Western Wedding Ideas

As an Arizona native, I know how beautiful a southwest wedding can be with some good western wedding ideas. A good choice of colors would be turquoise, gold, and brown. The idea is to be as rustic and rugged as possible, while still feminine. If you can't get married in the desert, then I'd suggest heading to a log cabin or somewhere else like a lodge that can provide that outdoorsy Western feeling.

I designed this collage with Sedona, Arizona as the backdrop, which has stunning views of red mixed with cactus and bright wildflowers in the springtime.

I think the wedding dress fits this theme perfectly: anything that is flowy and ideally with lace fabric will work well with a western wedding theme. This dress, as well as the teal bridesmaid dress is from Alfred Angelo. Thankfully, this designer lets you select a variety of colors for dresses with this nice teal color included.



Turquoise jewelry is a great pick. Think about earrings, bola ties (very southwest!), and even think about having your bridesmaids wear belts with a turquoise buckle. The earrings are from Ten Thousand Villages. It's a great site dedicated to selling the crafts and jewelry of Nepalese, Peruvian and other country citizens at a fair wage.

Ah yes, cowboy boots and hats. I mean, that's a given, right? I actually think wearing cowboy boots with a soft, feminine dress is pretty awesome. I got these two from Wild Cowboy, which is the place to accessorize western wedding ideas..

As for other tips for western wedding decorations, dried flower balls hanging throughout the ceremony are beautiful. I got the dried flower mistletoe ball from Ten Thousand Villages as well.

For western wedding centerpieces I like the thought of making a fool's gold pan by spraypainting rocks into gold and painting on rust colors onto a tin plate. From there, sprinkle flowers, add a candle, or use railroad lanterns. These lanterns are a little hard to find, but it's nothing a click to Ebay can't solve. Otherwise, some potted cactus can do the trick, too.

More Western Wedding Decorations

The collage below is a random smattering of items to use for decoration and various other ideas.

The first thought is to ride horseback to the ceremony: a quick, easy and flashy way to arrive in style.



I think these western wedding invitations are fantastic: an Etsy artist, April Ink makes them.

For your western wedding theme regarding music, banjos, harmonicas, or simply enough, guitars and fiddles can sound beautiful for your procession.

Decorate the reception area or the surroundings with bales of hay as one western wedding idea. You can buy them for about $10 apiece, or just ask a really nice rancher in the area if you could borrow some for the event if you're out in the country.

The cake topper is from Brides Village, where they have a ton of other western cake toppers. For the cake itself, I suggest using chocolate cake or frosting so it matches the brown rustic colors of the reception area. The cake shown is from Hot Breads and Cake.

Use real (or fake!) bull skulls to decorate the outside or inside the venue as an additional western wedding idea