When it comes to planning your dream wedding, one of the most important decisions is choosing your theme. The possibilities are endless – from formal black tie and season-themed weddings to all-black weddings and media-based pop culture weddings. One other very popular and currently trending wedding theme is the boho wedding.
If you’re a free-spirited individual who would LOVE a natural and earthy outdoor wedding with rustic themes, lavish floral arrangements, flowing light linen drapery, woven decor elements, and DIY projects aplenty, then you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll discuss everything you’ll need to plan the boho wedding of your dreams.
What is a boho wedding?
Before we get to the planning stage, let’s clarify exactly what a boho, or bohemian, wedding is. The bohemian lifestyle means embracing your free spirit and becoming one with nature. The ‘boho chic’ trend began gaining popularity around the 2000s while being heavily inspired by the ’60s and 70s Hippie era.
Now, you don’t have to follow the hippie culture A-to-Z or have a complete boho wedding; instead, you can pick and choose what you like to have in a wedding that follows your vision. The best part about this is that you won’t go wrong with anything you choose. With a boho wedding, blending your natural surroundings with touches that reflect your personality is all you need for perfection.
If you’re a couple that prefers structure and a clear-cut plan, then incorporating macrame and boho-inspired stationery, such as handwritten calligraphy, botanical prints, and watercolour designs would look amazing. But if you’re a more free-spirited couple, an eclectic mix of colours and textures should be the way to go.
How to plan a boho wedding?
There’s a lot to consider when planning a wedding. A boho wedding is no different: you can opt for a romantic, vintage, or natural boho wedding with different elements thrown in. To help you out, we’ve created a guide that will help you with shortlisting and finalising your options:
1. Say “I do” at the best bohemian venue
Your venue is one of the key elements that will show your passion for the bohemian lifestyle. Boho wedding venues are laid-back, natural, and generally in an outdoor setting, with possible rustic or vintage touches. The best thing about these is that they cost less than traditional weddings, so you can get the real fairytale wedding without breaking the bank.
You can get married in:
- A famous local park
- Natural reserve
- Beach
- Farmhouse
- Ranch
- Orchard
- Barn
- Cottage
- Even in a well-decorated backyard or garden
Some of the lush and green places in the UK that would make a perfect setting for a boho or outdoor wedding are:
- The Lake District: With its stunning lakes, mountains, and forests.
- Cornwall: With its golden beaches, rugged coastline, and beautiful gardens.
- The Cotswolds: Known for their scenic villages, rolling hills, and gorgeous countryside.
- The Scottish Highlands: With their wild and beautiful landscapes, dramatic mountains, and ethereal forests, you can’t get a more boho wedding venue than this.
Top tip: don’t forget to consider the local climate and weather when choosing a location.
2. Set the scene with boho wedding decor
When choosing the decor for your picturesque boho wedding, choose decor that works with your venue. If you have an outdoor wedding in a garden, park, forest, or beach, focus on natural, earthy elements that will make the venue pop. You can never go wrong with Pampas grass and driftwood accents.
For the floral arrangements, you don’t have to follow structure or have manicured bouquets with matching flowers. Mismatched wildflowers with succulents and big boughs of greenery are popular options in the boho wedding scene. You can even match your bouquet and flower crown, if you choose to wear one, with the floral arrangements.
You can save on budget for the rest of the decor by making it a DIY project or thrifting. Here are a few other decor items to consider:
- The arch: you can go with a fun and spirited geometric arch or macramé fringes for a whimsical setting. If you want to take a more natural route, raw wood and florals can create an arch that will awe your guests.
- Rugs: rugs can be used to line the aisle for a softer and easier walking path and also the dance floor for a coachella-esque approach.
- Rustic decor: The options are numerous: feathers, candles, bottles and jars, and glassware.
3. Don a Bohemian wedding dress and accessories
Boho wedding dresses tend to be more casual, whimsical, and often not white. Some have off-the-shoulder designs with flowing sleeves; others are covered from top to bottom with lace. Since they’re more minimalistic than their traditional counterparts, you can get a boho wedding dress for a lot cheaper. If we’re selling you on the budget-friendly options, trust us, most boho weddings are that cost-effective.
