Essential Wedding Decor Checklist For Any Venue

When you’re planning your wedding, you will want to make sure that your wedding is dressed to perfection. As you start planning your wedding, you can miss a few things and may remember only when it is quite late. However, if you have a checklist for such elements, you can go through your wedding planning as easily as walking through a park! That said, let’s stress why checklists, in general, for your wedding, are especially important for your wedding. Checklists help you streamline your planning sessions and will definitely help you to improve your wedding’s overall experience and look. Since you will get married only once in your life, it only makes sense for you to consider everything before you start the process. Now, before your wedding date rolls around, you will have booked your wedding vendors and everything is ready to go. So, if you miss something, it will be incredibly difficult for you to make tweaks or add some extra items to your wedding elements. To ensure that your wedding looks just like you’ve imagined it in your head for years, then creating a checklist before your wedding rolls around will help you keep everything in order. Now, for today, we’ll like to talk about important wedding decor checklists. 

Why do you need a decor checklist? 

Before we give you the bigger labels to add to your checklist, we want to talk about why it is important! Your wedding decor will always be one of the most important parts of your wedding. Simply put, your wedding decor will tie in your wedding’s aesthetic to the “picture” of your dream wedding. Your wedding decor will not only help you to improve your wedding’s look and vibe but will also help you to improve your experience. The thing is, your wedding decor is like a literal translation of the love you have for your partner and is a visual proof of love, celebration, and the beginning of something new for you and your partner. Since wedding decor planning has to be elaborate and has to tie in with your ideas of a dream wedding, a checklist will help you get this correct. What’s more, since wedding decor, now, is no longer something of a “cookie-cutter” idea, wedding decor has become personal and is incredibly essential to personalizing your wedding as per your tastes! 

The Checklist for Essential Wedding Decor for Your Wedding 

Now that we have that covered, let’s talk about the decor items that need to be on any wedding decor list! Without much further ado, let’s jump right in. So, this section for our blog will be segmented into different sections so that you can keep track of your wedding decor for different aspects of your wedding. 

Checklist for your Wedding Ceremony 

The checklist of the essential decor items for your wedding ceremony are: 

1. Wedding welcome sign, 
2. Aisle runner, 
3. Seating arrangements, 
4. Altar decor, 
5. Aisle decor 

Other Decor Items Checklist 

1. Wedding programs, 
2. A card and a gift station, 
3. Bridal and bridesmaid bouquets
4. Flower basket for flower girl
5. Ring bearer’s pillow
6. Outfits of your pets, if you’re throwing a pet-inclusive wedding ceremony 

Now that you have a list, let’s talk about this in detail, shall we? Well, first things first, if you’re looking for a way to make use of your wedding budget in the best way possible, then you need to know that despite being one of the most important and crucial parts of your wedding, your wedding ceremony is a place where your guests will spend the least amount of time. That being said, make sure that you’re not blowing up a large sum of money from your wedding budget for your wedding ceremony. However, that does not mean that you shouldn’t make an effort to make your wedding ceremony look absolutely perfect. Just remember to make sure that your wedding ceremony decor ideas do not take up too much of your wedding budget, For your wedding decor, we recommend going heavy on the wedding altar decor and the aisle decor. Both of these aspects will be the primary showrunners of your wedding ceremony. Furthermore, these two aspects are also the showrunners for your wedding ceremony! Apart from this, you can look for softer and more budget-friendly options for chair decor and other elements from the checklist above. That said, your wedding ceremony decor will be complete. 

You can use the wedding ceremony space to add a gift station. You can use signage for your gift station for your guests to leave good words for you and the gifts they’ve brought for you. Additionally, you add more charms to your wedding ceremony by using boutonnieres for the groom and groomsmen. The boutonnieres for your groom and groomsmen can be used as accent colors to your wedding color scheme for the wedding ceremony. If your wedding includes pets, then you can use similar colors as the accents from the boutonnieres for your pets as well! That said, you can also use the “style” of the wedding signage for the additional signage for your ceremony decor. You can use similar colors or styles for your additional signage for the gift station and signage for your wedding program cards. 

Money-Saving Tips for your Wedding Ceremony Decor

One of the best ways to save money for your wedding ceremony is to ensure that you’re choosing seasonal flowers. Sure enough, you will want your wedding ceremony to look exceptionally dreamy. However, floral details, especially fresh ones, will burn a hole in your pocket. Instead, try to use minimal decor for your wedding ceremony and go heavy on your wedding reception party. Instead of fresh flowers, and floral decor ideas, you can simply use pretty dried leaves and flowers for decor. This will help you improve the look of your wedding ceremony. Apart from this, if you happen to throw a wedding around Christmas time, you can easily look for a wedding venue with decor, this works especially well for indoor wedding ceremony locations. For other seasons, if you choose to have an indoor wedding ceremony, you may be able to save more. You can look for an ornate wedding altar, and for the chairs for your guests, you can also use some drapes for your wedding ceremony seating area. This will help you save some money as well. Also, if you’re trying to save money for your wedding ceremony decor ideas, we recommend not using “wedding programs.” Wedding programs will have to be ordered for every guest. That said, it will cost quite a lot. That said, we suggest getting a large print of your wedding program and hanging it in an area accessible to all. You can use similar color schemes from your wedding color combinations for the print. Or better yet, if you’re choosing to have a big seating chart for your wedding reception party, you can have a similar wedding program, this will help you tie in different aspects of your wedding decor. 

