Your wedding day is such a whirlwind and planning it can feel just as crazy! There are so many big decisions to make with wedding planning that sometimes the little ones can get washed to the side. But I think it’s the little decisions that can actually add so much value and WHIMSY to your wedding day. The small touches can go a long way to make your wedding look even more romantic and whimsical, but they don’t have to go a long way with your budget! Here are six (affordable!) ideas I love to add more whimsical ambiance to your wedding day!

1. Ribbons // There is nothing dreamier than a bouquet wrapped in a long silk ribbon. Not only can wrapping your bouquet in a ribbon brush a touch of your wedding colors to your ensemble, but it also adds character and movement to your wedding day photos. Those little ribbons will pick up in the slightest breeze and add the dreamiest look to your wedding photos. This is probably the easiest, most affordable way to add so much beauty to your images! Also, you will feel like such a princess getting to carry a beautiful bouquet around wrapped so decadently in the prettiest ribbon. Here are some of my favorite silk ribbons on Amazon!
2. Scented Candles // This is something Kenton and I did for our wedding and it was really fun and special! We picked a candle that we really loved (ours is Blue Jean) and bought a bunch to set out at our reception to create a “scent” for our wedding. Now, Blue Jean is “our” scent, and my mom still buys us Blue Jean candles as a gift and it’s always really special! If you’re a scent person and love this idea, another idea would be to have one or two of your scent candles lit while you get ready so that you can enjoy that smell while you prepare for the wedding day! Then whenever you smell that candle, you’ll remember putting on your wedding dress. How dreamy is that?
3. Ring Box // It is one of my favorite things when brides have a pretty ring box where their beautiful rings get to live! This is kind of a treat yourself idea, but I think it’s really special and I actually want to buy one for myself, when I can finally pick a color I love best! Having a ring box will add so much class and whimsy to your detail photos, and it also helps add to the color story of your wedding day. The Mrs. Box has the prettiest ring boxes and you can even add your own special details to them by monogramming! They have SO many colors and styles. I could look at their site for hours.
4. Reception Lighting // Okay, this is actually a big one. A little bit of can lighting can go a long way. Sometimes reception halls can be pretty dark, and while most photographers have a flash set up, adding a few can lights shooting up the walls of your reception space can help add so much dimension to your photos. Allie and Cham’s wedding is a great example of this! They had lights in several different spots around the reception hall shooting straight up to the ceiling and it added so much to their reception images! It also made their reception look a lot classier, but guess what? Those can lights are super affordable to rent for a weekend if your venue doesn’t have them! Rock n Roll Rentals in Austin is a great spot to rent lights for your reception if you live in this area!
5. Champagne Toast // Okay this is another one we did at our wedding that was so fun. We had a little champagne toast right after our ceremony with our bridal party! Right after we walked up the aisle we all huddled on the back porch of our wedding venue (my Gdad’s lake house!) and had a quick little toast! No one said anything official or anything, we all just grabbed glasses and clinked and cheered! It is a really sweet memory for us. All it requires is a spot to go with your bridal party (preferably hidden from guests!) and someone to prepare the glasses during the ceremony. Then that’s it! Just go with it and let your genuine, unplanned, happy moments unfold! (Images by Mint Photography)

6. Decorate with Found and Foraged Items // I loooove love this idea. I’m a nature girl at heart, so I love the idea of bringing the outside in. All over my house you’ll find acorns on plates and rocks on books and dried flowers in vases on bookshelves. I think collecting acorns for your reception tables is the cutest idea. I love the symbolism too, because marriage is like planting a seed to grow into a tree for years and years! But it doesn’t just have to be acorns. You could do a really neat branch installation over your cake table, you could put rocks in cool thrifted glass jars on cocktail tables (next to your wedding scent candle!), you could gather cotton in the fall and scatter it all throughout your ceremony hall (and your bouquet!!!). The ideas are so limitless with found and foraged items, and it will add a really unique, organic spin to your wedding. One bride of mine (sweet Lora!) went the farmer’s market route and decorated her entire reception with flowers and herbs in fun eclectic vases and scattered fruits and veggies along the tables. It was so beautiful and so true to who she is!