Barn wedding decoration ideas to dress up your venue

Barns are practically perfect for wedding venues—more than just an agricultural building, barns have a long history as gathering spaces for community and celebration. With lofty ceilings and seemingly endless space for dining, drinking, and dancing, the location might leave you wondering the best approach for how to decorate a barn for a wedding. 

Big, beautiful barns are a blank slate for you to dress up with a decorative and personalized touch as you celebrate your marriage union. We’re here to guide you through all the essential barn wedding decoration ideas to inspire your own wedding day designs.

Photo by @emilyrosephotos

How to decorate a barn for a wedding

Whether it’s a bare bones barn or a space that’s been updated for events, barns are unique locations that benefit from a little extra decorating flair for your wedding day. Here’s our recommendations for transforming a barn from bland building to wedding wonderland:

Do a pre-wedding walkthrough

When you’re planning a barn wedding, the first thing you want to do is give the venue a walk through to figure out floor plans, layout, and existing infrastructure. Consider things like table locations, bar setup, traffic flow, and overall functionality like outlet locations and exits to guide your decoration needs.

Choose a color palette

Before you narrow down the details of your decor, start by selecting a color palette to create a cohesive theme throughout your wedding day. Whether you’re drawing inspiration from the surrounding landscape or creating a sentimental color story of you and your partner’s favorite hues, having a color scheme in place helps make decor design and selection easier.

Embrace the grandness of the space

Barns can sometimes feel enormous, but that’s a good thing. With so much space to work with, you’ve got endless opportunities for personalization. When you’re visualizing decor, start at eye level and work your way all the way up to the rafters. Verticality and height add visual interest and bring another level of beauty—think everything from wrapped pillars and dangling chandeliers to structural floral installations and fabric draped from the ceiling.

Photo by @rachellynn_photo

Light up the room

Unlike a party hall, your barn may not come fully equipped with adequate lighting right off the bat. While shadows and mood lighting are beautiful, you’ll still need enough luminescence to show off your gorgeous dress and decorations. During your tour of the building, take note of dark spaces that could use some brightening and ideal places for overhead lighting installations.

Once you know where to brighten and lighten, consider these illuminating barn wedding decor ideas to add radiance to your wedding day:

• High ceilings means you have space for big, beautiful chandeliers. Go rustic and old fashioned with vintage wagon wheels or glam up the space with lots of sparkling crystals.
• Fairy lights are an easy way to add subtle lighting and ambiance to dark corners. Try trimming doors and windows with string lights or incorporating them into your table centerpieces as a nod to the fireflies in the fields outside.   
• Flickering candle flames create cozy romance, and with so much usable space you can incorporate candles in a number of ways, from hanging lanterns and tea lights on the cake table to centerpiece pillar candles and hurricane lamps to light pathways.

Photo by @emilyrosephotos

Highlight historic details

If you’re lucky enough to hold your wedding in a historic barn, try to incorporate some of its more interesting details into your layout and decor. Some barns have loads of charm leftover from their days on a working farm, like horse stalls, high beams, and antique hardware. Old hayloft windows, for example, are the perfect place to set up your sweetheart table for a breeze and a view while you celebrate.

More modern barn-style venues incorporate the same ideas of big beams and breathtaking spaces but with updated painted wood or even greenhouse-style glass walls and ceilings. Find the features you love and make them a part of your day (and your photo ops!).

Photo by @mazlinrheaphoto

Fill it with flowers

Flowers, greenery, and branches not only bring the beauty of the outdoors into your reception space, they’re also a nod to the building’s historical use during harvest season. With a variety of colors, textures, and sizes to choose from, flowers amplify wedding decor and help to interpret your overall theme.

Some easy ways to incorporate flowers into your barn wedding decor include: 

• Welcome signs
• Chair aisle decor
• Ceremony arch
• Rose petals
• Reception table centerpieces
• Gift table arrangements
• Flower and greenery garlands 

Whether you’re planning for an indoor vow exchange or keeping the barn in the backdrop as you say “I do” in the surrounding fields, create an intimate ceremony space with florals that tell a cohesive story from your bridal bouquet to the reception decor. A wedding arch, for example, can do double duty as an installation at the reception. Let your color palette and wedding style guide your floral design choices, but when it comes to barn weddings, you can never have too many flowers!

Make it personal

Customize the space with personal details that celebrate who you are as a couple. Initials on a fireplace mantle, photos on the gift table, favorite foods, and family heirlooms are just a few ways to make your barn wedding feel like home.

