Ceremony Deserves Love Too....

Every person who comes to your wedding you wanted there. Otherwise why would you have invited them? (If you didn't invite them you have every right to tell them to leave, but we'll deal with that later on in another post.) So just as your parents, and possibly grandparents get the boutonnieres and corsages to wear, and you have decorated your reception hall, why shouldn't the ceremony site get a little flair too? Depending on where you're ceremony is taking place, and the time frame you have to decorate/tear down, you can choose to go full scale or minimal touches.


 Now, as I've mentioned before our ceremony was short. Like ten, maybe fifteen minutes long. We loved it, as both my (now) husband and I have short attention spans and we knew that there would be plenty of munchkins there. The site makes arrangements in three hour increments. We chose to have the ceremony in the last hour of our three hour increment. So needless to say the wedding timing was crucial. We didn't have the time to do a full-scale decorate, especially didn't have the time to do a full scale clean-up.

We were married in a non-denominational church. The city had closed down that site to relocate the congregation to a new church. They decided to use that site for wedding ceremonies such as ours. They did offer some wedding decoration, but it didn't really match our wedding colors. However the option was there so our decorations, if we chose to do any, would merely need to be minimal. We could use the altar candles, use their silk flower arrangements, and/or provide our own.

We've all seen or been to those weddings that have stuff, like a ball of roses or other flowers, draped from their pews or chairs... whether its just on the ends of the chairs/pews themselves or if its something on the ends plus tulle or ribbons draped in between (typically to denote the center aisle where the bride would be walking down, and to prevent anyone from trying to sneak out that aisle). In this magazine, to get that sort of look, with the rose ball, tulle, the "pew clip" and the satin ribbon, it can cost more than TEN dollars per pew. There are much cheaper solutions!

So, as a last minute decision, I decided to make pew bows for the church. I didn't make very many of them, as I expected they would be done every other pew (they didn't but I wasn't too worried about that). I made them for a fraction of the cost.We didn't want them too big as the tops of our pews were about four inches wide, if that. The ceremony site had rules (in our contract even) about not using tacks of any sort to hold up decorations so we had to get creative...

What I bought:
1) Ribbon that matched the decor of the wedding (in this case three different colors, the blue sheer, the dark brown and an ivory with butterflies on it)  I had to get two rolls of each kind of fabric for the ten bows I got out of them. Each was about a $1.50, so we spent about $9 on ribbon

2)some sturdy wire - we chose the green floral stuff as its a thicker, and heavier wire so it wouldn't droop as much. Floral wire is relatively cheap and pre-cut, these were 99 cents for like twenty of them, which worked out since you need two per bow.

How to make ones like ours:
1) Cut a pre-cut floral wire in half. Tie a section of ribbon into a bow, slip the floral wire (like shown). Repeat with other ribbon colors, weaving the wire throughout and adjusting to show all ribbon. twist to secure and then twist around a full-length piece of wire - this wire will be used to secure around the pew/chair. Important Note: The ends of the ribbon may become frayed, simply running through a flame quickly will seal the ends and prevent fraying more.

2)Repeat for as many bows as desired.

That's it! Now it took a little bit to get it going because I had expected a different look. But once I found one that I liked I went with it. It was easy and quick. I didn't have a lot of time, as I had mentioned. but it was an easy thing for me to throw in a basket and have some one else decorate the church quickly with.

They were easy to 'clean-up' the church with too. Since they just slipped onto the pews there was no "making sure all the tape was removed" or that we'd caused no damage to the pews. 

We created several bows for less than a dollar a piece! To get more volume, use wider ribbon, wired ribbon or tulle. Wired tulle would be even better as you get the volume and thickness while being able to fix the shape of it. Now just because we made some puny bows for our puny pews doesn't mean you have to do it! I've seen where people skip the pew decoration, figuring they "don't plan on spending too much time in the ceremony location so why decorate it?" That's perfectly fine too! In fact up until three days before the wedding I was one of those people... It seemed like a waste of time. But I had that time in the end so I went with it. But their are other options. This next one was one of my favorite and if your getting married when hydrangeas and/or lilacs are blooming I would definitely take advantage of this next one.


I've actually heard of someone doing the one similar to the one on the right. From what I understand, she simply took a large hydgrangea flower and put it in a paper cone fastening it to the pew with a ribbon. To attach the ribbon punch one (preferably two to prevent ripping of the paper) and slide the ribbon through. Tie in a bow to finish the ends. When you do it that way you can use whatever paper you'd like! Scrapbooking paper, canvas, newspapers.... its endless! $AVINGS TIP: Check local flower shops, gardens or retail stores for large flowers. Large flowers equal more flower for less dollar.

Check out other pew decorations, below, and tune in next time for more Wedding on the Cheap! :)

Happy planning!