Having a beautiful wedding arbor to hold your ceremony under or take photos with is a brilliant way to personalize your big day! You’ll probably have noticed however that they can get seriously expensive for even the most basic designs!
If you want something unique to you, personalized to your style, and perfectly suited to your wedding day, why not build it yourself?
Read on for our step-by-step instructions to build your wedding arbor!
First Things To Consider
1) Choose Your Location
The first thing you need to decide is where you are going to put your arbor, that way you’ll have a better idea of the size you’ll need.
If you’re having an outdoor wedding in a wide open space such as a beach or meadow, you’ll have the freedom to get as large and grand as you like. For indoor weddings, you may be looking to create something a tad more modest.
If the wedding is indoors, try to choose somewhere that will give you plenty of space to stand around and enjoy your day. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t really matter how small this area is as long as it has enough room for guests to gather around and admire your work!
2) Decide What Style You Want
Once you’ve decided where you’re going to place your arbor, you need to think about what kind of design you’d like. There are so many different styles out there – from traditional wooden ones to modern metal ones.
And don’t forget about those quirky arbors made up of old doors and windows! Pinterest and wedding magazines are your best friend for this bit, you’ll be surprised how many amazing quirky ideas are out there!
3) Figure Out The Size Of Your Arbor
Now you need to figure out exactly how large you want your arbor to be. This is important because once you’ve built it, you won’t be able to change it without taking it down again!
If you want to keep it as part of your decor when the party’s over, make sure you allow enough space for people to walk through and admire it.
4) Get A Plan Together
Now, draw a rough plan of what you want it to look like and start thinking about how you’re going to go about making it. For example, do you want it to be solid wood or more likely just painted white? Do you want it to be made of timber or metal?
5) Find Suppliers or Find DIY supplies
If you don’t want to go the DIY route, now you need to find suppliers who specialize in making arbors. They may be local businesses or online companies. Either way, you’ll need to check their credentials before buying anything from them.
Ask friends and family whether they know anyone who does arbor building and see if they recommend any specific companies. Otherwise, look around your local hardware stores or garden centers to find supplies you can use to build your arbor.
Building Your Arbor
There are so many different ways and styles to build your arbor, some simple, others more complex! Here are a few ideas you can use:
Garden Trellis Arbor
This is probably the simplest type of arbor to build. All you need to do is buy a trellis frame and attach it to a wall or fence. Then you simply need to hang your flowers and greenery from it.
Buy two tall trellis frames and place them on a wall as your background. Cut a third trellis frame to fit in between the two tall ones to create a rectangular arch. This works perfectly for a garden or outdoor wedding if you are on your property.
You can either train flowers to grow up the trellis frames if you have time to prepare and plan, or you can buy vines or fake flowers and place them through the frames. You can also add balloons, wording, stars, or any other personalized decorations to this.
Wooden Arbor
Wooden arbors are very popular these days. You can choose to use an already-made one or build your own. To build your own, all you need to do is purchase a wooden frame that will hold your arbor together.
After that, you can paint it whatever color you like. You can then fill it with plants such as roses, gerberas, peonies, daisies, dahlias, lilies, tulips, and any other flower you wish. You can even get a tree planted inside and cover it with leaves. The possibilities are endless!
To make a wooden arbor:
1. Purchase a wooden frame. Alternatively, get two pieces of wood cut at the hardware store to the height you want (see previous guidance for checking the space you’ll be putting your arbor).
Attach to two identical sized ‘feet’ with screws. Attach both of these pieces to a piece of wood cut to your desired width.
2. Paint it however you like.
3. Attach it to a wall or post.
4. Fill it with plants.
Metal Arbor
Metal arbors are great because they are easy to clean and maintain. They are also very sturdy and won’t bend or break easily.
As it’s pretty hard to make these properly yourself unless you are a blacksmith or handy with a blowtorch, you can pick up a basic metal gardening trellis frame from larger home improvement centers or gardening centers. You’ll be surprised at the kinds you can find for a reasonable price!
How To Decorate Your Arbor
Once you’ve got your frame – whether DIY-ed or bought – the fun bit begins! This is where you get to personalize your wedding arbor to suit your color scheme, your decor style, and your floral arrangements.
Here are a few ideas of things you can include for a beautiful and unique wedding arbor that will make a perfect place to hold your ceremony and take photos that you can look back on for a lifetime:
1. Flowers
You can go wild here and put anything you’d like in there. Roses, tulips, carnations, mums, hydrangeas, sunflowers, poppies, chrysanthemums, freesia, baby’s breath, ranunculus, and so many more.
2. Wreaths
If you’re having your ceremony somewhere with no trees, then you may want to consider adding a wreath to your arbor. It doesn’t have to be too big either – just enough to fit around your whole frame.
You could add a ribbon tied around the top of the frame, or you could hang a garland of greenery over it.
3. Candles
If you’re having your wedding indoors, candles would be a lovely addition to your wedding arbor. You can buy them in bulk from places like Amazon or eBay.
Just make sure you check the packaging before buying to ensure you don’t end up with melted wax dripping down your walls.
4. Lanterns
Lanterns are another option you can include in your wedding arbor. If you wanted the candle look for an outside wedding, a few lanterns are a great way to keep the flames alive and dancing through the ceremony, even if the wind picks up.
You can purchase lanterns in bulk from places like Etsy or Amazon.
5. Plants
There are lots of different types of plants you can choose from. Some are good indoors, such as geraniums, ferns, and begonias.
Others are better suited for outdoor use, such as roses, lilies, hibiscus, daisies, and dahlias. Choose whatever looks right for your wedding arbor.
6. String Lights
There are lots of different ways you can light your wedding arbor. The simplest way is to string lights along the length of the frame. These come in all sorts of colors and designs, and you can even buy them in bulk from sites like Amazon.
Another option is to use fairy lights which are small lights strung together in various patterns.
7. Photo Frames
Photo frames are great for displaying photographs of the happy couple. They also work well if you’re planning to display pictures of the wedding day itself. You can buy photo frames in bulk from places like eBay or Amazon.
Final Thoughts
Whatever you choose to do for your wedding arbor, be sure to put in as much or as little detail and personality as you like!
It’s your special day, so whether you deck it out with colorful balloons or keep it simple with string lights and ivy, don’t be afraid to make a beautiful centerpiece that suits you.
