Creating a personalized wedding backdrop adds beauty and character to your outdoor ceremony while keeping costs manageable. Whether you’re envisioning a rustic wood palette structure adorned with flowers or a romantic fabric display with twinkling lights, a DIY wedding backdrop becomes the focal point for your ceremony and a stunning background for photos throughout your celebration.
At Windows on the Water, we adore outdoor weddings. We believe lush nature, sunsets, and stargazing make the perfect setting for celebrating love. For us, outdoor weddings are a no-brainer. We have 86 acres of open-air lakeside views in New Jersey and an abundance of color from flowers and trees. While the setting is important, how you decorate for your outdoor wedding is also key. You want your guests to feel like they are at your wedding, not just any wedding.
What Is a DIY Wedding Backdrop?
A DIY wedding backdrop is a customizable structure made from materials like wood pallets, fabric, flowers, or decorative elements that serves as a focal point for your ceremony and photo opportunities. There are countless ways to add your personal touch to your outdoor wedding venue while saving on costs, and one of our favorites is a DIY outdoor wedding backdrop. A backdrop is a structure made of pretty much anything serving as a perfect background for your ceremony and for photos at your reception. Your backdrop could be incorporated throughout the entire event—the key is to be creative!
Match Your Backdrop to Your Wedding Theme
While there are a lot of pretty options for wedding backdrops in wedding magazines and on Pinterest, you have to stick with what is best for your day. If the theme of your wedding is rustic charm, you might consider a rustic wedding backdrop made of leftover wood palettes and flowers from your florist. Or if your theme is beachy, you could consider a piece of white tulle and lots of seashells from your favorite beach spread throughout.
You want this backdrop to look cohesive with your theme so you can admire it in all of your pictures and never regret using it. Furthermore, being aligned with the theme will help the piece blend in as you use it throughout your outdoor wedding day.
How Do You Create a DIY Outdoor Wedding Backdrop?
To create a DIY outdoor wedding backdrop, start with a sturdy structure like wood pallets or a frame, then decorate it with fabric, flowers, lights, or themed elements that match your wedding style. Once you have your idea ready, it is time to get crafting. If you aren’t the craftiest bride or groom, enlist help from the most creative members of your bridal party or family. All you need is a structure, and then you can decorate it however you want. You could drape fabric, hot glue artificial flowers, add sparkle, lights, etc.
If you want to go with a different option, you can repurpose wood pallets and stack them on hay bales for height. However, this does not automatically mean it’s a rustic backdrop. You can paint the wood your wedding colors and add accents, making sense for your day, even if it is just more flowers. You can’t go wrong when it comes to adding more flowers to a wedding!
However you chose to create it, your structure simply needs to be tall and eye-catching to function as a wedding backdrop.
Popular DIY Wedding Backdrop Ideas
When planning your DIY outdoor wedding backdrop, consider these popular options that work beautifully for outdoor ceremonies:
- Rustic Wood Backdrop: Stack weathered wood pallets vertically and adorn with greenery, wildflowers, and mason jar lights for a charming rustic feel.
- Fabric and Draping: Use flowing tulle, chiffon, or linen in your wedding colors, draped over a simple frame or between trees for an elegant, romantic look.
- Floral Arch: Create a stunning arch using fresh or artificial flowers attached to a circular or rectangular frame, perfect for lakeside ceremonies.
- String Light Backdrop: Hang warm string lights or Edison bulbs against a dark fabric backdrop for a magical evening ceremony atmosphere.
- Geometric Frame: Build a modern hexagonal or triangular frame and decorate with minimal greenery and candles for contemporary elegance.
Each of these DIY wedding backdrop ideas can be customized to reflect your unique style and the natural beauty of your outdoor venue.
How Can You Use Your Wedding Backdrop Throughout Your Event?
Maximize your DIY wedding backdrop by using it for your ceremony, then moving it to serve as a photo booth backdrop, escort card display, or dessert table background at your reception. You will be able to move your DIY backdrop if you construct it in a way both sturdy but also lightweight. It should also be easy to change up so there is added excitement for guests when they see it again. To continue with the wood palette example, you could use it to hold table cards as guests enter the reception.
Alternatively, you could use your beachy backdrop from your ceremony as a photo booth for your reception. You could also create DIY props for the guests to use while they take pictures. They will have tons of fun while creating more photos for you to enjoy. However you use it, you will feel so accomplished with your DIY outdoor wedding backdrop!
Budget-Friendly Materials for Your DIY Wedding Backdrop
Creating a stunning outdoor wedding backdrop doesn’t require a large budget. Many couples successfully craft beautiful backdrops using affordable or recycled materials. Consider shopping at craft stores for discounted fabric remnants, visiting local hardware stores for wood pallets (often free), or borrowing items like ladder frames or vintage doors from family and friends.
For couples planning weddings at outdoor venues in New Jersey, incorporating natural elements from the surrounding landscape can reduce costs while enhancing the organic feel of your backdrop. Branches, leaves, and seasonal flowers can be gathered locally and combined with purchased materials for a cohesive, budget-conscious design. Many couples find they can create an impressive DIY wedding backdrop for under $100 by shopping strategically and enlisting help from their wedding party.
Use Your DIY Wedding Backdrop at Windows on the Water
As the premier outdoor wedding venue in New Jersey, Windows on the Water takes great pride in being the perfect venue for your dream day. We encourage you to get creative with our space and bring your own DIY backdrop into it, or whatever else you can craft up! We know it will be the perfect addition to your ceremony and reception, whichever way you choose to use it.
For more information on planning your outdoor wedding with us at our Millstone Township lakeside venue, call our wedding planning team at (609) 208-9475 or complete a contact form today!