This post starts with photos of the church. I’ve decorated this church dozens of times (I actually grow up in this church).
There was no draping; instead, my brother and his design partner custom made these stands of branches and put sprigs of hydrangeas on top and on the bottom. One arrangement was placed at the opening of each row along the aisle.
My brother the budding florist decorated a wedding this past Sunday and it turned out splendidly. I don’t quite have time yet to do a comprehensive post on the event, but I wanted to give a sneak peek at what it looked like!
Once in a while Darleene lets us take over her blog with a guest post, and today is one of those days! So thanks, Darleene, for allowing us to share a beautifully handcrafted wedding we recently photographed (my husband Keith and I are Orange County wedding photographers—Lori Anderson Photographers).
Cate and Ian are a cute couple who met while in college in Florida. They are also both quite tall, which Keith, himself six-foot-four, enjoyed, but that’s not what made this wedding so special. For this budget-beautiful wedding in Huntington Beach, bride Cate did most of the planning—and therefore the decorating (or at least the imagineering)— herself, with the help of her family and fiancé.
When I was decorating weddings, my primary concern was — how are the head tables set up? That was my main job, of course, and it mattered because the number of head tables and the amount of time I had to decorate impacted how elaborate the decorations would be.
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What kind of flowers should you request for your sweetheart table? If you’re looking for flowers that will make for a big impact at a distance, you want colorful, big, lush blooms, like hydrangeas and blooming roses.
Flickr photo by Hoang
Above, I don’t typically see two arrangements on a sweetheart table, but these are meant to be used as a couple. I like the blooming roses and petals strewn between them.
Flickr photo by Hoang
White orchids on a red tablecloth? Big impact. I love it.
This wedding, which I decorated ages ago, used large blooming lavender roses and Casablanca lilies (my favorite flower!), and white Hawaiian orchids. The Hawaiian and dendrobium orchids don’t have as much visual impact as, say, a cattleya orchid, but I like them for the trailing and dangling effect.
You see what I mean? The dangling orchids here are lovely. This reception, which was held at the Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles, had a great sweetheart table and backdrop. And all the flower arrangements are simply dripping with orchids.
You can’t see too much of the flowers here — they include pink roses and lilies — but I am including it because its one of my favorite colors and one of my favorite pictures. 
Candles, lanterns, Christmas lights — they all add ambiance to a wedding. Whenever you can, you should incorporate some kind of light with your decorations. So I scoured Flickr for a few ideas on how to get a lighting element onto your guest tables.
Flickr photo by Casual Chin
The arrangement above is your wedding magazine-ready type candle arrangement. It’s got the pretty pastel pink and cream roses, orchids and the silvery lantern with the stars on the windows. I can’t quite tell, but it looks like this venue was possibly on a patio, so maybe an arrangement like this wouldn’t have as much impact as some of the others I found. Continue reading
At a wedding, where does a guest spend the most time? Possible answers include A) the dance floor, B) the (open/cash) bar and C) their tables. There’s not a lot you can do about decorating the dance floor and the only thing you can really decorate a bar with is pretty bottles of alcohol. So you should spend your time and energy decorating the guest tables.
Flickr photo by lisarunolfson
The table above is super fancy. I’m not suggesting that my tips will make your guest tables look like this, but you can take different things from this example and the others I found on Flickr to make your wedding look all the nicer.
