Columbia Gorge Weddings: March 2011

Many brides and grooms focus majority of their attention, time, and money on decorating the reception area of their wedding, although many forget the most important space: the ceremony site! This is where the two give their vows to each other and begin the day in front of all of their family and friends, but in the past I have seen little attention given to this area as far as decoration and making it as beautiful, if not more than the reception area. Here, I have found some great ideas to add some color, beauty, elegance, spice and personal touches to your aisle way!

If you are planning on having your wedding on a beach, forget about finding an aisle runner. Instead, have rose petals that match your wedding colors floating down the aisle and line the edge of the aisle with different seashells. Make sure to find a variety of colors and sizes so they will stand out in the sand. Or like the photo below shows, lay the seashells on soft fabric to make an even more noticeable aisle edge. Hunting for seashells is a fun job for kids and the wedding party to take part in the days before the wedding...who doesn't love looking for seashells at a beach?!?!

A very common, simple and beautiful way to add more to your aisle way is to have a blanket of rose petals of one color or a variety of colors that match the wedding. May be difficult at times to keep all the rose petals in place if a it is a very windy day, so make sure to place them down the aisle minutes before the ceremony starts.

Many brides that are wanting even more of an effect for their ceremony site have the florist or other assigned person in creating designs and shapes down the aisle with flower petals. Look at these beautiful aisle ways!

You can also cover your aisle with other flowers, colors or greenery depending on the season of your wedding. If you are getting married in the fall, look for colored leaves to use down the aisle.

Another addition you can make to a fall wedding is to have pumpkins down the aisle. You can tie colorful ribbons around them or carve them and have candles in them for a beautiful glow!

The one I love most with weddings are candles...EVERYWHERE! I think that the more candles you have, the more beautiful and elegant the wedding looks, but that is my opinion. I love it when the aisle way of a ceremony is lined with either short or table pieces that hold candles.

Even if you are getting married during the daylight, make sure to light the candles during the evening. Many family and friends venture over to the ceremony site during the reception.

Another great idea is to use centerpieces that will be used for your reception for your aisle way. After the ceremony is over, have assigned people to take the pieces back to the reception are and place them on the table. You can also just choose to create floral arrangements in vases just for the ceremony.

Yesterday I met with a bride and we were discussing centerpiece ideas and she mentioned how she wants to use green apple and/or cherries in them...and it made me think of writing a post about how to incorporate fruit into your wedding day! Being that CGW is located in Hood River, which is well know for is amazing orchards filled with tasty fruit, we try to incorporate local farmer's products into our weddings. Using fruits in your wedding is a great way to add color and texture to your wedding. Fruit is also very cost effective!! Fruit typically last longer than flowers, therefore if you are to make the arrangements yourself, you will be able to prepare them a few days in advance!

Escort Cards/Table Setting Cards
A common use of different fruits from Hood River that CGW has done in the past is use either pears or apples as an escort card holder. Being that there are so many different types of pears and apples, the couple has a wide variety of shades and colors to choose from! Line the fruit along a table and either rest the escort card on the fruit or use a decorative floral pin to place the card on the fruit itself (this is a great idea, especially on those windy days!!). To add more color and decoration, scatter rose petals or other flowers around the escort card table!

Here we used crystal end floral pins to pin the escort cards to the pears.

Here, the escort cards are inside the labeled envelope and placed against the pears. Photo by Vlado Sklenar.

Another great idea is to punch a hole in the corner of the card and tie the card with a colorful ribbon to a pin and stick the card into the fruit, like shown above with apples. Photo by Vlado Sklenar

I love this idea of making the leaves out of paper and pinning the to the apples with the guest's names and which table they will be sitting at. SO CUTE!

Very simple and VERY cute ideas with lemons!

Place the piece of fruit on the table setting with the guests name.

I love how the name is wrapped around the pear and stuck with a pin! Very cute!!

Fruit Name/Place Cards - San Diego Weddings

Here the name of the guest is hand written on the lemon!

Centerpiece

Adding fruit to centerpieces has become a huge trend within the wedding industry. It adds fun colors you may not find in flowers you like, adds texture and dimension to your centerpieces.

If you and your fiance are planning on getting married at a vineyard, incorporate grapes into a wine themed wedding. The photo above used apples in the base of the centerpiece and added grapes to the top of the arrangement. Left photo by Columbia Gorge Images

Here the pears rest at the bottom of the centerpiece with bright pink flowers to top!

This large vase is filled with pears with a matching rustic colored ribbon tied around the vase with the table number on the ribbon. Very simple and easy to do yourself!

Instead of having the fruit at the bottom of the vase, here the apples are placed above with other flowers.

Cake Decoration

Another great way to incorporate fruit into your wedding is to add around your cake. You can use small or large fruit at add to your cake as decoration.