Decorations for Church Wedding Ceremonies: Tips & Ideas

Coming up with decorations for church wedding ceremonies is not difficult because most churches need minimal decoration. In many churches, most of the internal decoration of the building is already done for you, with stained glass windows, wooden pews and an altar.

Even if the church where you're planning to have your wedding ceremony is in the minimalist style, keep your decorations simple and focus most of your wedding decor budget on the wedding reception.

The altar will be the focal point of your wedding, so ideas for decorations for church wedding ceremonies mostly focus here. Wedding altar decorations tend to be:

Flowers

Flowers will always be good choices for decorations for church wedding ceremonies. You can choose a larger central arrangement or a taller vase of flowers set off to the side on the table or in tall floor stands on either side.

Choose flowers which fit your color scheme but are muted, so that the bright flowers in your bouquet are the ones that stand out.

Candles

Big church candles will always look good, especially if your church is poorly lit or you’re having an evening ceremony. Try to get candles of a similar width and chop different lengths from the bottoms to give you flames at different heights.

You may also want a unity candle to be part of your ceremony.

If you’re struggling for time, try using candelabra to get the same effect.

Photos

You may wish to place framed photos of your parents' and even grandparents' wedding photos on the table along with flowers and candles.

Traditional pew decorations consist ribbons and/or flowers. You can add decoration to the end of every pew, but this is not necessary. Most brides and grooms choose to decorate the ends of the first few pews on each side of the aisle.

The pew decorations can designate the pews where family is to be seated, but this is not a hard and fast rule.

Attach large ribbon bows to the end of the pews, large bows with a small flower sprig, small natural or silk flower wreaths or a small arrangement of flowers with or without ribbons.

If the pews are not constructed in a way that allows you to hang your church pew decorations with a loop of ribbon, consider using pew clips and a hanging cone vases from Amazon, or make your own paper flower cones.

If bows and flowers aren’t your thing, you could also find a series of childhood pictures of the bride and groom, and attach them in order on the relevant side of the church. That will also help guests know where to sit, if they are unfamiliar with proper protocol.

The most important thing to do is discuss any rules or advisories for decorations for church wedding ceremonies with the minister.

Most wedding church decorations tips point to white as a traditional color for its significance of purity within most religions. However, the soft light allowed by the large windows in most churches means that off-white colors like cream and yellow will blend nicely with your surroundings.

Bolder colors can work, but know that, in some churches, red or purple may have negative connotations, so it’s best to verify with the pastor that these colors are okay to use or just stay away from them as accent colors.

See bow ribbon, aisle runners, unity candles, boxwood wreaths, pew bows, silk flowers and flower arranging supplies on Amazon.com.

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