Gentle Reminder: When you’re choosing your wedding ceremony decor, you can use two ideas. You can either make use of the same wedding color scheme as your wedding. This will help you marry all elements of your wedding. Or you can also choose to use a separate wedding color combination as well. If you choose a different color scheme, then you have a wedding ceremony that will look absolutely different from your wedding! A different color scheme for your wedding ceremony will help you create a different area entirely for your wedding, this will make for a great backdrop for your wedding photos! 

Checklist for your Wedding Cocktail Hour 

The checklist of the essential decor items for your wedding cocktail hour: 

1. Bar Decor,
2. The signature cocktail, 
3. Guest book table, 
4. High-top tables,
5. Memory table. 

Cocktail hour at your wedding is one of those times when your guests unwind and prepare for the wedding reception party. This event is marked with laughter, happiness, and enjoyment. As you’re busy preparing for the wedding reception party and posing for a few wedding photos to remember your wedding day, your guests will be mingling amongst themselves. Since your wedding cocktail hour is all about your guests’ experience. So, primarily, your wedding budget should go towards the “drinks” your wedding guests will have and also the decor, along with what your guests end up doing. So, using amazing cocktails, beautiful floral decor, snacks, cool cocktail napkins, and pretty drink stirrers are good places to start! If you’re thinking outside of the box, then how about splurging on paper covers, non-alcoholic beverage stations, and ice shapes in different styles for your guests to wow on? Apart from this, make sure that your wedding cocktail hour is filled with interactive games for your guests to unwind with. 

That said, now, let’s talk about decor. One of the best ways to improve your wedding’s look and feel is to use similarity in the wedding signages. For your cocktail menu card, you can have a separate theme or style, which will draw attention to the menu. However, the others, such as signage for your games for your guests, the rule card for your wedding guests to check, the signage for your memory table, or even the signage for your wedding guestbook table, can have a similar style and color scheme as your wedding welcome signage. How can you switch up the designs on the signage, and maintain the color scheme of the signage and the seating chart for your wedding guests? That said, for your floral decor, choose a similar style of decor for your wedding reception party as well. You can also have a similar style of floral decor as your wedding ceremony. Additionally, you can also add some candles, which will help you to maximize the effect of the decor for your cocktail hour. To make the glass display even better, you can have a small flower holder with flowers and some leaves, and some candles. You can even choose scented candles for the decor. Along with this, you can add empty glasses and cocktails on the display for your wedding guests to not only marvel at but enjoy the drinks as well. 

Money-Saving Tips for your Wedding Cocktail Hour

A great way to keep your wedding’s cocktail hour decor within the budget is to use some creative ideas for decor. Of course, we love the floral decor, but we have some ideas that can help you save a bunch of money, which can be better used for your wedding reception decor, and wedding favors for your wedding guests. One of the best ways to save some money when it comes to wedding cocktail hour decor is to avoid using floral-heavy wedding decor. However, you can actually choose to use a different form of decors, such as decor with light and string lights. Apart from this, if your cocktail hour is falling around the evening, then you can pair your light decor for your wedding with a sequin tablecloth. Now, a sequin tablecloth is a great option for your cocktail hour because it will help you create a “party” vibe for your wedding guests. You can settle on a color combination for the decor, and place the tablecloths as per the theme. Apart from this, you can spruce up your wedding cocktail decor by creating a glass display or even a fun display of cocktails, ready for your guests to have! If you have a glass display for your guests, you can add some greenery, which will be easier on your pocket compared to floral wedding decor ideas, and some vines along with bottles of your wedding drinks! This will help you create the perfect decor idea for your wedding. 

Gentle reminder: Your wedding decor, obviously, needs to be perfect. However, when you’re looking to create a perfect wedding decor, you may consider the drinks for your guests. Having a full selection of alcoholic beverages, then you can actually end up seeing a large sum of money leaving your pocket. Drinks, especially cocktails, are expensive, especially when you’re planning to supply them to your wedding guests for an entire evening. So, if you’re looking to keep your wedding budget in place, then how about using limited alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages? Along with that, try to pair the spirits with some beer as well. Beer is not only loved by all but is also quite affordable. However, beer works for most seasons, except for winter weddings. For winter weddings, you can choose to have a limited selection of cocktails. Furthermore, you can use these beverages to inject some more color into your wedding! 

