Western style weddings are gaining immense popularity this year as brides continue to personalize their wedding day with an old fashion country elegance. With the array of options available in Western Colorado, a western style celebration is a simple and fun alternative to the stuffy formal affair. We've rounded up some great ideas from adding just a few unique touches to recreating the old west.
Location
Outdoor ranch setting. Suggestions: Blue
Lake Ranch or Echo
Basin Ranch in Durango. Gorrono
Ranch in Telluride. Lazy
J Ranch or 4
Eagle Ranch near Vail.
Attire
A traditional wedding gown that is simple, elegant and
flattering. If the Old Wild West is your theme, look for a
Victorian lacy gown with a parasol and lace-up boots. Decorate a
cowboy hat with a veil or fresh flowers to add a wedding touch or
wear a white cowboy hat with a veil in your hair.
For the Men: Old dusters with a gambler vest .. think Wyatt Earp. Classic blue jeans, suede vest, cowboy boots and a sharp cowboy hat. Don't forget the bolo/string tie. Western Wedding Attire
Colors - Just about anything under the rainbow. Try yellow, orange, and red for the fun and energetic couple or blue and greens for a romantic garden glow.
Flowers
Spring bouquets
of wildflowers
Sweet pea
Wallflower
Grapevine
Cornflower
Sunflower
Black eyed susan
Zinnia
Miniature Roses
Use hand-tied bouquets
with raffia and wheat, tie with rope.
Incorporate miniature
cowboy hats, horseshoes or bridal rope into your bouquets and floral
arrangements.
The Altar
Use country wood or latticework to create your altar/trellis. Tie
bunches of wild flowers and weave wheat into the latticework for
a ceremony lookthat's
both symbolic and beautiful.
Centerpieces
Cowboy hats or boots
filled with flowers or fruit
Potted Cactus
Wrap rope around
plain glass votives and place candles inside
Rustic buckets or
tin milk jugs filled with wildflowers
Terra cotta pot
of flowers
Fill Mason jars
with bunches of wildflowers, wheat, and wild greenery or use white
daisies and sunflowers
Use baby galvanized
tubs for flower arrangements, fruit, or a candle. Use rope to tie
a bow around the tub
Use blue or black
spackled enamelware as containers, and fill with wild herbs and
berries
Use cowbells, tied
at the handle with stems of wheat and ribbon or strips of bandana
or denim
Jelly jars with
small votives; tie a ribbon around the mouth of the jar and place
fresh flower heads or ivy around the base
Grapevine baskets
filled with flowers
Cowboy boot shaped
mugs filled with peanuts
Simple oil lamps;
decorate around the base with flowers or ivy
Baskets with fresh
fruit; decorate around the base with ivy and small 3" hay bales.
Decorate bales with raffia or colored ribbon
Place a small mason
jar in the middle of the table; place a small candle votive inside.
To decorate, place greenery or ivy around the base
Decor
Use picnic tables
covered with checkered oilcloth or gingham tablecloths
As an entrance to
your reception, use a white picket fence with tied bundles of flowers
or herbs on the fence posts
Place antique pottery
jugs and washboards around ceremony and reception area
Tie pieces of split-rail
fence with strips of denim or gingham in bows; adorn ceremony or
reception with skull heads and wagon wheels
Take photos on stacked
bales of hay
Incorporate horseshoes
into your decorations
Place some wagon
wheels around the corners of the room. Decorate the wheels with
ivy and flowers matching your wedding colors.
Have the guests
enter through swinging saloon doors.
Create a western
town facade along one wall or your reception hall. Include the saloon,
general store, bank, pony express office and jail. Give your best
man a sheriff's star. Have your catering staff dress in old west
outfits, bartenders for the guys, saloon girls for the women.
Place bales of straw
and old ladders laced with green ivy, rope and white lights along
the walls of the reception hall.
Scatter cow bells
around the site
Rent a player-piano
for your reception, complete with music scrolls for a nice western
touch.
Create wanted posters
of the bride and groom. For the crime put affairs of the heart.
For the reward put a lifetime of happiness. Do the same for your
wedding party.
Hang honeysuckle
vines or floral garlands from the ceiling. Intertwine them with
white Christmas lights for a stunning starry night effect.
Hang lanterns from
trees or drape the trees with white lights.
Glass mason jars
make charming candleholders for hanging lanterns or centerpieces.
Make daisy chains
and string them up around the tables, inside the reception room
or between trees if outside
Use hay bales instead
of chairs for seating
Sprinkle cowboy
shaped confetti on the tables (hats, boots, etc.)
