Are you wondering how to style your wedding arch? Your wedding arch typically frames the location of your ceremony, providing a gorgeous backdrop for one of the most important moments of your life. It provides a stunning scene for your guests and makes your wedding photos look more beautiful and dramatic. If you’re wondering how to style your wedding arch, here are ten popular wedding arch styles to consider.
1. Go All-Natural with Greenery
If you want a lovely, nature-inspired backdrop for your wedding, consider going all-natural with a wedding arch made entirely out of greenery. There are many different types of greenery that you can add to an arch to make it feel voluminous.
Fresh and preserved are both great options for creating a natural-looking arch. Consider using greenery such as amaranthus, willow, ruscus, eucalyptus, and more. If you create your greenery wedding arch with a free-form shape and a little bit of extra flair, it will be an attention-grabber.
Sometimes, using greenery is more affordable than using flowers, especially if you’re making a thick, full wedding arch. So, this all-natural greenery arch could also be a budget-friendly option!
2. Blend Into Your Venue
When you’re designing your wedding arch style, consider a style that will blend into or complement your wedding venue. If you’re having an outdoor wedding ceremony in a woodsy area, you could choose to include flowers and greenery in your arch that appear to naturally grow out of your surroundings for a magical effect.
If you’re getting married in a formal, indoor location, a more traditional wedding arch filled with white roses might complement your venue more. No matter where you get married, make sure you choose a wedding arch style that you love and that matches your vision for your big day.
3. Use Lots of Flowers
One of the most popular styles of wedding arches is the floral arch. Floral arches are timeless and beautiful and can be completely customized according to your vision for your wedding flowers. You can use tropical flowers, wildflowers, traditional roses, and much more in your arch. When you’re choosing your flowers, make sure they match your wedding colors and the colors that your bridal party will be wearing. Your wedding arch can help the colors of your bridal party to be more cohesive.
Keep in mind that fresh flowers can wilt easily, especially if you’re in a hot, dry location. Make sure you have a plan to keep your flowers well-watered and looking fresh. For example, you can connect them to a damp floral sponge, keep them in a water source until the last minute, or spray them regularly with water.
Use lots of flowers. Photo by Camila Cordeiro on Unsplash.com
You can also save yourself from worrying about wilting flowers by using artificial flowers. Silk flowers, dried flowers, and wood flowers are all realistic-looking and gorgeous in a wedding arch. Wood flowers are also much more affordable than fresh flowers, particularly since you can DIY your own arches. check out Sola Wood Flowers wedding collections to explore hundreds of different wood flower assortments that are unique, affordable and environmentally friendly!
4. Choose a Minimalist Style
Aren’t a fan of the huge, overdramatic wedding arches overflowing with flowers? No problem. You can still have a minimalist wedding arch that will be a focal point for your ceremony and provide special symbolism for the new beginning of your life together.
Many minimalist wedding arch styles consist of a thin metal or wood frame in the shape of your choice. You then might choose to add a small arrangement of flowers or draping of fabric. For a modern minimalist approach, you could even use a solid wood arch cutout painted in a color of your choice as your perfect backdrop. Less can be more, even on your wedding day.
5. Drape Fabric for an Elegant Touch
Speaking of minimalism, one popular (and affordable) style that has been all the rage lately is a wedding arch with a fabric drape. Silk or chiffon are two of the most popular types of fabric to use for this style. You can easily upgrade any arch, no matter how simple, by draping some beautiful fabric across it.
You can also wind the ends of the fabric around the arches of the legs, tie a dramatic bow with them, or simply let them hang for an effortless look. Once you’ve draped your fabric, you can add a small burst of florals or greenery, or simply let the elegant fabric be the center of attention.
6. Focus on One Main Flower
If you want a more traditional look for your wedding arch, focus on using one main type of flower. This can help your wedding arch look more uniform, structured and traditional, compared to other bohemian, free-flowing styles with lots of different flowers.
You can create a breathtaking wedding arch just out of some simple greenery and roses! You can use a variety of sizes of roses in different colors to create a stunning look. Using the same type of flower for your entire wedding arch allows you to play creatively with color.
For example, you could create a stunning ombre gradient out of a variety of colors of peonies. Focusing on one flower for your floral arch can still have a huge, stunning impact. For more inspiration on how to style your flowers for your wedding arch, check out this article from Brides.com!
7. Inspire a Monochromatic Mood
If you’re not having a wide variety of colors at your wedding, you might want to consider inspiring a monochromatic mood by sticking to a single color for your wedding arch. This can help you to have a bold wedding arch style that also functions as a statement piece in your wedding photos.
For a super dramatic look, forgo the greenery and try making your arch completely out of one shade of flowers, such as bright red, pink, or purple. If you have more of a traditional style, you can choose to do a monochromatic arch made entirely out of white flowers and greenery.
8. Use a Non-Traditional Altar Shape
You can have a unique wedding arch by using a non-traditional altar shape. This can showcase a different style and inspire a different feel in your guests. If you’re bored of the traditional arch shape, consider using a triangle, square frame, circle, or asymmetrical shape instead.
Triangle wedding altars have been especially popular in bohemian weddings, such as mountain elopements. An asymmetrical wedding altar could have most of an arch shape that doesn’t touch either side, using the negative space to create a visually interesting shape. Using a non-traditional wedding altar shape could be the key to creating your dream wedding aesthetic.
9. Go Over The Top with Texture
Don’t be afraid to amp up the texture of your wedding arch. You can create a dramatic, voluminous wedding arch that is full of texture by choosing greenery, flowers, and fillers that have lots of unique shapes and details.
If you’re going for a boho desert vibe, pampas grass and dried flowers can create the perfect texture. If you’re getting married on a beach, fun tropical greenery and unique flowers can create intricate textures. And if you want a whimsical and romantic wedding arch, use fluffy, delicate flowers like hydrangeas, wisteria, delphiniums and more.
You can attach these flowers to your wedding arch in a way that leaves them hanging and draped beautifully. When your wedding arch has a lot of texture it is sure to make a huge impact on your guests and on your wedding photos.
10. Use a Pergola
If you want to have more structure and wood/metal details in your wedding arch, consider using a pergola. You can use a delicate, romantic pergola with intricate wood details and beautiful paint colors. You can also go for a more rustic feel by making an arbor out of raw, reclaimed wood.
This video tutorial from HGTV shows an example of making a wedding arch with farmhouse-style reclaimed wood doors, which is perfect for a rustic wedding! If you’re looking for a more traditional pergola or wooden wedding arch, check out this tutorials instead.
