Flickr photo by uproot311

The last time I did a post about arches for a wedding ceremony, I didn’t really focus on them, and it seems a lot of people are looking for them.

Its unfortunate but true that most of my pictures of weddings I’ve decorated have been of wedding receptions, and most arches are used for the ceremony and vows. And of the pictures I’ve taken of ceremony decorations, they’ve been of churches. So, that means most of the weddings I’ve decorated have not had arches. So of course I turned to Flickr, where I found a lovely variety of arches, including the one above. I really like this one. It’s a portable wood arch, with tulle entwined around its front legs and its top. In front of the ocean, you really don’t need more decoration than this.

Flickr photo by newwavegurly

Arches are really perfect for when you need a visual centerpiece for your ceremony, but don’t want to detract from the background, like a gorgeous view of the ocean. They’re also easily decorated — here, they took a strip of tulle or English netting and laid it across the top so it would lie parallel to the arch’s width, and lined the front with flowers and ribbon. I also like the sprig of green leaves at the foot.

Flickr photo by culpfiction

God help me, I love this idea. In the distance, you can see an actual arch (which appears to be a permanent part of the garden), but I love these two tall hedges bent over to create an arch. And its all held in place with some store-bought tulle. Excellent. I doubt that this was where the ceremony happened, but its a nice touch.

Flickr photo by ytfelmi

Really, all you need to decorate an arch is one centerpiece, usually flowers, like this one. That’s why its important that florists keep their arches painted smooth and white. Heavy usage can often chip the paint, but this one looks well-kept. The trick for an floral arrangement that will be the decoration for an arch is that it has to be designed to hang.

Flickr photo by waterlooHildreds

Now, I know I showed off some simply decorated arches — here is a spectacular one. Or, er, sensational, sorry. This one has not one, not two, but five big flower arrangements, four columns holding up the arch (as opposed to the regular two, and four deejay lamps to light up the whole setup. Now, I’m not entirely sure where this wedding was, but it ws apparently overseas. If I had to guess, I’d say India, where they love bright colors and fancy decorations. If you look closely, the flower arrangements have a lot of bright pink Gerber daisies, and the drapings appear to be pink and gold with gold trim. And those lights appear to be gold. Spectacular.