Do you ever have those moments where you know exactly what you want, but no matter how hard you search, you just cannot find it? This was my situation with the wedding arch. I was looking for something nice and simple, that we could attach flowers to, and was strong enough to be moved around. After a few weeks of searching, I realized that I would have to make my own.
Now, remember when you’re looking at the pictures, when I say “make my own”, I really mean “I conned my Dad into building it for me”…
First, we started with some deadwood, stripped the bark off, and cut them to size.
To make transportation easier, the arch would have to be able to be dismantled. After drilling some pilot holes, Dad screwed in some bolts, then chopped the top off them, so it was like a metal peg.
This peg slid into a corresponding hole on the crossbar. We had to cable tie across the join to keep everything secure.
Testing out the height of the cross bar
To make the arch stand up on it’s own, we used some metal buckets, with a plastic pipe in the center, then filled around it with quick-set concrete. The bottom of the arch could slide in and out of the pipe.
On the morning of the wedding, we assembled the arch, and got to decorating it.
Yep, that’s me in my PJ’s…
I tied strips of white fabric to the cross bar and sides, then added the frame for the flowers. You can just see them in the picture above, I used chicken wire which was bent into an L shape. These were cable tied to the arch, then filled with flowers.
I really went to town with this, not only because I think it looked amazing over-stuffed, but I didn’t want any of the chicken wire showing.
The arch turned out exactly how I wanted. I’m so thankful that my Dad had the skills (and basically a workshop full of tools) to be able to bring the arch to life! It was the perfect frame for such a beautiful view.
Photo by James Day
Mitty x
Made by Mitty 