40 Décor Ideas for a Dreamy Forest Wedding (2024)

While we love outdoor weddings in any form, a forest wedding will always be one of our favorites—because with towering trees, mossy floors, unruly wildflowers, and babbling brooks, what’s not to love? There’s something intimate and magical about tying the knot and celebrating in the middle of a vast woodland. Plus, the stunning scenery and natural beauty of a forest mean your wedding backdrop is already built-in. Nature has done all the décor work for you!

But, if you do want to add a few statements of your own, there is plenty of inspiration surrounding you. Look to the trees, for example—they might inspire your wedding cake or log-stacked escort cards. Or, if bohemian vibes are more your style, look to the meadows for inspiration. Your wildflower bouquet could be awaiting you right there. It’s easy to evoke an ethereal feel in a forest wedding, whether your style is chic, boho, or something in between. Look no further than these ideas, and you’ll find yourself in the fairytale wedding of your dreams.

Here are 40 décor ideas for an enchanting forest wedding.

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Celebrate Nature's Beauty

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The best part about a forest wedding is the stunning natural scenery it offers, so take advantage of the towering trees and mossy forest floor with a sure-to-be jaw-dropping photoshoot.Pro tip: Taking photos in your wedding location will help to set the scene in your wedding photo gallery.

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Set Up Tables Among the Trees

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When it's time to sit down for dinner, consider arranging long dinner tables within the trees—we love how moody the set-up above looks, with black wooden chairs, greenery, and tapered candles all enhanced by string lights hanging from the canopy above.

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Set the Tone With Your Invites

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Planning a forest affair? Go ahead and tease the scene on your invitation suite. The classic vibe on this set gets a watercolor facelift with a pine and birch tree illustration. We love the idea of tailoring the illustration to your wedding venue, whether you're gathering in a forest of palm, pine, or birch trees.

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Incorporate Wooden Elements in Signage

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If you're planning to have a welcome sign at your reception, consider choosing a beautiful wood as the backdrop for the sign—it will totally match the trees!

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Welcome Guests With Water Bottles

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Embrace the theme by putting together the ultimate forest welcome package for guests. Here, reusable water bottles decorated with Aspen trees and bags of trail mix are the perfect ode to the outdoors—plus, they'll keep guests energized while exploring the grounds.

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Embrace the Season

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Depending on when you get married, your forest wedding may not be lush and green—but that doesn’t mean it still can’t be magical. With bare trees and fallen leaves sprinkling the ground with gold, an autumnal wedding holds its own kind of beauty. As this bride proves, it makes for a great photo backdrop.

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Make a Fashion Statement

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Like many outdoor weddings, forest nuptials can easily take on a laid-back spirit. You can juxtapose that casual aspect in your photos with a more traditional dress. Have your ‘maids fluff out that stunner of a train to make a statement.

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Consider a Neutral Suit

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Have your groom play up the earthy tones of the forest with his suit. Tan, taupe, or brown—any neutral shade will do. This groom wore a brown Todd Snyder suit, which perfectly complemented the natural California surroundings.

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Turn Your Forest Into a Meadow

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Want some flower power in your forest? No problem. This bride had her florist add white flowers and greenery to a wooded area just to create a more photogenic space.

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Incorporate Local Foliage

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To that point: Let the environment inspire your choice of flowers and foliage, as this bride did by incorporating fern into her lush bouquet of hellebores, honeysuckle, and clematis, and spirea.

Select a Vibrant Accent Color

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One way you can make your forest photos pop is with a richly-hued bouquet. This bride’ssculptural bouquet of anthurium, peonies, orchids, garden roses, and hand-painted palms in burgundy tones stands out against a white dress and sea of green.

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Add Romantic Touches

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While garden roses may not be an obvious choice for a forest wedding, that doesn't mean you have to shy away from them. Incorporate a touch of the setting by bringing forest ferns into your bouquet, then add vines for an organic bouquet that looks like it was just gathered from the forest.

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Consider a Neutral Palette

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Keep with nature and go for a neutral palette that evokes the hues of the pine-strewn floor and bark-covered trees. Black, white, and brown is a proven recipe for a clean and minimalist style. This couple achieved such a palette with a vintage suitcase filled with cones—fashioned out of book pages!—filled with white rose petals.

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Look for a Forest Chapel

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When searching for a venue, consider looking for one with an outdoor chapel like this one—complete with a wooden altar platform and matching pews that give a nod to the woods around them. In this ceremony, the redwood grove acts as the focal point of the wedding backdrop, practically no décor required.

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Find a Clearing

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Having your ceremony in the midst of the trees can create a mystical ambiance, but exchanging vows in a clearing holds a beauty of its own. There’s just something intimate about being framed in an open space by tall pines.

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Choose a Natural Backdrop

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When it comes to picking a ceremony site in the woods, look for the beauty in the imperfections of nature. A fallen trunk serves as a unique wedding backdrop to an intimate ceremony space.

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Marry in the Round

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One of the appeals of a forest wedding is the warm, private feel it creates among the seclusion of colossal trees. Enhance that feeling by marrying in the round. Arrange seating in two semi-circles framed by two curves of greenery to create a circular space. This bride felt that the setup allowed them to stand among their guests rather than in front of them.

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Mark the Ceremony Entrance

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This bride looked to the natural colors of the California redwood grove for her wedding palette, which comes alive at the entrance to her ceremony. Mark your aisles with thick foliage of greenery and king protea for a wild style that looks like it always belonged there.

