The wedding arch you choose will set the scene of your ceremony. You’ll stand in front of it as you recite vows in front of your partner and loved ones. It is important to decorate your arbor in a way that resonates with your theme, season, and colors. In this blog post, we’re sharing ways to decorate a wedding arch so you can start beautifying yours ahead of the special day. Whether you’re planning a minimalist wedding or a grandeur style, these arbor ideas will tie it together nicely. These beautiful methods will show you how to decorate a wedding arch and set it up ahead of for your special day.
Many recommend draping or fabric to accent your wedding arbor. This can add a soft, romantic touch and also borrow a hue from your color palette.
Whether you’re using fabric, greenery, flowers, or other accents, you’ll always want to make sure you tie it down securely to make sure it doesn’t budge.
(PRO TIP: Use floral wire, like this.)
This is especially important if your ceremony will be held outdoors. When you’re selecting wedding arch decor, choose fabric that is neutral in tone or go for a bold color palette that has the exact shades within your wedding theme.
Decorating with Fabric
What kind of fabric should you use for arch decorating? Here are some arbor decorating ideas to consider.
1. Chiffon
My top pick, chiffon is a thick and elegant material that drapes easily and with a romantic edge. Here’s one example shown below of chiffon draping.
2. Organza
Another popular option, organza is a silky fabric that offers a sheer illusion for light to pass through. If you want it more opaque, you can add additional layers of organza. You can easily use organza on any type of arch for nearly any style.
Here’s an example of organza fabric decorating an arch.
3. Tulle
Tulle is a popular fabric you’ll find in many wedding details. It is sheer and stiff, made of a netting like material you’ll probably find most often on skirting, veils, and dresses. When you want to work with tulle, matte is the best choice for your arch when you want to make a big impact with tons of volume.
You can utilize draping in three pieces that allows it to set the stage on its own.
Or add finesse with additional touches, as I’ll outline below.
Add Lighting
A popular trend for evening ceremonies is decorating your wedding arch with lights. The arbor and altar can provide elegant lighting by way of lighted fabric panels, twinkle lights with an LED battery, or LED pillar candles in lanterns set next to your arch. These are all ways to create a dreamy wedding backdrop for your ceremony.
If you’re unsure how to decorate your wedding altar with string lights, it’s fairly easy to do it with this string light kit. You can weave it through your fabric (especially sheer material, like organza) and create your own curtain of twinkling lights. Or you can hang a lighted LED panel like this one to the back for instant illumination and a warm, romantic glow.
If you love a vintage style, hang a chandelier above your wedding arch for a glamorous style. Chandeliers are one of our favorite indoor and outdoor wedding arch ideas and light up your space in an instant.
Another way to light your wedding arch — or the space in front of it — is with light-up marquee letters to spell out your name or initials. These giant marquee lights are a fun way to personalize your space with your initials and make a big dramatic impact in your decor.
My top pick? A neon sign! It will look beautiful set in the backdrop behind your arch, particularly when hung in a boxwood panel wall. Love it! Neon sign by Handcofinds.
Can you imagine how beautiful your arch style will look when lit up? I can picture the wedding photographs… wow!
Decorating with Greenery
Many couples crave wedding decor that includes greenery and flowers. Why? It’s easy to source from your florist or online using high-quality faux materials. It also works well in combination with fabric or lights; it also looks extremely lovely and gorgeous by itself.
There are numerous ways to add greenery to your wedding arch whether you choose to add flowers, fabric, or lighting. Maybe even a combination of all three sounds lovely.
Form a Solid Greenery Base
First, you’ll want to make a base of greenery all over your arch. You can use floral wire to make sure it stays put. You’ll want to start with greenery all over to make sure it create a voluminous base and your arch metal doesn’t show through underneath.
This is only really necessary if your arch is made of metal that you wish to cover up, like this rounded arch as one instance. For this style, you may want to cover the entirety of the base with greenery to begin.
