Wedding Offshore

How to decorate a wedding arch with flowers

By Wedding Offshore Team

Decorating an arch with flowers is a project you can plan in stages. This guide focuses on the flowers: what to choose, how to prepare them, how to fix them and what to check before the day. If you want help deciding the overall look of your arch, our guide on how to style a wedding arch covers that side.

Choose fresh, artificial or a mix

Each option has trade-offs, and the right one depends on your time, your venue and how you want to use the arch afterwards.

  • Fresh flowers look and smell natural, but they need keeping cool and watered until the last moment, and they are best handled by someone with experience.
  • Artificial flowers can be prepared well ahead, do not wilt and can be reused. Quality varies, so look at a sample in daylight before you commit.
  • A mix lets you use artificial flowers and foliage for the structure and a few fresh stems for scent and variety.

Whichever you choose, ask your supplier about delivery times and how far ahead you can order, because these vary.

Plan the shape before you buy

Look at your arch and decide where the flowers will go. A few common shapes:

  • Full coverage, where flowers run along both sides and across the top
  • One side heavy, with a cluster on one upright and trailing down the top
  • Corner clusters, with a bunch on each upper corner and foliage between
  • Top only, with a garland or swag across the top and nothing on the sides

If you want a photo area rather than a ceremony arch, see our guide to wedding backdrop ideas for photos. Sketch your arch and mark where each cluster sits. This helps you count how many stems or bunches you need, and shows whether the arch can take the weight. If you are choosing a frame, you can look through our wedding arches to compare shapes and sizes.

Gather what you need

A simple kit makes setting up easier. You will usually need:

  • The flowers and foliage, plus a few spare stems
  • Floral wire and a strong thread or cable ties in a colour that blends with the frame
  • Scissors or snips, and a small saw or secateurs for thicker stems
  • A pair of gloves
  • Water and a bucket for fresh stems
  • A step ladder or stool that is stable on the ground you will be working on

Check with your venue what you can use to fix things, because some venues have rules about wire, tape or anything that touches their walls or floor.

Prepare the flowers

Do as much as you can before the day:

  1. Lay out your flowers and foliage by type.
  2. Trim stems to a length that suits the cluster you are making.
  3. Make small bunches, with foliage at the back and a focal flower at the front, and bind each with wire.
  4. Keep fresh bunches somewhere cool, with their stems in water, until they are needed.
  5. Photograph a finished bunch, so anyone helping can copy it.

Making bunches of a similar size helps you spread them evenly along the frame.

Fix the flowers to the arch

Work in a sensible order so you do not have to undo anything:

  1. Check the arch is steady. Stand it where it will be used and make sure it does not rock. For an outdoor setting, ask your venue about the ground and how to hold it in place.
  2. Start with the foliage. Wire or tie it along the frame to create a base.
  3. Add the largest flowers first. Place them where you want the eye to land, then work outwards.
  4. Fill gaps with smaller stems. Step back every few minutes and look from where guests will stand.
  5. Secure everything twice. A cable tie or wire at the back of each bunch stops it sliding.
  6. Finish with a check from the front. Look from the seats or the entrance, not just up close.

If you are using the arch outdoors, think about wind and weather. Check the forecast, and ask your venue what happens if conditions change.

What to check with your venue

Rules vary, so ask early:

  • Access. When can you or your helpers get in to set up, and for how long?
  • Fixing. What are you allowed to attach to, and with what?
  • Water and mess. Can fresh flowers be used, and where should you work so you do not mark floors?
  • Moving the arch. Will the arch move from the ceremony to the reception, and who will carry it?
  • Clearing up. Who removes the flowers and the arch afterwards?

Keep the cost down

  • Use more foliage and fewer large flowers, because foliage fills space for less.
  • Pick one focal flower and repeat it.
  • Reuse the arch flowers elsewhere, such as in a photo area, where one of our backdrops can carry the same colours.
  • Make a sample first, so you know how many bunches you need before you order.
  • Ask your supplier whether returns or spare stems are possible before you buy extra.

Next steps

Sketch your arch, count your clusters and make one finished bunch. Fix it to the frame and look at it from where guests will sit. If you like it, you will know exactly how much to order for the rest.

Asked and answered

How far ahead can I decorate an arch with fresh flowers?

It depends on the flowers and how they are stored, so ask your florist or supplier. Artificial flowers can be prepared ahead, but fresh flowers are best handled close to the day.

Can I put flowers on any arch?

Most arches can hold flowers, but check how much weight the frame can take and whether the surface lets you attach wire or ties. Ask the supplier if you are unsure.

Do I need a ladder to decorate the top of an arch?

Often, yes. A stable step ladder or stool makes it easier, and a second person to hold it is safer. Check that the ground is firm before you climb.

How do I keep an outdoor arch steady?

Place it on firm, level ground and check the supplier's guidance on securing it. In windy weather, ask your venue what is possible, because rules and options vary.