Sorry this is so long, but planning a wedding and reception is stressing and I am willing to hear any ideas!!
My fiancee and I are on a very tight budget so we are holding our wedding and reception at a community center which include round tables, chairs and a bar area. However, because it IS a community center and all we have for the cermony is the unity candles and a candle for my grandfather, I am afraid it will look a bit, well, blah. We have wonderful idea’s for the reception. Our theme is black and white, so if anyone knows any decorations for that theme for the cermony, or where the “alter” would be, please feel free to suggest anything!
OH! And also, any “aisle” ideas ( we really don’t want a aisle runner) would help as well=]
Thanks in advance!
Buy silk flowers and make arrangements….They always look real!!
Also, candles are beautiful! This is where I bought my candles from. I had them shipped to me.
http://www.njcandle.com
For the aisle, make a little arrangement of silk flowers and ribbon and tie them on the chairs that are in the aisle. Very nice!
I hand made almost everything at my wedding (except the candles). It was so beautiful, personal, and inexpensive!
Congratulations and good luck
y not use some flowers on some of the chairs leading down the isle. Something like floral balls
Section off the “aisle” with rope light would look cool. Buy lots of bolts of tulle and white christmas lights. You can wrap a lot things or even cover the wall behind the “altar”. Keep the lights dim and vases with black marbles in the bottom with white flowers. Add these for an extra kick. http://www.weddingandeventlights.com.au/
My cousin was married at a similar venue. She split the hall in to two ‘sides’ and made an ‘aisle’ that was lined with large tree branches, placed in to large pots and battery operated tea lights hanging in votive cups from the branches. The branches formed a loose arch type of thing over the aisle and added a ethereal feel to the place. She had windows at the end of the aisle so they placed the ‘altar’ there.
First decide if your room is long and narrow or wide and open. If it’s wide and open finding your ‘aisle’ should be fairly easy. If it’s long and narrow, still set it up so that you could walk behind a couple of tables to the aisle so that your guests are still split in two sections – though not necessarily the typical bride and groom ‘sides’. Your altar does not need to be anything large, a small table will work just as well.
For your centerpieces you can echo the ‘forest’ feeling and have wildflower garlands, or ivy garlands around bowls of floating candles.
If you have a nursery nearby see if they will let you rent some trees for the day. If not go out in to a wooded area (if it’s private land make sure you have permission!) and cut down some large branches/smaller trees. Make sure they will be tall enough to have everyone walk under without hitting the hanging votives. Don’t get the trees too early or the leaves will fall off, even place them in water. Ask your florist what to use to make them stand up straight in the pots.
First off, I would save your money for your honeymoon. It wont matter to you once everything is said and done whether or not such and such was decorated.
But, what I did was:
I went to fred meyer, picked out some outdoor garden floral arrangements that were in nice pots, I used two very large ones for my ceremony. The next day, I took them back to fred meyer —unharmed, I just said that I changed my mind and they gave me a full refund.
It saved me a ton of money, and I had a great selection of choices.
as far as where to set up the “altar”, i suggest find the most visually pleasing spot in the community center and do it there. is there a window with any kind of view? if not choose a blank wall. you could drape it with fabric. i don’t know if you are jewish, but you could do some type of a huppah. (watch whose wedding is it anyway?!!!) that would make for a nice focal point for everyone. also, a neat look at weddings is when you hang paper lanterns http://www.paperlanternstore.com/whsapala.html you could different shapes and sizes and hang them from the ceiling.
as far as the aisle, you could either line both sides with rose petals… http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theflowerhouseweddings.com/images/8-30-06/isle-white-petals.jpg&imgrefurl=http://billyandkalen.com/%3Fp%3D26&h=333&w=500&sz=169&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=Hc3c7GFxV532zM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Daisle%2Blined%2Bwith%2Bpetals%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
i think this is such a cool look. then at the back of the aisle, you tie ribbons so no one walks down it. guests enter their seats from the side. it can be untied just before your processional begins. depending on the chairs you have, you can tie something on the chairs along the aisle, but that can make it very uncomfortable if you are sitting in that chair.
also, i’m not sure how much natural light the place gets, but i say the less artificial light, the better. are there small tables you can use? (maybe from your house and family’s houses?) they could be draped in black fabric, and you can cluster white candles on them. that would be beautiful.
i think the most important thing is to try to keep the ceremony area as one cohesive area. if you aren’t going to use the whole room for the ceremony, are there separaters you could use to make the area more intimate? you also want to make sure to make your “altar” area the focal point.
good luck, i hope some of these ideas help!
Buy tulle… it’s inexpensive and covers a lot of area! You can get it in black and white and it looks very formal.
Just a picture tip…dark flowers do not show up very well in pictures, so if you do silk, I would make sure all the flowers are white with black ribbon.
For the tables either put a black tablecloth first and then lay a white one over it or vice versa. Also I can’t remember the website but just type in “wedding favors” in the search bar.Once you get to that page there are lots of places that sell decorations for weddings.