But if you’re leaning towards a minimalist design, a copper arch like this one only requires a few arbor decorations.
In addition, a wooden arch may look best when some of the wood is exposed. Here’s an example of how to decorate a wedding arch made of wood with a unique shape:
If you have a garden theme, you’ll want to look for lush and full greenery like eucalyptus or lamb’s ear, using many strands to really make it pop.
What Kind of Greenery to Use
Smaller strands of greenery work best when you’re pairing them with accents like flowers or fabrics. You don’t want to go overboard, so decorate your arch to make it look as natural as possible. If you’re adding other decor in your wedding arch, consider greenery your first accent and then make the other pieces your focal point. Some of the most popular greenery trends to decorate your wedding arch include:
• Seeded or Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, fresh or faux, sold in bunches and sprigs or long, lush strands
• Elegant garden vines for a minimalist and simple style
• Magnolia garland with hints of copper and rich green tones
• Cedar for a fresh pine scent ideal for the winter season or holiday wedding arch decor
• Robellini palm or Sago palm for a tropical touch
• Italian ruscus
Texturize
To make your style more dimensional, you can create a stunning arbor by incorporating many different textures in your design.
One of my favorite ways to instantly add texture and color to wedding arbors is with pampas grass and dried flowers. This is ideal for a whimsical or boho wedding. You can get this decoration kit from IntendedArtByJasmine.
If you take a close look at different types of greenery strands, you’ll notice you can pair them together for a textural effect. This strand features magnolia and seeded eucalyptus to instantly add dimension and texture to your arbor.
Seeded eucalyptus vs. non-seeded takes on a whole new textural look, like this stunning example by TheGarlandGuy.
Decorate with Flowers
Most couples choose to decorate a wedding arch with flowers and it’s no surprise why: it’s a gorgeous backdrop that will look elegant in your photographs. If you work with your florist, they can create floral decorations that complement your wedding bouquet, ceremony flowers, and centerpieces. In addition, they can suggest complementing blooms that will work nicely to keep your wedding arbor simple or make it an overflowing display of floral decorations.
If you’re planning a budget friendly wedding, faux flowers may be the best choice to suit your needs. In addition to saving money, most people won’t notice they’re faux if you know where to shop. Plus, you won’t have the hassle of keeping them in water and refrigerated ahead of the wedding especially during hot or humid summer months.
On the other hand, if you want to decorate a wedding arch with flowers, real blooms may not necessarily set you over your budget if you are mindful of how many floral decorations to incorporate in your wedding arbor. In this way, it may be best to add other accents with flowers, as mentioned, such as fabric, lights, and greenery.
If you want to limit the amount of flowers you use in the arch, or create a unique look, cover just part of your wedding arch with flowers by placing them on half of each side of an arch like this one. It uses less of the decorations and offers a minimalist and modern style.
This half arch is a popular style, but many couples are stuck on how to decorate it. Utilize floral arrangements and greenery on either side, like this:
In addition, some couples opt for a traditional arch and place flowers or draping asymmetrically to stand out on one side. Be sure to also incorporate other accents on the opposite side for balance, such as draping done like this:
If the sky’s the limit and you dream of a wedding arbor that is decorated with flowers alone, go for it! Choose lush, fragrant real flowers and go wild with them allover your arch with greenery as your base.
Last but not least, many couples choose to go easy and elegant with a curtain of flowers.
This whimsical set of strands of faux flowers is a dramatic way to tie in your garden wedding and will make an effortless decoration on the day-of. You can use strands of greenery that is paired with flowers to create your own curtain that hangs above and down the sides of your arch. Or you can buy one pre-made like this, which is a dramatic statement piece receiving praise for how beautiful it is in person.
It’s easy to get started if you want to incorporate these wedding arches and arbor styles into your altar design. I hope this blog post gives you the confidence to give it a go and trust your instincts: find the style you love and run with it.
