and a true outdoor wedding venue where the event team can provide everything you need for the perfect setup.
3. Outdoor Comfort Based on Projected Weather
Nashville experiences 208 total days with sun each year, which means you have a good chance of a stunning outdoor wedding. But it also gets quite hot during the summer months.
Consider how comfortable your guests will be outside based on the projected weather for that time of year. You might consider an outdoor wedding with shade during June through September with an optional indoor air-conditioned space to keep guests comfortable. Or you might include mist machines or large fans to keep the air moving.
For the bride and groom, you’ll also want to think about wind and whether this might impact your comfort. Most brides worry about what some wind will do to their hair. Depending on which way the wind is blowing that day, you can set up a sign or board to help block some wind from the happy couple to make the outdoor venue more comfortable.
In the spring and fall, you can still look forward to daytime temps that favor being outside. But you might need to bring in portable heaters for after sunset to keep your guests comfortable if you plan to stay outside.
4. Lighting
An outdoor wedding is great because it uses natural light to brighten things up. But you want to think about which way your guests will be facing during the ceremony so they aren’t looking directly into the afternoon sun.
And as darkness falls, some gentle twinkling lights that highlight the most important areas of your outdoor reception will make all the difference. Think about how you’ll operate those lights using quiet generators or work with a venue that already has the perfect lighting.
5. Have a Backup Indoor Space
While Nashville is a beautiful place to host a wedding, you could still end up with a stormy or overly windy day that makes an outdoor wedding challenging. Have a backup plan that allows you to move the celebration inside on short notice. Most wedding venues offer both indoor and outdoor spaces to provide options based on the forecast. You just might need to reserve both spaces to be certain.
6. Consider How the Terrain Works with Dress Shoes
Many women don stilettos for weddings to complete a stunning formal look. But if your wedding takes place in a grassy field, you’ll need to consider how well this will work for your guests, or even for the bride. You can offer plastic heel protectors to avoid sinking into the ground with every step, or talk to your venue about runner options for the aisle and a platform for the ceremony to protect the bridal party’s shoes.
7. Match the Menu to the Season
Outdoor weddings during the summer months will call for some chilled appetizers instead of all hot plates. This will help guests enjoy the food when outdoor temps rise. Lighter foods will also be preferable.
The opposite is true for spring and fall weddings when the weather is still a bit chilly. Think about hot food options or even warm beverages you can offer to keep guests comfortable. More comfort food dishes will delight guests during this time of year.
Go with seasonal dishes that take advantage of produce that’s in season but also caters to what guests would want to eat during that season. Prepare for the weather with proper heating and cooling supplies to keep food at the right temps. And plan to cover your dishes when not in use to avoid sun exposure and bugs.
Booking a Popular Outdoor Wedding Venue in Nashville
Because outdoor weddings are popular in Nashville, you should book your venue well in advance. The Barn at Spring Lake Farm is a turnkey venue that can help with booking vendors, planning food and more. Contact them now to start booking your perfect outdoor wedding.