12 ways to making or accentuate an aisle for your outdoor weddings

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Ceremony

I saw the photo pictured above and it inspired me to try and find more amazing ways that outdoor wedding spaces have created or defined their wedding aisles. Please to enjoy these clever ways to create an aisle in an outdoor setting…

This fabulous outdoor location in Mashamoquet State Park, CT, was embellished by this twig and branch aisle created by the groom.

355967490 69e3b905a9 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
Thanks brittany w for submitting this to the OBB Flickr pool.
For this aisle they got some potted annuals and cheap baskets at a home garden center. As Ariel said, “So simple… so effective. I love how just a few little details can totally make a space feel sacred.”

2963667028 8df386d303 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
Thanks sarawwr for submitting this photo to the pool.
The ‘ol flower petal aisle — always a classic, always freaking beautiful.

Making the aisle
Thanks DanielleAK for submitting this photo to the OBB pool.
Their wedding commissioner's husband came up with the idea to make an aisle out of fireweed. What a statement it makes even though it's amazingly simple.

n1320376443 222281 2521 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)My friends, Jack and Nami, created an aisle for their forest wedding out of boxes of wheat grass. The groom constructed the boxes and the bride used an old connection from her Jamba Juice days to get the wheat grass! They also added daisies for more pizzaz.

aisleYou could always use an actual aisle runner. It makes quite the dramatic statement at an outdoor wedding, don't ya think?

walking towards the groomHave your guests line up to create the aisle. It's hard to tell in this shot from my wedding but all the guests lined up on either side of me and my dad, it was pretty cool.

Processional with the bagpiper Having a fall wedding? Line your aisle with leaves and pumpkins, or maybe just a lot of baby pumpkins and then re-use them as favors?

3872291600 68c058b3c1 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)Casey and Colin got married in the Temescal Gateway Park in California and they used brightly colored paper pom poms to accentuate their aisle.

Gannons008 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
Photo by Joanna Tano Photography.
Oh my gawd, how much do I love the big bright non-matching parasols? A lot. This photo from Alda and Bob's Maui wedding just made my heart explode with happy.

PinwheelsI love the idea of using colorful pinwheels all the way down the aisle.

aisle19Or you could just use what's already there, like this pre defined path.

I know there are TONS of great ideas out there, so you know what to do… leave 'em in the comments section!

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Comments on 12 ways to making or accentuate an aisle for your outdoor weddings

  1. What great ideas! I’m having an outdoor wedding on my family’s ranch and have been thinking about ways to accentuate the aisle.

  2. This is actually really useful – I’m getting married next weekend in a park with no real ideas on how to do an aisle (or even if I need one). I’ll let you know what we come up with!

  3. Yay! We’re getting married next year in a state park and this was a very helpful post.

    What about those who are eloping/self-uniting? Instead of an aisle, we’re thinking of spreading flower petals around us in a circle and then exchanging vows. Maybe we’ll come into the circle separately and leave together? It’s hard to draw the line between sacred and silly sometimes, when it comes to rituals. We’re still trying to find that middle ground.

    Does OBB have a post on common and uncommon ceremony rituals? We’re writing the entire ceremony ourselves, and I’d like to find some things we can do to symbolize our union.

    • This may seem kind of a strange place to draw inspiration from, but in my favoritest of favorite book series (The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold) on the planet the main characters are from, a couple essentially marries themselves in a circle of groats. The best description of the rite is in the beginning of “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” if you’re interested.

  4. Our site has a bunch of trees so it’s not clear where to walk in from, so we’ll be marking the path with a line of pinwheels. I think it’s especially important for the flower girls so they know where to walk and don’t meander away!

  5. Some great ideas here.

    We’re technically getting married inside but it’s only a tiny building (more a roof on pillars) so I think we’re going to need to extend the aisle to allow plenty of time for some awesome music.

  6. I really love all the aisle photos above but my favorite would have to be the fireweed! It’s so simple but the purple color of the flowers really stands out.

  7. Hm… someday I want to have an outdoor winter wedding, and this post got me thinking on ideas for that… Little snowmen? Cedar branches? So many ideas…

    • The little snowmen idea sounds fabulous. You should take that and RUNNNN!!!!

  8. When my fiances sister got married on the beach, their aisle was made out of the guests flip flops.

  9. What about white paper lanterns or oversized candles? Tiki torches?

    I love the idea of a dusk wedding filled with soft light.

    • We’re having a sunset summer or early fall wedding in the park we first got together in and we’re thinking about using old hurricane lamps provided we can do it safely. 🙂 Otherwise, possibly glass encased tealights

  10. I was wondering what I ought to about an aisle in the middle of the forest. Thank you.

  11. We are getting married on the beach and we are going to use driftwood to make an aisle. So many beautiful and simple ideas! I also like the thought of using birch branches, shells and other nature-inspired items. If we were having it inside I think I would line the aisle with peacock feathers, but they could blow away outside…So we’ll see. 🙂

  12. We got married in a State Park last September. It was in the middle of a clearing, I guess you could call it. Our aisle was lined with large orange and pink paper lanterns, hanging from shepherd’s hooks. White flower petals were thrown down before the ceremony. When the flower girls went down the aisle, they threw hot pink flower petals on top of the white, out of little pails. It was so much fun coming up with a cute, not-so-traditional way of lining the aisle.

  13. My husband and I had a beach wedding and the aisle was made from our guests shoes.

  14. What did Casey and Colin use for their wedding arch… thing? I saw a similar off-beat arch idea on another site (forget where!) where the wedding party held dowels with long tissue paper garlands that were all attached to two balloons at the top that kept it all elevated.

    Any other ideas for an alternative arch?

  15. I am getting married in a field next month. We are lining the aisle with empty wine bottles with wild flowers in them. We’ll weight them with sand so they don’t tip over.

    • How did this turn out? I am thinking of doing it myself. Do you have any pics?

  16. I’m having an late afternoon/evening wedding and i was wondering what ppls opinions of having candles or tea lights light the way as an aisle

    • Candles or tealights sounds amazing! I particularly have a soft spot for tealights (don’t want to advertise, but IKEA ones are excellent for central heating in a small room!) and you can reuse them for centre pieces or scattered on tables. Mind the fire factor though. Are there small kids around/ long dresses/narrow aisle? If that’s the case, how about fairy lights? You can get them quite cheaply and there’s lots of options. Simple white, coloured, shapes… Or you can put the candles/tealights in waterfilled glasses or something. That should take care of the flame if it was knocked over and would serve as an extra barrier for dresses.

      I love the idea of candles and it would look amazing!!!

    • Sounds good. You can also get LED, battery-powered tealights, for safety. Some outdoor venues probably wouldn’t allow fire anyway, I know I went to a forest wedding that wouldn’t allow matches to be given as favors & no fire or smoking! ;p

  17. We got married in the desert and used rocks to outline our aisle and a circle at the end to stand in.

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