Photo by @maggieportraits

Elevate your day with these barn wedding decoration ideas

Now that you know what boxes to check when you start planning decorations for your barn wedding, consider some different themes for your big day. Whether you’re looking for rustic vintage or modern elegance, all you need is a little creativity to bring your barn wedding decor vision to life.

Rustic barn wedding ideas

Rustic weddings are all the rage these days, and with good reason. Inspired by natural elements and simple styling, rustic barn wedding themes are easily customizable and give you a chance to express your personal tastes in a fun way. Give your barn wedding a rustic touch by playing up elements of nature, agriculture, and community:

• Use family-style long tables to evoke feelings of big Sunday suppers, and plan a comforting barbecue menu to match. Keep the table decor simple with exposed wood, garlands of greenery, and vintage lanterns. 
• Place hay bales throughout the venue and outside for casual seating areas and impromptu photo ops. Wine barrels, vintage baskets, and wooden harvest crates are also great options for seats, tables, and vessels for floral installations.
• Use burlap as your focal fabric for everything from table runners and favor tags to bunting and floral ribbons.
• Instead of flowing fabrics, try dressing up your ceremony arch with macrame cording and florals for an artistic touch.

Modern and elegant barn wedding reception ideas

Barns aren’t only for rustic vintage weddings—with modern styling choices you can fit the venue to your personality and vision. 

For modern barn weddings, think about sophisticated colors, draped fabrics, and adding extra elements of sparkle to give the space an elegant touch. A white & sage color scheme is always timeless no matter the venue, or consider dusty blue & navy for crisp and cool with a modern twist. 

Photo by @sarandipityphotography

Hardware choice gives the decor a modern vibe, as well. Opt for sleek shapes and smooth lines, like square glass candle holders and rose gold metal pedestals for your floral centerpieces. 

Barn wedding ideas for fall (and spring, summer, and winter)

Whether it’s the newness of spring or bounty of autumn harvests, each season has standout features that symbolize the special time of year. Try creating natural connections with your barn wedding decor, bringing in nods to the region and the season. 

Winter barn wedding ideas

If you’re lucky enough to have an insulated venue or live in a warmer climate, decorate your barn for a winter wonderland wedding complete with evergreens, red and white flowers, and an abundance of sparkling icicle lights. 

Photo by @azarphotography_

Spring barn wedding ideas

With newness in the air and bright green growth, spring weddings in a barn bring out the best in pastoral beauty as you say “I do.” Use pastels and airy greenery give rustic barn weddings a romantic touch in the springtime with playful decor like a maypole covered in delicate spring florals, with draped linens, garlands, and edison bulbs spread across the ceiling beams.

Photo by @savannahmichellephotograph

SUMMER BARN WEDDING IDEAS

The heat of summer means bright, bold colors to match—think pinks, oranges and yellows with contrasts of blues and greens. Sunflowers, dahlias, and other big, bold blooms arranged in mason jars give summer barn weddings a fun touch, as does a sparkler send off as you make a grand exit through the oversize barn doors.

Photo by @amandajenphotography

Fall barn wedding ideas

Autumn and barn weddings go together like apple cider and donuts—they’re both good on their own, but together, they create something magical. Fall weddings are the perfect time to go to eleven with harvest-inspired decor featuring the best of autumnal colors, flavors, and flowers. Play up color palettes of orange and rust with pumpkins, autumn leaves, and textured grasses for all the cozy and warm fall feels. 

Photo by @isaacsimphoto

DIY your way into the perfect barn wedding decorations

The endless options available for styling barn weddings makes them an ideal choice for DIY brides. Adding wedding charm to big barns sometimes means needing a bigger decor budget, but when you take some of the decorating tasks into your own hands you’ll not only save on spending, you’ll be giving the venue a unique, personalized touch.

Consider using designer artificial flowers to craft your own wedding floral arrangements while staying within your budget. Our selection of DIY flower boxes and greenery in gorgeous designer colors seamlessly blend with your wedding theme and give you the chance to explore your creative side. 

Find more rustic and modern barn wedding ideas at Ling’s Moment

Whether you’re going for rustic chic or modern elegance, barns provide the perfect backdrop for your special day. From ceremony arch decor to reception table centerpieces, we have all the wedding decor necessities for transforming your barn into a wedding wonderland.

Check out our blog for more styling inspiration and DIY guides to help bring your barn wedding to life. And for more styling tips, follow along on instagram @lingsmoment—remember to give us a tag when you share your beautiful barn wedding decor photos!