Natural themes continue to be big news on the wedding scene. Rustic touches add a certain beauty to wedding venues when used indoors or out, and with summer officially here, the natural world is a truly bountiful place.
Foraging for your wedding not only ensures stunningly authentic results on the big day itself, but it can also be a delightful, relaxing experience for the bride and groom to enjoy together. It’s also one of the best fun and free things to do this summer.
Read on to discover the foraging tips that will help you source the most beautiful, all-natural décor for your wedding day.
Stock up on supplies
You’ll need a few supplies to forage like a pro. A top-rated, up-to-date plant identification guide will become an essential tool on your foraging excursion, providing information on what can and can’t be picked.
A good quality pair of pruning shears, strong gardening gloves, a hand basket, and a hand trowel are other essentials that will make foraging as rewarding as it should be.
Research before you go
Whilst having a plant identification guide handy is a must for your foraging trip, conducting a little research beforehand is a step that shouldn’t be skipped.
Study the plants that will be most fitting for your special day, how to prune them correctly to avoid damage to the plant and the wider environment, and the best locations to find your desired species. Remember you may need to ask for permission to forage across certain sites.
During the research stage, don’t be afraid to be picky about the plants on your list of most wanted foliage.
Remember simplicity is key
Keep your selection simple when identifying and foraging the plants you’d like to see as part of your wedding décor. Even couples wanting to incorporate wild, woolly arrangements should set limits on how much foliage they should pick and arrange.
It’s so easy to get carried away when foraging. Concentrate on the beauty of individual botanicals as well as focusing on the cultivation of wilder displays.
Stick with what’s seasonal
Seasonal blooms are the best choice, whether you’re foraging for your own natural wedding décor and bouquets or hiring a professional florist to do the job for you.
By foraging only what’s in season, you’ll be gathering clippings that look their very best, and this will translate into your finished look.
In addition to sticking with seasonal varieties, only collect from plentiful populations, and leave plenty behind and rare species untouched. Flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds should be collected when they are in abundance to minimise damage to the environment.
Summer is a great time to forage wild berries, hedges, heaths, and even moss and mushrooms. Flowers like roses, mullein, chicory, yarrow, red clover blossoms, daylily, pelargoniums, erigeron, candytuft, and sweet peas are all in season and ready to be picked at this time of year.
Couples marrying later in the year will find plenty of beautiful plants to forage for their autumn or winter wedding.
Is your foraged foliage past its prime?
Don’t worry, dried natural décor is in too! Forage foliage and allow it to dry for a cool, contemporary look that’s particularly popular for 2022 as Best for Bride explains:
“On the lighter side, greenery and dried flowers are becoming increasingly popular. It’s a strange thing, but there are floral designs with flowers that have dried that incorporate earthy tones in a way that’s really quite beautiful. There’s an avant-garde, almost ironic nature to such decorative designs as well; further enhancing their increasing popularity.“
Dried flowers are even being used in rustic bouquets and buttonholes to create a natural, organic, earthy aesthetic that looks great this season.