Wedding Reception Checklists

Your wedding guests will spend most of their time at your wedding reception, which is why this checklist will have the most number of items. So, when you see a large list, don’t worry, it is to be expected. After all, your reception party will include dances, cocktails, food, a tablescape, the sweetheart table and so much more. Apart from this, the wedding decor will take a new turn. Along with this, you will also have to create a list of lighting as well. You can also take this opportunity to create a wedding reception checklist with different sections, such as “chairs.” “tablescape,” “hanging decor,” and much more. Before we diversify this section, we’d like to bring your attention to a particular detail. Remember, your wedding reception party is the longest wedding event of the day, and your guests spend most of their time here, hence most of your wedding budget will be spread out here. Your wedding reception party will be the space where your wedding guests create amazing memories with you and with other guests. So, this part will have to be detailed and well-planned. To help you plan your wedding down to a T, you can decide to separate all different sections of the wedding reception party planning process, this will help you concentrate on different blocks of decor. That said, you can use the following list as a planning guide for your wedding: 

 Checklist for your Wedding Dinner Tablescape (And the Reception Party Decor)

The checklist of the essential decor items for your wedding dinner tablescape: 

1. Floral Decor, 
2. Table numbers and seating arrangements, 
3. Chair decor for Mr. and Mrs. chairs, 
4. Centerpieces, 
5. Place cards

The wedding reception tablescape is one of the most important things to consider. The first thing to remember is that your wedding guests will spend the most time here, at your reception. So, the tablescape and the reception party decor will be exceptionally important. So, all the money-saving tips from other events will leave you with some extra cash, which can be put to better use here. Your reception party should go heavy on floral wedding decor, beautiful details, and charming centerpieces. What’s more, you should save a major chunk of your wedding budget for your reception party decor, this will help you to create the perfect, picturesque wedding setting, regardless of the budget. The point is, your wedding guests will not only pose for the photos for your wedding photographer but will most likely take some photos of themselves and post them on social media. Also, there’s a chance that one of your wedding guests posts a photo or a video of you and your partner from the wedding itself as you’re in space. As photos are timeless memories, it only makes sense for you to make your wedding reception look picturesque, dreamy, and ethereal! 

More on Checklists for Reception Decor Items: 

1. Dinner Table Decor
2. Sweetheart Table Decor
3. Accents for tables, if any 
4. Dessert table display
5. Wedding cake display
6. Bar/drinks station decor and display
7. Buffet Table Display
8. Gift/ Wedding Favors Table Decor

This list will help you clear out your wedding day’s table decor. To make use of this list better, all you will have to do is create sections below these “heads.” Now, if you’re using this on your phone’s notes app, it would be as easy as pressing enter to create a new sublist. However, if you’ve printed it out, you can create a flowchart to keep things neat and organized. Although these options, in the list above, are expansive and cover most of your decor items, remember that this is not an end-all-be-all list. You can choose to tweak it as well. The reason why we separated it from the others is that it has some of the smaller details you’d need to add to your wedding decor.

Money-Saving Tips for Wedding Dinner Tablescape

When it comes to creating the perfect wedding tablescape, it is essential to make sure that all this falls within your budget and that you have enough wiggle room for other things. Sure enough, wedding tablescapes, ornate designs with many details, are the dream. However, sometimes, that is not possible. to Whether you’re planning a big event or a small event, your budget may not allow it. We do recommend saving a major chunk of your wedding budget for your wedding reception and other details, which will include your wedding tablescape. But if for some reason, your wedding budget is thinning out, then consider choosing a budget-friendly wedding centerpiece. What’s more, you can also spread out the wedding centerpieces, instead of trying to add a centerpiece to every table. If you’re looking for the perfect wedding centerpiece, then you can look into some other “budget-friendly” centerpiece ideas for your wedding. Ideas such as a lovely candelabra, some potted plants, and chic items such as a metallic lantern, glass bottles with string lights balled into them or even a platter of fruit decor will work. You can use your creativity to come up with an idea that works for your wedding ideas!

Gentle Reminder: 

One of the best ways to ensure that your wedding tablescape is on point is to remember that it does not need to be “expensive” per se. Your tablescape only needs to be similar to your wedding’s theme. Sure enough, adding a few pops of colors will seal the deal for you, but one of the most important things will be to ensure color compatibility with your wedding colors. The same goes for your wedding centerpieces. Whether you’re choosing floral decor items, or you’re looking to add some candles into the mix, the color combinations should work in your favor. The thing is, it may seem like a small thing, but a mismatched napkin to your color scheme, candles that do not work well with your wedding color combinations, or even a place card that does not go well with your escort card can make a big difference in your wedding decor. That being said, ensure that every tiny aspect is tied up in the end. If you’re unsure of the color combinations, you can look up the names of the colors you’re using and look for the complementing colors, this will help you plan your wedding better. 

