Making Your Event More Fabulous

Adding a wedding arch can be the perfect way to spice up your ceremony location. It adds a great photography backdrop. But modern wedding arches are more than just a white trellis with some tulle hanging from it. Here are 5 ways to create the perfect arch for just about any wedding style:

1. Beach Weddings. An arch helps define the wedding venue's location and style when the ceremony is located on or by the beach. Beach arches are often flowing, casual affairs, so start with a soft drape that you can wind loosely around the arch and allow to flow somewhat freely. Or add a nautical touch by using triangular bunting flags and ribbons that can flap a little in the breeze. If your venue is too windy for loose draping, use sheer window draperies that can be secured around a top rod and tied to the sides of the arch. Add complementary flowers to cover the ties. Or try stringing large shells (such as fan shells, small conch shells or clamshells) on a long fishing wire at regular intervals and then hanging these along the sides or back of your arch. 
2. Rustic Weddings. For a rustic wedding, try thinking outside the floral box for your arch. Create a unique wood arch by purchasing a basic iron or wire arch frame and covering it with twigs, vines or even burlap with flower accents. Or find a low, vintage dresser and add a twig arch to the top of it, creating both a chic backdrop and an arch in one. For a fun, unique touch, hang a rustic chandelier or lantern from the top to provide a simple focal point. 
3. Summer Weddings. Summer wedding arches generally call for a plethora of flowers. Covering a standard, inexpensive arch with blooms of your favorite type (complementing the bridal flowers, of course) is a great way to build something that really give the space an extra pop. If you want something less expensive or less showy, opt for a beautiful wrought iron arch with wildflowers, colorful hydrangeas or soft wild roses secured to one side (start about 2/3 of the way up the arch and continue to nearly the arch's apex). 
4. Winter Weddings. Winter wedding arches should create a sense of warmth and brightness to the space. You can do this by using white lights on strings placed around the arch and strung between flowers. Turn the lights down in the rest of your venue to make the lights really stand out. Choose light-colored flowers to build the arch and add a few winter floral features like pine cones, twigs, berries or silver accents. For a unique arch, use two large, decorative twig trees, then bend them in an arch over the ceremony space, mingling the ends together to form one complete "dormant tree" background.  
5. Indoor Weddings. An arch for an indoor wedding can help transform an ordinary ceremony space into something that will look good not only in person but in photos forever. For an indoor wedding, consider creating a three-sided arch that will act like a "frame" for your pictures. The rear of your arch can be something as simple as white or ivory draping stapled to the back of the arch's supports. Or you can string white blooms or small white lights on fishing wire, then hang them from the arch's top beam to create a curtain of flowers or twinkling lights. Finish with a large helping of wedding flowers placed along the side and top of the arch. 

Finding the right arch means understanding what you want to accomplish with it (such as hiding a venue's background, for example) and finding ways to reflect your wedding's individual theme. Work with your florist to figure out how many flowers you want to add to any arch design and how to use them strategically to get the feeling you want. Whether it's a complex arch or a simple one, it will no doubt add a special touch to your wedding. 

If you're looking for a florist for your wedding, visit Aladdin's Florist & Wedding Chapel.