12 Fall Wedding Decor Essentials

Fall can be a tricky time of year for temperatures — it can be perfectly cool with beautiful warming sunshine, and then get frigid as the night wears on. Keep guests cozy and comfortable with a basket or box full of blankets, especially if your wedding is outside. No one wants to sit through a ceremony and reception completely distracted because they're too cold!

The setting of your wedding is one of its defining features, so choosing something Fall-inspired is crucial. If your wedding is outdoors, a woodsy setting or orchard is the quintessential Autumn wedding venue. Plus, it makes a great backdrop for photos — especially if your wedding is perfectly timed with the season's colorful foliage.

For many of us, hay bales evoke memories of hay rides, pumpkin patches, and apple orchards, making them the ideal addition to your wedding decor. Use them to prop up your menu, seating chart, or program, or use them as seating for your outdoor ceremony. Pair them with potted chrysanthemums, the classic Fall flower.

Bring the whole wedding together with a color scheme to suit the season! Think deep jewel tones, like emerald and berry and hints of gold, or mustard yellow and marsala red. Or lighten it up with blue and rose gold. This couple chose blue and orange for a classic color scheme for the time of year.

Another way to incorporate the apple orchard vibe of Fall into your wedding is with this wooden crate card holder. You can go full-on rustic with an unfinished crate, or paint one to match the rest of your decor. It will keep all of the cards from your guests in one place and add yet another decorative element to make your wedding quintessentially Fall.

Nothing says Fall like a pumpkin! If you want to pay homage to the pumpkin but want it a little toned down, white pumpkins are definitely the way to go. But if you want a more rustic, harvest feel, then choose some classic orange pumpkins for your centerpieces.

With cool Fall days come longer nights, so if you're having an evening wedding this season, make sure you have plenty of lighting to keep the party going through the evening. String lights, paper lanterns, and candles are all elegant ways to light your reception and add some ambience to your event.

Whether or not you choose an outdoor setting, it's easy to incorporate beautiful Fall foliage into your decor. If you have access to a particularly beautifully colored tree just before your wedding, cut off a few branches or collect some leaves to add to your table decor or create a stunning centerpiece.

It's always good practice to choose the flowers for your wedding based on what's in bloom at the time, and for a Fall wedding that means sweet pea, camellia, cosmos, chrysanthemum, and delphinium, to name a few. Strands of straw, cotton bolls, and berry branches are a beautiful way to round out the arrangements.

This tiered wooden cake stand is bound to make an impression at any Fall wedding. Layer your favorite cakes, cupcakes, pies, or doughnuts to create a beautiful display and incorporate another rustic, Fall-inspired element into your wedding decor. The best part is that it's a total space-saver — so you can fill your dessert table with even more delicious goodies!

Fall desserts might just be the most delicious treats of the year: from pumpkin pie to apple pie, pear crumble to pecan pie, this season's desserts are rich and full of flavor. Create a dessert table featuring all of your favorite Fall treats to serve at your wedding to really celebrate the season.