For accessories, you could pair the dress with vintage jewellery, flower or lace headbands, and even cowboy boots and a hat for a fun twist.
Here’s a list of ideas for boho wedding dresses:
- Flutter sleeves or lantern sleeves
- Non-white wedding dress, such as cream, champagne, light pink, or any soft pastel colour
- A goddess-style boho wedding dress with an inner corset, flowing sleeves, and mermaid skirt
- Plus size boho wedding dress with sweetheart neckline and bishop or long puff sleeves
Here are some popular boho wedding accessories to consider:
- Crystal headbands
- Flowers and lace woven into your braid
- Flower crowns with flowing hair
- Beads and crystal jewellery
4. Send out your boho wedding invitations
Like with the decor and everything else – boho wedding invitations are best to keep casual, fun, and whimsical. For a spiritual touch, a metallic mandala embossed invitation would give off elegant yet mystic vibes. For a more laid-back option, deckled edge or kraft paper invitations would look amazing. Following an eclectic theme, your invitations can be mismatched with funky colours.
If you want to check out our range of boho wedding invitations, check out our stationery section.
5. Dance the night away with boho wedding music
As we all know, the vibe of any place is set by good, relevant music. For a boho wedding, you want to set the mood with music that follows your wedding theme and breathes life into the venue. Your guests could end up disappointed with a generic DJ or band who doesn’t understand how to enthral the crowd with music that fits.
For a classic boho wedding, you could skip the DJ and opt for instrumental pieces or even violin and piano music. Acoustic wedding singers could also make the evening magical with a personalised playlist: Michael Mulholland, Matthew Turner and Ed Peczek are some of Bridebook’s most in-demand acoustic wedding singers.
6. Wow your guest with a boho wedding cake and bohemian menu
Food brings everyone together, and what better way to make your wedding memorable than having a unique spread with foods from cultures around the world? You can contact a catering company and work with them to design a custom menu, or if you want to go down a simpler path, having a simple buffet with dishes from different parts of the world is a good option too.
You can get locally-sourced food from farms and ranches around you with rustic selections like a charcuterie board, fruit platters, local wine, vintage elements like a vintage food truck, or DIY food stations.
And for the heart of the wedding, the wedding cake, you can take inspiration from the ground and the sky above. There’s nothing dreamier than a celestial-inspired cake featuring geodes and gemstones. Alternatively, naked cakes adorned with flowers and lush greenery are also a signature bohemian wedding staple.
FAQs
Check out some commonly asking questions about planning a boho wedding ceremony, along with their answers.
How many people use boho weddings?
While there are no clear-cut stats on the percentage of people opting for a boho or outdoor wedding, boho weddings are one of the most popular wedding themes for 2023. With more and more people embracing the minimalistic, free-spirited approach, boho weddings will only be gaining popularity.
How can you make a boho wedding bouquet?
There’s no ‘one’ way to make a boho bridal bouquet. Instead, you can match the wedding bouquet with your dress, accessories, or venue. Pampas grass is an evergreen option; you can pair it with rust-coloured florals. Or, a bouquet of wildflowers tied together with lace is a great option too. If you need some inspiration, check out these boho floral arrangements on Pinterest.
What should grooms wear to a boho wedding?
The essence of a boho wedding is freedom; naturally, it also extends towards the groom. He can match his clothes with the bride’s or opt for something completely different such as no shoes or a cream shirt with suspenders – think Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic.
What is the colour of boho?
There is no single “colour of boho” – it’s a blend of different tones ranging from earthy to stunning jewel tones, encompassed in neutral and warm colours such as white, grey, brown, yellow, orange, blue, red, white, etc.
Now you have the perfect guide to planning the boho wedding of your dreams. For hassle-free and cost-effective A-to-Z wedding planning, get started on Bridebook today!
You Might Also Like…
- 35 Beautiful Outdoor Wedding Venues in the UK
- Top 42 Rustic Wedding Venues
- Alice & James’ DIY Festival Themed Farm Wedding
- Catherine and Robert’s Botanical Houseplant Themed Wedding
Happy Planning!
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