DIY Wedding Revisited: Church Décor

The second thing people notice after the programs when they enter the church is the décor. Typically churches have their own beauty so a lot of décor isn’t necessary.  Mine had wood paneling so I decided some simple touches wouldn’t hurt.  I may joke about the wood paneling, but my husband’s parents, grandparents, and basically all their relatives have been married in this church…so it’s kind of a big deal.  And for a sentimental sap like me, I love a good tradition. 

I absolutely LOVE Sam’s Club bulk floral.  I purchased the hydrangeas for the pews, lilies for the altar, and orchids for the centerpieces here.  All the flowers came in great condition!  The key to successfully ordering bulk floral is to order it several days before the event.  I ordered my flowers on Thursday for a Saturday wedding.  It gives you some wiggle room so if they are a day late it is not the end of the world.  You need to have several people on hand along with buckets of water for both cutting in and storing the flowers and scissors.  Once they come, open the flowers immediately cut the stems under water at an angle.  When you cut flowers they immediately will take in water so that’s why you need to cut them under water and the angled cut is so the most amount of water can enter the stem.  Put them in buckets with the included plant food and put them immediately in a refrigerator. 

I purchased 14 tin buckets from Target’s dollar section and some pale aqua ribbon from Michaels.  I ordered 2 orders of hydrangea’s from Sam’s Club bulk floral department at around $50.00 a pop and grabbed some floral foam from Michaels to make it a day for the “Pew Bucket Project”. 

I had a handy aunt assemble the buckets the day of by soaking the floral foam and adding water to the buckets.  She stuck the stems in the floral foam, three hydrangeas to a bucket then put them back in the refrigerator.  To prep for this project drill a small hole near the top of the bucket on each side with a drill.  Tie your ribbon through these holes and you are done.  She put the hydrangeas out a half hour before the ceremony so they would be nice and fresh when guests arrived.  They didn’t wilt or die (even in the un-air conditioned church) and were sturdy enough to be transported out to the reception tent for all night decorations.

At the church we started with the first pew on each side and hung a bucket from every other pew going back.  Hanging from every other pew definitely saved money and created a nice visual affect that wasn’t too cluttered.  

At the altar we placed the remembrance lilies which were also from Sam’s Club.  On each side of the unity candle we placed a silver tray full of candles and sand.  The tray and candles were very inexpensive from Ikea and the sand was left over from our centerpieces.  For unity candle stands we bought some funky silver candle holders from Ikea, rather than paying an arm and a leg for proper unity candle holders.  The actual unity candles themselves were ordered online from ebay from an amazing woman who personalizes the main candle with your names and wedding date and also the tapers with each of your last names.   

*Pictures of the wedding day were taken exclusively by Amber Asman of asmanphotography.  In short, she rocks.