With the summer wedding season coming to an end, award-winning wedding caterers, Suffolk & Essex’s Plenty of Thyme, are now looking firmly ahead to the autumn season. After restrictions were finally lifted in July, the summer has been filled with weddings and parties, many of which Plenty of Thyme were happy to be a part of! It was just a pity the weather didn’t always play ball, but a bit of wind and rain couldn’t stop the wild celebrations after all those long months of lockdown!
We all know that summer is traditionally the busiest season for weddings, but after all of the wedding postponements due to covid, this autumn looks to be just as busy as the summer. And for all of those brides looking forward to an autumn wedding, expert wedding caterers, Suffolk and Essex-based Plenty of Thyme, have some great wedding ideas and tips for your autumn wedding!
Benefits of an Autumn wedding
But before we delve into those, there may be some brides-to-be who are reading this blog who haven’t yet set a date for their wedding. There are some great benefits to having an autumn wedding which include:
* Take advantage of the time of year with spectacular natural scenes of trees in golds, reds, and orange colours, ideal for wedding photos and offering a beautiful backdrop to your wedding.
* With the sun a little lower in the sky at this time of year your photographer will love the natural light to shoot some amazing golden hour shots of the wedding party.
* Speaking of the sun, although the temperatures may not be as high as the summer, the autumn weather is normally relatively predictable. So mild temperatures but still sunny. Ideal for weddings!
* Many suppliers and venues charge less for autumn bookings than summer bookings. So cut down on your overall wedding costs!
* As the sun sets earlier than summer you can add seasonal touches such as fire pits and candlelit lighting, which would be wasted on a summer wedding.
* Many of your first choice guests are likely to have holidays booked in the summer, meaning they may miss out on celebrating with you. Not so with an autumn wedding!
So many great reasons to book an autumn wedding. Now, for those of you who have already booked an autumn wedding, award-winning wedding caterers, Suffolk and Essex based Plenty of Thyme have some amazing autumn wedding tips and ideas for you!
Seasonal decor
Autumn is the time of harvest, so why not add elements of this to your wedding? Keep things simple and rustic with bunting in muted colours (so browns, faded yellow and dark orange), wooden rustic tables and chairs, near-naked branches hung with fairy lights and table centrepieces made from seasonal flowers. Dried ferns, foxgloves, ranunculus, antique roses and eucalyptus all offer elegant muted tones, with tulips, dahlias, spray roses and red berries for natural red tones. Fabrics for table runners that complement these themes include tweed, linen, burlap, knitted wool and corduroy, in colours that match the overall theme such as bronze, burgundy, mustard or forest green. You could even add hay bales to act as borders to really give the wedding a harvest time feel. If you have chosen a rustic venue for your wedding, such as a converted wooden barn, then you can really accentuate the venue’s features to fit in with this theme!
Heartwarming catering
As expert wedding caterers, Suffolk and Essex culinary wizards Plenty of Thyme couldn’t offer tips and ideas on an autumn wedding without discussing food! An autumn wedding allows brides to choose much more heart warning fayre than may be offered at a summer wedding. Comfort food is the keyword for an autumn wedding, so think handmade game pies with buttery mash and seasonal vegetables, pumpkin soup, venison stew with dumplings, slow-cooked lamb shanks…the list could go on and on! These delicious dishes may not suit a hot summer’s day but are the perfect accompaniment to an autumn wedding. For dessert, think hot apple tart with ice cream, or a rhubarb crumble with custard. Guaranteed to leave your guests satiated!
Keeping the kiddies (and adults!) entertained
A wedding can be a long (and even boring) day for children, especially until the sugary drinks kick in and the disco has started! Why not keep the kids entertained with some fun seasonal games, such as apple bobbing, coconut shy, conkers or even a treasure hunt in the fallen leaves! You could even set a skittles game using hay bales and wooden pins to really fit in with the harvest style theme. You will probably find more than a few adults join in too!
Cake decorations
The wedding cake is the centrepiece of the wedding breakfast, so why not tie the cake into the autumn theme by adding a topping of blackberries? Or if you are really adventurous, you could add other seasonal fruits such as figs, apples, pears and even rhubarb! Flavour your cake with cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger, and make use of seasonal nuts such as pecans, hazelnuts and walnuts.
Wedding caterers Suffolk
So as you can see, if you are planning an autumn wedding then there is a huge opportunity to make the most of the season and tie your theme in seamlessly with the time of the year. Award-winning wedding caterers, Suffolk and Essex based Plenty of Thyme, have a huge range of catering options for every type of wedding, so please get in touch with the team for more information. We hope that you have a magical autumn wedding!