Money-Saving Tips Reception Decor Items:

For your wedding display signs, we’d recommend using signage and displays only where there’s a need. As per wedding planners and the latest trends, going heavy on the display signs and wedding signage is not a good look for the wedding. Wedding planners suggest using wedding signs and displays where you’d like to bring something to your guest’s attention. Using signage simply for the purpose of making it look pretty is not a good idea. If you’re trying to save some cash while you’re planning your wedding tables and general decor accents, then we suggest using ribbons, balloons, and streamers. To add the “stylish wedding decor” factor, all you’d need to do is look for assorted colors for these items. It will make your wedding decor shine and look stunning.

Checklist for your Wedding Reception Party

The checklist of the essential decor items for your wedding reception party: 

1. Lighting, 
2. Draping, 
3. Wedding hashtag signage, 
4. Hanging Decor
5. “Just married” signage 

The decor items mentioned above will be integral parts of your wedding reception. You can choose to make the most of your wedding decor, by going big with these ideas. Lighting, Draping, and the other items mentioned 1 through 5 are going to be the ones that are “absolutely necessary.” Well, you can skip the third point if you’re not big on documenting everything on social media. If you’re not a fan of documenting everything part of your life and wedding on your social media, then you can use wedding signage made out of the initials of your name and your partner’s names instead of the 3rd option we’ve mentioned. The “just married” signage should be pretty close to your “Mr. and Mrs” signage in design. This will help you to maintain the synchrony of your wedding decor.  

Money-Saving Tips on Wedding Reception Party 

Although we truly do not recommend nitpicking with your wedding reception party decor, if you’re looking for ways to make your wedding reception decor amazing but you’re on a tight budget, then we have some ways that can help you greatly. One of the best ways to improve your wedding decor, make it look grand in every way, as well as keep the decor ideas budget-friendly is to use alternatives to floral decor arrangements. Be it a floral wall backdrop for your wedding’s photo booth or an accent wall for your wedding, using dry flowers, dry leaves or even foliage will help you save a large sum. If you’re looking to absolutely have hanging decorations for your wedding, then how about using some driftwood instead of greenery and floral decor? Granted, floral decorations with greenery are amazing, but they do tend to leave a hole in your pocket. Apart from this, another way to incorporate amazing hanging decor ideas for your wedding is to use hanging lights. Sure, using hanging lights as your hanging decor alternative works amazingly well for an indoor wedding. However, for an outdoor wedding, all you need to do is create a faux ceiling with string lights and driftwood and spread out the hanging decor lights for your wedding. This will give your wedding a classy look. 

Gentle Reminder: 

A great way to have your wedding planned down to the last detail with all of your decor looking perfect is to use lights of the right colors. Yeah, we know, you may say that there’s a minute difference between the lights and their colors. However, we’d like to point out that these colors are quite significant. Depending on the type of string lights you use, the wedding’s lighting, colors, and glow of your wedding will change. And if you use hanging decor lights in a slightly different color, they will look mismatched. Furthermore, these lights also affect the wedding photos and how your wedding looks, in general. 

Keeping Track of your Wedding Checklists: Simple ways! 

Before we leave you for the day, we will like to ensure that we leave you with all the details and information related to checklists and how to go about them. Reading the information above may have you scratching your head and thinking about the management of it all. Well, we have news for you! You don’t have to worry about anything! Instead of creating a document, you can use smartphone apps to create your wedding checklists. And when you take care of an aspect, you can easily cross it off! One of the best apps, in our books, is Notion. The notion has a host of features that allow you to create lists, and sub-lists and even give you the option of linking one entire page to another. So, for example, you can create smaller checklists, as we have mentioned, and bundle them together under “Wedding Checklists.” In this way, you will be able to access all of the information by accessing only one “page.” Apart from this Google Keep is yet another amazing application to make use of for your wedding planning checklists. You can also use any other note-taking application to create your desired checklists. Lastly, you can also go old-school with your ideas. You can create a handwritten document and decorate it, because why not! 

The Takeaway! 

That said, we’re at the end of our blog. We hope our blog helps you to improve your wedding and makes planning your wedding decor ideas easier, better, and absolutely fun. We understand that your wedding decor planning can become overwhelming. However, our goal is to help you find a way to make your wedding planning easy. As the title suggests, the labels above are only a list of the “essential” wedding decor items. That being said, we don’t mean to tell you that these labels are the only decor items that you’d need. These are only the decor ideas and items that are essential for your wedding. We have also added a few decor checklists that you could need, apart from the essentials. However, we’d like to remind you that it is your wedding, and you’re planning your wedding, which means you can add and remove the labels, items, or lists you’d need for your wedding.