Outdoor Wedding Inspiration

We recently worked a lovely outdoor wedding for Jennifer and Richard at the timelessly elegant Billings Estate here in Ottawa. As the sun set behind the trees, and the guests sipped their fresh lemonade with paper straws in the glowing light cast from candles in hanging mason jars, I thought to myself; outdoor weddings can contain some of the most beautiful elements of weddings in general: simplicity, softness and home-grown personal touches. Jen and Rich's simplicity and softness came from a lack of forced decor and they let the sprawling landscaping at Billings Estate be their decor with just handpicked wild flowers and candles on tables draped in crisp white linens. Their wedding came with countless personal touches but the most obvious were seen in their food as they worked with Thyme and Again Catering. One of the food stations contained Rich's best man's secret meat rub recipe on the baby back ribs and the late night buffet featured delicious family desserts such as "Gram's Apple Pie".

An outdoor wedding means you have to give up a lot of your wedding control to Mother Nature and some brides just aren't willing to do that so consider having just your wedding ceremony outdoors or if you're still a bit too protective over your one special day, how about hosting the rehearsal dinner or post-wedding brunch outdoors at a local park, a nearby cottage, an NCC-owned venue or a family member's large backyard ?

Take a look at the images below from some of the most fabulous outdoors weddings we found. Maybe you'll consider adding one more guest to your wedding guest list- Mother Nature.