Need ideas to dress up outdoor ceremony

Is this your venue? The mather redwood grove?

The first one that HMM posted is my venue...we arent a loud to have fire ( i dont think) so I am going to do the LED tea lights from above... and I want to do white pillows (but too expensive!) soo I dunno yet what we will do! BUt lots of rose petals thats for sure...  And where they have their arch, i want the shepard hooks along there with red pomanders, and lanterns....

If this is ur venue....ur can do the stadium seats (and they can double up as the wedding favors)... oorr... maybe some hooks semi- circled behind the minister with pomanders or handing vases with flowers in them...maybe along the bottom where the people are sitting, have those really big lanterns on the floor (clearly with nothing in them...) Im just throwing out some ideas!

here is another pic of a diff wedding at my venue... they used white mats of some sort...HTH some!

If your venue is the Mather Redwood grove... I photographed a wedding there this past Aug and they didn't do anything to decorate the site. You won't be able to do the awesome ribbons thing because redwood branches are too high, and they probably won't let you anyway. There are a few photos from the ceremony here:

http://www.projectwedding.com/biography/list/abattyref/my-former-bff-s-wedding-photos

You might be able to get some inexpensive fabric and drape in on the little stage, that could look nice. Or perhaps have a few whole flowers or smalled potted flowers placed around the edge of the stage.

If your site isn't the Mather Redwood grove, then ignore me! ;-D Either way, keep in mind that the trees themselves make beautiful decoration. I wouldn't do much to add to that. Especially if you're only having the ceremony there.

Good luck!

You might be overloaded with ideas at this point but I just saw this on the Hostess with the Mostess blog:

http://www.hostessblog.com/2008/11/real-weddings-organic-inspired-wedding-reception/

I honestly do not think you can improve upon mother nature.  That's the beauty of getting married outdoors.  You could dress up the "altar" spot with a ring of flowers arranged on the ground where you and your FI could stand inside of it during the ceremony.  Or sprinkled rose petals along the altar site.  You could also get some potted trees, like ficus, and decorate them with battery operated twinkle lights.

Rent some seat cushions in your wedding color(s) for the guests to sit on or buy several second hand quilts and fold them into thirds and use them for the guests to sit upon.  If you're at all crafty you could make some pillows or long mats for your guests to sit upon.

If you just have to have some decoration, how about a bamboo or willow branch arch draped with fabric?  Or ribbons?  Or cystals?  You could also do a monogrammed banner stetched between two tall shepherd hooks or poles with a heavy base (think our door umbrella bases with a tall wooden pole screwed into it and then a fabric banner with rod pockets on each side covering the polls).  Check out this bio for inspiration:

http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/page.aspx?username=archbio

And check out the ideas posted in the Picnic Wedding and Backyard Wedding threads...there's many things that would work for your site:

http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/picnic-weddings

http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/backyard-wedding-2

Here's some more inspirations pics:

I suggest using battery operated candels if possible. I worked with a recent Bride whose wedding was on a yacht, they didn't allow any flame candles and we thought it was a huge problem since the Bride wanted a romantic ambiance with many candles... I initially thought the fake candle idea would be somewhat tacky, but it was our only option. We went with it and it turned out to be so gorgeous and no one could even tell that they weren't real. It created a great effect and was so much easier to work with, no one had to keep re-lighting them it was wonderful! If you are going for a natural feel since its in a redwood grove, you can utilize the candles in so many ways. You can find more great wedding ideas at www.InspireTheBride.com

Take a look at these inexpensive options:
Lacy Luminarias
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/lacy-luminarias?autonomy_kw=candle&rsc=image_55
(These are gorgeous when lining either a walkway or ceremony aisles)

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10122987

Battery Operated Candles
http://www.100candles.com/battery_candles.htmhttp://www.batteryoperatedcandles.net/321411-p-flameless-led-candles.html

http://www.weddingflowersandmore.com/iris.html