Aisle decor help needed!!! @Centerpiece maybe?

Could you use this garland in other spaces during the reception to justify the additional costs? For example, we had flower sprays on the arch for the ceremony that doubled as sweet heart and desert table decor.

This allowed us to use it in different ways and not feel like we were spending money on one single thing. Could you have the garland for the ceremony and then move it to the bar area afterwards?

Another alternative would be smaller garlands - ones that only take up every other chair row or every third chair row, this might also cut down the costs and labor.

I attached an example of the archway that had the additional flowers that we used.

Ouch thats a huge price tag. Especially considering the top garland is made out of eucalyptus and my florist is charging me $8/bunch. We are doing the entire head table and she said we only would need 5 bunches and we have a head table of 12 people. I'm not getting where the labor would cost that much?

I think you can absolutely repurpose this for the reception. The arch garland can go on or in front of the sweetheart table. Chair garland maybe by the bar or around or over any of these tables: cards, guest book, dessert, etc.

I'm not Centerpiece, but I've been a wedding florist for 27 years.

I've quoted a couple of garland weddings recently. I myself have been surprised at the expense to buy the garland premade. My brides wanted them down the center of feasting tables. That, with rental glassware and candles, was MUCH more expensive than a typical hydrangea centerpiece in the middle of a round table for ten. LOL not one bride has opted for it after getting the price for it. I don't blame them.

The florist either has to make the garland by hand - and pretty much only old-timers like me know how to do that - or more usually, they buy it premade. It is VERY labor intensive to make yourself, and you have to practice the technique a lot to get it NOT to fall apart. It is definitely a skill to make it so it stays together, and make it look nice and full.

And to buy it premade - well, the florist has to pay somebody else's labor, so it still costs.

Looking at the photos above -- let's say it's 20 feet each side (that's half of a school bus), remember to measure 1.5 times for the swag. So 40 feet total. So if your florist is charging let's say $400, that is ONLY $10/foot. That is a BARGAIN!!!! For a lush 3-type-of-foliage garland, I would need to charge $18/foot. One type of foliage only, would still be $14/ft. I would lose money at $10/foot.

As others have said, you could repurpose it by having your friends or family take it down and put it on the top front of your head table, on the cake table, etc.

If it's something that you feel is too expensive, then you might want to skip it. How about braiding some rope, and weaving in some hardy foliage to it, instead?

I loooooove greenery too and most of our wedding is a mixture of greenery in all colors (from lime green to deep green plants) with white florals. I'm also prone to splurging on florals so I'm going to be one who says go for it, but I do think it can absolutely be repurposed in so many ways as Monique suggested.

@LizzyS - I definitely think you can re-purpose those pieces if you decide to go for it! Such as placing it at the bar (in your second picture), or as others suggested ~ on the sweetheart table, cake table (see inspiration attached!):

What about looking at michael's or the like? they may have similar garlands that you could wire together to make the one long one. I know it wont be real but they always have the garlands and fake flowers on sale (or a lot of the time).

I guess I should rephrase, I know this totally CAN be repurposed, and I'm loving all these repurposing photos, especially that cake table WWChristina!! But it's an additional $400-$500 that I wasn't expecting and don't think I can add to my floral budget.

I guess I'm more looking for different ideas that are similar, but may be more cost effective or ways I can DIY this to save money, etc.

It is pricey but beautiful! Can you use it to decorate the cake table, card/gift table, or a sweetheart table/head table?

Or like others mentioned, you could go the fake greenery route. There are some great looking fakes out there.

@Monique, thank you for the breakdown. Good to have reinforcement that my florist was right on about the price and the labor thing is intense. (and love where you're located! My family lives in Amador County). Thank you for the suggestion of the rope too, I'll think about that. What hardier greens would you suggest?

@Tania, do you know of good fake ivy vendors? I'm not opposed to it, I just don't want it to look dumb

@AW2B Thank you!!! I'll definitely check them out. Their product is good quality and doesn't look super, obviously fake?

@Surfergirl, definitely have checked out Michaels, but their ivy/garland is too obviously fake looking, or at least what I've seen in my stores. I find that their fake floral falls apart a lot too. I'll definitely keep looking now that Xmas is coming up though!

