Decorated Wedding Arches Enhance Your Outdoor Or Indoor Ceremony

Wedding arches have become a popular decoration for outdoor weddings. A wedding arch creates a gazebo effect, a focal point that draws the attention of the wedding guests to the bride and groom, who stand beneath or directly in front of the arch to exchange vows. Decorated wedding arches transform the backyard or garden into a chapel or wedding hall.

Wedding arch decorations aren’t limited to the front of the aisle. Some couples choose to place a decorated wedding arch at the back of the aisle as well. Guests walk beneath the decorated arch as they arrive, and the wedding procession begins beneath the arch.

Wedding arches don’t just belong in garden weddings or outdoor weddings. The high visibility and romantic appeal makes the wedding arch one of the most important wedding decorations indoors and out.

Wedding arch decorations can be elegant or informal, depending on the theme and style of your wedding. You can purchase wedding arches, fairly inexpensively, made of pewter or enameled steel, painted wood, wicker or wire mesh. Or create arches out of balloons or wire and flowers.

Indoor Wedding Arches

An indoor wedding arch, decorated in the style of your wedding theme, enhances the festive atmosphere. Indoors, a wedding arch can be placed behind the bride and groom’s reception table, behind the wedding cake table or at the entrance to the wedding hall. You can use a series of decorated arches as a backdrop in the reception hall. Surround the wedding buffet area with arches, or use arches to create a dance floor.

Formal Wedding Arch Decorations

If your wedding is formal, you might consider an elegant wedding arch with minimal decoration. Use the same flowers you’ve chosen for your wedding bouquets and attach individual flowers several inches apart all around the arch. Or weave a string of miniature white lights through the arch and cover it with white tulle fabric as decoration. Or you can buy pre-lighted arches and add your own accents to produce tastefully understated decorated wedding arches.

Garden Wedding Arch Decorations

For a garden wedding, use flowers, flowers and more flowers to decorate your wedding arch. Or use a combination of greenery and flowers. Cover the wedding arch with garlands of ivy or other climbing plants, and place bunches of flowers across the top and down the sides of the arch. If you want more of a greenery look, you can limit the flowers to the very top of the wedding arch, or one bunch halfway up each side of the arch. You can also place pedestals with flower arrangements at the sides of the wedding arch or scatter flower petals beneath the arch.

Theme Wedding Arch Decorations

If your theme is a western wedding, consider a wedding arch constructed of burnt logs or driftwood, with cactus plants on either side. For a Christmas wedding, you can decorate the wedding arch with holly or pine garlands, tinsel, Christmas ornaments or candy canes. If you’ve chosen a Hawaiian-style wedding, you can decorate your wedding arch with palm fronds and lots of tropical flowers.

Keep Safety in Mind

If you use decorated wedding arches outdoors, be sure they're anchored firmly into the ground. Wedding arches are often constructed of lightweight material, which makes them easy to set up but also easy for a strong breeze to topple.

For indoor arches, be sure they are set far enough away from common areas and walkways so they won’t impede the movement of your wedding guests and won’t pose any danger of falling on tables and chairs, buffet table or dance floor.

Use Doorway and Window Archways

If you choose not to use a decorated wedding arch indoors, take advantage of doorway and window archways to decorate. Tulle swags and flower garlands draped over door and window archways dramatically enhance your wedding atmosphere.