There are several places to assist in your decorating needs by sourcing the most beautiful greenery, floral garlands, floral sprigs, and draping. I’m including a list of the top trusted resources below that I use regularly in my client designs.
Where to Buy Wedding Arch Decorations
Let’s begin with eucalyptus. It’s a huge trend all year long and for good reason: it’s affordable yet stylish, lush, and elegant!
Eucalyptus
Fresh Seeded Eucalyptus Decor
You can get freshly harvested eucalyptus garland from TheGarlandGuy. They have amazing options from which to choose, like this fresh seeded eucalyptus. You can use eucalyptus garland to decorate wedding arches.
I also adore this fresh eucalyptus as another resource by EnglishIvyLaneShop.
Faux Eucalyptus Strands
If you prefer faux strands, you can buy beautiful ones from Flaural. Here are some examples: some include faux lamb’s ear greenery, others have floral accents with pops of color, and you can also select eucalyptus with baby’s breath.
This affordable eucalyptus garland is available from GreenTime.
Palm Greenery
If you want to plan a palm themed wedding, or desire a tropical flair, these fresh palms are a beautiful way to decorate your wedding arch. These are also available at TheGarlandGuy.
HELPFUL TIP: For more tips, see: Where to Buy Greenery in Bulk for Weddings.
Silk Wisteria Hanging Arch Decor
You can dress up your wedding arches easily with this gorgeous silk wisteria hanging decoration. I love the way this looks! By Lvydec. Want to add color? Choose a pop of pink…
… purplish red…
… or light purple.
3. Draping
One of the best examples of how to decorate wedding arches with draping is illustrated by these examples below. You can drape voile from Warm Home Design Co. in one solid color or mix it up with a few different shades to bring in your color palette. Some of the most popular colors for decorating your wedding arch include white, silver, gold, burgundy, or teal.
Here are a few examples:
You can keep it simple with draping alone and play up the colors from your palette. I admire these examples (all from Ling’s Moment):
Blush, mauve, and marsala are probably the prettiest ways to decorate wedding arches. I love the way these colors complement each other so elegantly.
Classic terracota from here:
This one is perfect for a dusty blue wedding:
You can find more options here.
In addition, you can incorporate flowers with draping. Here’s an example of decorating an arch with both drapery and flowers. Doesn’t it look gorgeous? Available at SoarDream.
How much draping do you need to decorate wedding arches? This example shows 6 yards of draping fabric (by MokoHouseStore.
If you love a bright, bold color, burnt orange draping is a nice way to decorate wedding arches. Here’s an example from Ponatia.
Prefer burgundy? This is one of the most popular colors this year (see: burgundy wedding ideas) and looks amazing as arch decor. By PonitiaStore.
4. Faux Pampas Grass Swag
These faux floral swag decorations include pampas grass for a boho touch. By HandyMadeTs.
If you want a huge pampas grass focal point, this will make a statement! Also by HandyMadeTs.
For another style, decorate your wedding arches with these pampas swag adornments by SERENlTY.
5. Floral Swag
You can get faux floral swag in colors suited to your palette by this amazing shop: TheBridesBouquetcom.
As another option, try these flower swag adornments by HandyMadeTs.
You can decorate wedding arches with sunflowers thanks to this adornment by Handy Made Ts.
If you’re decorating for a winter wedding arch, here’s a look you’ll love with pinecones tied in. I love this one! By TheBridesBouquetcom.
Also loving these silk flowers from SERENlTY in dusty rose:
These floral arch decorations from MerciGarden are perfect for a circular arch.
See more here.
6. Macrame Curtain
Last but not least, wedding arches can be decorated with a macrame curtain. This look is sensational for a boho wedding. like this example by Anminy.
Or this hanging macrame panel by Riseon.
Where to Buy Wedding Arches
If you don’t have an arch yet, you can buy arches here.
Now you have some easy ways to decorate your wedding arch! What will you use from this list to make yours stand out? Tell me in the comment box below!
