diy ceremony backdrop/arch?

I think that looks/sounds lovely!

Friends of mine built me this beautiful and amazing arch (arch in the front - they painted the feet dark later - in the back is our cake stand). I absolutely loved it and thought it was gorgeous and I am so thankful. But it was an absolute pain to build this. More difficult than expected. But this are two nonagones (??) and the whole thing was pretty big. We also used it for the ceremony and as a backdrop during reception.


From my experience, things to consider:How big? How will you transport it? Who will transport?Who will decorate?How and who will transport it from ceremony to reception? Can you move it with decorations?How to make it stable, especially if it's standing on grass.
After we built it, we realized we had to borrow a neighbor's truck and the arch barely fit. The same with the church - it only fit through a side door and could not have been an inch bigger. Reception was outside and we actually had to lean it against some trees to secure it.
We had a big empty stage in the church to fill and I am glad our arch was so big. It was perfect and beautiful.

You should also consider what to do with at afterwards and where to store it.
And before you start building I would check in with your venue, if they have an arch and if you can bring your own.

But if your fiance, wants to and has the time/tools/space, I would say, go for it. It looks beautiful and I totally loved our self built arch.

View Quoted Comment Omg I love this so much!!!! You have amazingly talented friends! ❤️


Our ceremony and reception will be at the same venue, so we won’t need to transport it around! The ceremony is outside but it will be on the back patio of the club. My dad has a pickup truck, so I’m going to ask him if he’s willing to take it to the venue. As for decorations, I haven’t gotten that far yet lol. I just saw the post and thought it would be way more economical to build one instead of renting one. They’re like $400 to rent here!!
FH and I already own a house and are working on our backyard this summer, and we were thinking of putting it there and incorporating it in our garden. 🥰
Thank you so much for your advice! I’ll admit, I didn’t really think about some of the things you mentioned.

View Quoted Comment

Yes. My friends are very talented and amazing and very generous.

From everthing you are writing it seems to make a lot of sense for your fiancé to build the arch. And the one you have in mind, should not be to difficult to build. And I love the idea of incorporating it in your garden after the wedding. That would be super special.

As for decorations ... we used drapes from Lings (more on the expensive side but super beautiful) and faux flowers from Hobby Lobby. My friend decorated it. She arranged all the flowers beforehand, so we had two big flower arrangements that she fastened on to the arch the day of with zip ties. Decorating didn't take to much time the day of. But I would definitely figure out decorations before and have a test run (unless your florist decorates it for you).

Here are two more pictures: