How should we decorate the ceremony space?

[Hudson_Hawk]

FI and I are getting married in this really neat courtyard at the restaurant where we''re having our reception. I''ve toyed with a few ideas on how to decorate/set it up for the ceremony, but I''d love some input from my brilliant PS friends. Please see the attached pictures. Our colors are black, dark magenta (almost burgundy) and chartreuse (limey green).

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Sorry, that was really small

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

closer picture from the angle we''re thinking of doing the ceremony. And yes, the umbrella''d tables will be present. We''re getting married at 6 pm in July, so the courtyard will not be in direct light.

 

[NuggetBrain]

What about hanging some chinese lanterns from the trees on the left in your colors? Not a lot but a couple strings would be a very nice, understated decoration. Maybe also get some smaller ones and scatter them in the bushes and shrubs around the courtyard.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Yea, I've thought of doing paper lanterns for emphasis, but I don't know if the venue would let me do that. They already have white twinkle lights in the trees which is lovely...paper lanterns could be awesome too tho...even in white...hrmmm...

Thoughts on how to denote the actual ceremony space? We're going to have some chairs, so we'll have an aisle/altar area. I was thinking of using the pillars (where the planters are) along the railing to hold tall arrangements of curly willow and some other flowers...

 

[NuggetBrain]

If you could find something like a cast iron arch or trellis (is that the word?) it would look very pretty there. I'm not sure what your decoration budget is because I know they can be fairly expensive - how is your venue on bringing items in for decorating? I like the idea of the pillars too - question though, do the tables have to stay where they are, and are the umbrellas detachable? I saw a picture in a mag a while ago of a table covered in flowers and ferns and draping ivy and such. Placing the tables somewhere in the vicinity of the ceremony like that might be a nice effect.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Unfortunately the ceremony decorating budget is minimal. The umbrellas can probably be removed, but not the stands (too heavy, the venue doesn''t want to move them). The venue is providing an aisle runner made up of Persian carpets, so the colors will be pretty neural around here, probably just white so it doesn''t compete with the rugs. What if we lined the aisle with the rugs leading down to the area in front of the platform and have arrangements flanking the altar space? Here are some ideas, the arrangements would be DIY, I already have the willow and wide clear cylinder vases.

 

[NuggetBrain]

I think willow branches are going to look beautiful in that space. With so much foliage (I love that word) around the courtyard I think you could get away with very little direct decorating and it would still look fabulous. Maybe you could do the taller willow arrangements by the ceremony and accent with smaller ones and some bright flowers on the pillars?

 

[modernsparkler]

I know this is inside, but imagine these trees with the hanging lights and little magenta flowers scattered about the branches....

 

[modernsparkler]

might help if I attached the photo

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Oooh that''s pretty!

 

[katamari]

Yay! We are doing DIY curly willow centerpieces, too. We are using paper cranes (and paper lanterns, too), but all the ones you include look great!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Ladies,
What are your thoughts on using the planters on the pilars as they are and just inserting flowers to make them more interesting? This could be nice because there''s so much greenery there. The pictures of the space are from a little later in the summer than the 4th of July, but it''s a pretty accurate representation of how the space will look. I could even consider inserting the willow into the planters to give the "arrangements" some height.

S