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Line the Aisle

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We’re head over heels for this fern runner! It’s a creative way to amp up the decadent factor in an already lush forest. Accent it with white flowers running along the ceremony aisle to complete the look.

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Consider Wooden Folding Chairs

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We mentioned wooden pews earlier, but we're also fans of wooden folding chairs in a natural setting. No matter your style, it's important to remember that chairs are a crucial component in setting your dream scene.

The 15 Best Wedding Chair Styles to Rent for Your Big Day

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Decorate the Trees

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Forest trees are beautiful in their own right, but you can always dress them up for an extra wow factor. Clusters of ferns and white blooms do just the trick at this altar.

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Elevate Your Vows

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Decorate a wooden platform with simplicity—greenery, grasses, and a few white blooms is all it needs. When you’re getting married in a beautiful redwood grove, let nature do most of the talking.

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Create Your Own Altar

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A semi-circular altar of white delphinium, larkspur, snapdragons, and wild ferns rises like a flame of foliage. We can’t think of a more dreamy forest-inspired wedding backdrop.

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Make a Modern Focal Point

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This couple exchanged vows near a babbling brook in a moss-covered, tree-studded area. That sounds gorgeous enough, but they elevated the beauty of the area with an asymmetrical floral structure of greenery, white blooms, and velvety hues for their altar installation.

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Create an Altar from Trees

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Made of Aspen trees, greenery, and neutral flowers, this altar looks like it was pulled straight from the pages of a storybook. A wooden platform and clear acrylic podium add to the altar without detracting from the scenery. It’s the perfect homage to the old Aspen grove it sits in.

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Hang a Chandelier

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You don’t have to be indoors for a chandelier! Suspend one from a tree for an overhead altar statement piece. The circular wrought iron chandelier in this wedding mirrors the circular setup framed by the seating and greenery below.

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Add a Pop of Color

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Whether you're setting up a ceremony for two or 200, we love the idea of marking your spot with a pop of color. Here, this couple added a dose of boho vibes by placing a bright red rug in the middle of a lush forest.

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Decorate With Candles

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Pair casual with formal by lining your aisle—and altar!—with an abundance of tall taper candles in elegant gold candelabras. Rose petals only add to the romantic look.

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Incorporate Pampas Grass

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Just because you’re having a forest wedding doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate desert touches. This couple interspersed it along their ceremony aisle and weaved it into a grand circular altar that symbolizes infinity and love.

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Consider Your Overall Look

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When designing your ceremony setting, it's important to consider how your ceremony florals will coordinate with your bouquet—and hairpiece, if you're wearing one. Case in point: This eclectic mix of greenery and wildflowers lends this bouquet an artfully disheveled look and loads of organic texture. Replicate it in your own bouquet for some bohemian vibes.

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Incorporate Wooden Décor

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Pay tribute to the woods with some wooden décor. There are a ton of ways to tie in wooden elements—rustic farm tables, stump plate chargers, bark escort cards. But we’re really loving this open teepee made of birch. Pair it with some tasseled pillows and an ombre blanket for an indie lounge area.

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Create a Bar of Logs

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Extend the woodsy theme to a bar fashioned out of fire pits. This couple rented standing fire pits for late-night s’mores, but the cut logs to fuel the fire doubled as a bar during the day for a statement piece. Just top it with a piece of cement or plexiglass to create a tabletop.

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Adorn a Seating Chart with Foliage

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This seating chart display looks like it always belonged among the trees and leaves. Fashioned out of wire, it blends easily into the forest, as if floating. A swag of eucalyptus and blush roses ties in with the flower-sprinkled forest floor.

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Create a Unique Seating Chart

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How cool is this seating chart display? Stacked logs reveal table assignments and they doubled as a doorway to the tented dining room. This décor statement was in tune with the wedding’s artisanal aesthetic and mountain accents.

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Add Modern Elements

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Forest weddings often evoke rustic charm or bohemian magic but don’t be afraid to get modern with the outdoors. An acrylic escort card display does just that, as it's perched on a wooden base to tie it back in with nature. Bonus: It won’t block any forest views!

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Hang Bistro Lights

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Kick up the magic of your woodland wedding by stringing bistro lights throughout the reception area. Whether you string them among the trees or along structures at your venue, they’ll be sure to cast your reception in an ethereal glow.

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Create Your Own Forest

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If you want a forest wedding but aren't marrying in a true forest venue, that's okay. You can always create your own by bringing in faux or real tree branches and lining the walls with them. When doing so, consider a canopy of greens up above to complete the look!

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Bring the Outdoors In

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Need proof that the outdoors can indeed be replicated inside? Simply take a look at this scene of maple branches affixed to the columns of an industrial wedding venue—in the middle of Charleston! In contrast, the lush greens are mixed with residential-style lounges of gray furniture and a modern marbled dance floor to further the indoor-outdoor theme.

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Serve a Rustic Cake

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End the night on a forest-inspired note by designing your wedding cake to look like the bark of a birch tree. Here, pine cones, twigs, sugar flowers, and a stump plate charger complete the woodsy look.

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Create Moss Centerpieces

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One of the most beautiful elements of a forest? Moss. This stunning plant makes for an excellent centerpiece, either on its own or when combined with colorful floral arrangements.