Tie the silverware
on the tables with bandanas
Favors
Miniature cowboy
hat filled with nuts or candy and wrapped in tulle
Chocolate cowboy
hats and boots
Horseshoes for good
luck
Wildflower seed
packets
Miniature lanterns
or oil lamps
Cowboy boot bottle
openers
Personalized bottles
of birch beer, microbrew, salsa, or barbecue sauce
Bandanas embroidered
with the couples names and wedding date
Small beeswax candles;
decorate with small horseshoe charms and wrap in raffia
Horseshoes tied
with ribbon or raffia, or decorated with dried flowers
Small cowbells to
ring for the bride and groom to kiss
Transportation
Have your maids and groomsman arrive on a hay wagon or tractor while
the bride and her father arrive via an elegant horse-drawn carriage
or on horseback.
Food
Use an old-fashioned "dinner bell" to get guests' attention.
Drinks
Use Mason jars .. nothing says country like drinking lemonade or
iced tea from a jar. Stack the jars upside down near the buffet
table or set one at each place setting. Provide large gallon jars
of iced tea and lemonade to fill the jars and don’t forget
to include a long stainless ladle for each jar.
Appetizers
Turn cowboy hats upside down, line with a bandana, then fill with
finger foods such as trail mix or chips.
Main Meal
Simple grilled chicken breasts and vegetables or a pasta and salad
bar. Serve the breads in napkin-lined galvanized tubs with a variety
of butters and spreads.
Barbecuing over an open pit with Ribs, steaks, and fried chicken.
For the side dishes, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw,
potato salad and corn. Serve beer and soda out of the bottle,
piled over ice in big galvanized tubs.
Dessert
Wedding cake...adorn your wedding cake with fresh
flowers and a western theme cake topper. Your baker could also incorporate
miniature cowboy hats or horseshoes into the cake's decorations.
Tiered cakes with basket-weave design on frosting look great.
Make homemade ice cream to serve with the cake.
Pies..home baked pies are an excellent western addition.
Entertainment
Take antique
photos of all the guests. Have your photographer use black and white
film. Arrange to have a costume shop supply you with several western
outfits for the guests to dress up in. In one corner of the room,
create a backdrop to be used for the antique photos. Recommendation: Thru the
Lens Old West Photo
Provide a hay ride
to the reception.
Provide games of
horseshoe during cocktails.
Hire a Square dance
caller for part or all of your reception or have your best man or
your Dad calling out instructions to your twirling guests.
Teach line dancing
before the party starts.
Hire a Fiddler
Have a soloist (or
two) sing country love songs during the wedding ceremony
For the Kids ..
organize a game of pin the tail on the rodeo horse or cow. They
can also play musical cowboy hats. This is the same game as musical
chairs except when the music stops, the kids race to put on the
cowboy hats that are laying in the middle of the circle. Consider
setting up a pinata.
Don't forget the country music! Whether you prefer
the modern line dance, or the sweet rhythm of Western Swing or bluegrass,
be sure you complete the atmosphere with either a DJ or live band
who knows how to swing, country style.
Ideas from local Brides:
We are having a mechanical bull, horseshoes, groom riding in on horseback with "Sheriff Ron" in hot pursuit as I wait in a buggy to offer marriage over being "hung!" My 8 yr. old grandson will surprise the groom with the song "desperado." We will have a noose ready though (just in case he chooses being hung over being married)!! When he chooses marriage, Judge Roy Bean will ask who would take this man in the holiest of matrimony? Two other women will stand; however, I am carrying a derringer strapped to my shin so that will help make the final decision. The minister will jump up at this point and holler "Hallelujah, we're goin' to have a weddin'! Once we are introduced Mr. & Mrs. and face the crowd, all the children in hats will toss them into the air and yell "Yipeeeeee!" Of course there are some real characters involved in this wedding skit, so I will be amazed if they stick to their lines - but it'll be fun! Submitted by Linda
We are getting married on a ranch in Hesperus and hired Thru The Lens Old West Photo company of Durango to come with costumes and set up a backdrop and take old west photos of our guests and give the photos as the favor in addition to some specially made cookies. - Submitted by Noelle H.
We have bought small burlap feed bags with oats in them that read "FEED" with oats inside for guests to throw and to keep. - Submitted by Amber P.
We are having our flower girl drop white
daisies instead of rose petals while she's walking down the aisle.
-Submitted by Diane M.
Make
pew bows using dried flowers, horseshoes and raffia. Glue the dried
flowers on the horseshoe (make sure the ends are pointing up!) and
tie long lengths of raffia to the shoe. -Submitted by
Erin K.
We are planning a Country wedding in July
at a family farmhouse on the farm. We've ordered invitations in
the western style. Our supper is going to be a buffet style outdoor
roast beef cooked on a spit. We are putting bales of hay around
the yard for benches to sit on. -Submitted by Christine
For favors, I am using wagon wheels (chocolate with marshmallow
centers) and covering them in the color foil of my wedding and printing
labels with our name and wedding date on them. -Submitted by
Sylvia
I am using tiny hay bales and putting them on the tables with our names and date of the wedding for favors to our guests. -Submitted by Debbie
F
E E D B A C K
Planning a western style wedding?
Share your ideas here.