Altar Flowers for a Wedding

When making altar flowers for a wedding ceremony, be sure to consider the size of the sanctuary. Flowers that look very large at home on the kitchen table may seem lost in front of a church.

Find several cost cutting hints below on how to save money on your altar decorations.

Chooseing Flowers for the Church

This is one place where a bride can certainly save money. The colors and size of altar bouquets is more important than the type of flowers.

It is not necessary to use all roses, calla lilies, or oriental lilies. Use those flowers for your hand carried bouquets.

The congregation is so far away that expensive flowers won't make that much of an impact.

They more notice the size and colors. Use lots of greens and cheap flowers such as daisies, mums, gladiolus, snapdragons, alstromeria and carnations. All these flowers come in a wonderful range of color and make a big show for the money. Once made up, they even look elegant enough for a black tie afternoon church ceremony.

Fern Altar Decorations

Large ferns look wonderful and fill up a large stage or church front. I simply dropped large ferns into fiberglass urns (which the bride used later on her patio) and they really added to the church decor. Ferns can also be placed at the base of candelabras, in front of podiums, and sides of large steps.

Altar flowers don't necessarily have to be flowers! Interesting arrangements in greenery can add a lot of beauty to your wedding (and still cost less!).

Church Flower Arrangement Size

Brides try to cut costs by having the florist make smaller bouquets, and then are disappointed when the flowers seem lost in the front of the church. If you are on a limited budget for your wedding, designing your own altar flowers for a wedding can mean bigger flowers while saving money.

In the photo below, these standing altar sprays are over five foot tall and the actual arrangements measure 3 1/2 foot tall by 3 foot wide. Yet they need every bit of that size even in this small country church!

Look closely on the podium. That is the flower girl basket. See how small it looks? So if you have a small vase it will look lost from a distance.

Keep the Arrangements to the Center

See in the photos below how the bride clustered several large arrangements close to the altar and on either side of the cross? The four large altar arrangements were kept close to the center of the stage. The photos will have the floral arrangements framing important photography shots, such as the lighting of the unity candle, etc.

If you spread them too far out, they may not even show up in the wedding pictures. So stand back in the church after placing your flowers and see how they look. Stand in the middle of the aisle. Are they placed so they will show up in the pictures? Are they blocking any person's view? Floral arrangements in back should be big and tall. The sprays in the front should be low enough to see over.

Altar Bouquets on Pedestals

Pedestals can lift the bouquets up so they are more visible to the audience. If the church doesn't have stands, check out plaster of paris pedestals. You can usually find them in craft departments or home decor stores for a reasonable price.

Remember that when creating altar flowers for a wedding that brighter flowers will show up better than dark flowers. Using all dark colors such as deep burgundy, green and red will be a dark in wedding photos. Lighter or brighter altar flowers will show up better in photographs.

If you should do your own altar flowers for a wedding, please feel free to visit my supply store if you need products such as large block Oasis, florist tools, and everything you need to do your own floral arrangements. You will also find decorating supplies, ring bearer pillows, and much more.

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