Look at save-on-crafts! i just looked and they have natural preserved greens as garlands. there is box wood and eucalyptus

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/boxwood8.html

Http://www.save-on-crafts.com/eucbluegar.html

I also just found that fifty flowers sells similar garlands to what you want.

still pricey but less than what your florist wanted

http://www.fiftyflowers.com/product/Silver-Dollar-Eucalyptus-Garland-_552.htm

http://www.fiftyflowers.com/flowers/AllFlowersGreeneryGarlands_24276.htm

eta: the Seeded eucalyptus is my favorite

http://www.fiftyflowers.com/product/Seeded-Eucalyptus-Garland_24276.htm

Hmmm.....you could use Monique's suggestion of using a braided rope of some sort and then inserting clusters of the greenery at the high points, where it attaches to the chairs? Not exactly what you want, but I bet it'd be way cheaper than $400 and you could still get the greenery you like. You'd just have to buy enough for the clusters. I think the rope, the greenery, and the flagstones would probably go really well together.

Wow @ Surfergirl thank you so much for all those links!! You rock.

@FMJ thanks for the suggestions, I'll have to look around for some nice looking rope and see how that would all tie in together. What a perfect excuse for some pinterest time haha!

Surfergirl gave you terrific links, and the $37 boxwood garland was what I was going to send you. The Fifty Flowers garlands are more expensive, but their products are generally good. A ten foot garland could easily be cut into two five foot lengths, and for less than $200, I think you're getting a great deal (you can even hot glue in silk flower pieces if you want to). I really think this is the way for you to go if you just want the greenery effect. I love boxwood. It's a beautiful greenery.

As far as garlands are concerned, I don't find them difficult to create at all. In fact, they are my all time favorite pieces to make (well, I love the sweetheart table pieces too). With a greenery base, almost any flower is going to look beautiful when it's added to the garland. If you buy the right oasis piece (it's called netted oasis garland, and it looks like small cylinders in netting all connected to each other -- I'll give you a link) and order what looks like seeded eucalyptus (in your first photo), you could make your own garland very easily (because the oasis is soaked in water prior to adding the greenery, you can use live pieces and include flowers if you want. They'll last for hours and hours). Go to Fifty Flowers (or one of their competitors) for your seeded eucalyptus (or whatever greenery you see and love). If that's the route you go, let me know. I'll walk you through it.

The piece I'm going to link, a very long piece using two of the netted oasis garlands was something that took me less than an hour to put together. I was dead tired when I did it (there was so many pieces for this wedding), but it has become one of our most popular pieces. It's been featured in multiple publications (because of pinterest). It's an autumn garland that was used on the couple's arbor. I loved it, and only wished that there was somewhere we could have re-purposed it in her reception (but she already ordered a ton of cocktail hour/reception decor -- far more than most brides -- but her reception area was huge). There were pieces on the guest book table, the bar, and even in the ladies' room, and the cocktail hour had its own large table the served no purpose other than to display seasonal pieces. There was nowhere else to put the arbor, and that broke my heart because the piece really was exceptional.

Here's a link to the oasis piece you'd need to make your own arbor or vine piece:

http://www.wholesalefloral.com/Oasis_Netted_Garland_p/smgarland.htm

Here's a link to our autumn arbor piece that kind of went viral (it only shows a portion of the garland, but that piece started out with the long netted oasis garland and we just started with a greenery base and added flowers after the base was done. You don't even need the flowers (I am not posting as a sales pitch. I'm only posting it show you what you can do with the right pieces, a lot of greenery, and whatever amount of flowers you like):

https://www.facebook.com/TheCenterpieceFlowers/photos/a.277045959082535.64839.111291265658006/593892724064522/?type=3&theater

Ehh, sorry you can't just click and see the pic. I'll ask my partner to just post the pic (something I still can't do, lol).

Centerpiece - Wow. I'm so overwhelmed by how helpful you always are!! Thank you.

That boxwood is really nice, but by the time I order enough to drape the ceremony aisle though I think it'll be the same price as the florist.

I do really like the idea of the netted garland to make my own vine piece though! I might have to take you up on your offer to help walk me through it. We will have between 5-7 rows of chairs, when I go for my planning appointment I'll have to measure how many feet that will be. It does worry me that the seeded eucalyptus doesn't seem to be available from Fifty Flowers in April, but maybe I can make the silver dollar or some other type of filler work!

Lizzy, no problem. It's easier than you think. I'll help you.

I actually plan on having green garlands in my decor as well, because we're having a garden themed wedding. However, I wasn't planning on using them in the ceremony decor--I was going to use them on our long banquet hall tables at the reception. I've seen this done before, and it is gorgeous! Especially when a few flowers are tucked in, and you add some white votive candles. If that's an option for repurposing them, it might be worth the money! You would just need to make sure someone could transport them from the ceremony space to the reception quickly.

Wow, this was really helpful. I've been dying to figure out a way to incorporate garlands in to my church ceremony without overspending. So great!