Altar Flowers

Caitlynmk

Hey ladies! I know a lot of us are getting married on 3/23, which if you are Catholic like me, is the day before Palm Sunday. Our Priest said that if we get altar flowers with the intention of donating them to the church after the ceremony, that they won't have anywhere to put them since they can only have palms that weekend. My question is, should I even bother getting them? I mean- they are $150 and since the church is very pretty I don't think they are totally necessary plus we could save some money. Maybe we'd be okay with just pew flowers? Anyone have thoughts or have considered this as well?

kari06_12

I am not Catholic, nor am I getting married in a church, but, read on

We are getting married at a country club with huge gorgeous windows as our backdrop ... I have been straining my brain trying to figure out what to use as decorations and tonight I asked my "event coordinator" lady at the venue and she said that the previuos ceremony which was held there (it is a new venue) was beautiful with NO decorations.  Obviously, your church is going to look nothing like our venue but my point is a ceremony can be awesome without needing floral arrangements ... ESPECIALLY CATHOLIC CHURCHES!!! (I often joked with my Catholic friends in college when I would go to mass with them that I wished my mom had raised me Catholic so I could get married at their church).

I don't know if that helps at all ... but you're not the only one questioning decor

Have you considered any type of aisle runner? I love the "petal aisle runners" that you can DIY ... or what about lining the aisle with vases and candles?  I don't know if your reception is closeby or anything, but could you double the use of any decor?  We are leaning towards vases and candles lining the aisle then using them to line the exit path afterwards outside the venue... I'll keep you updated with any "little decor as possible" ceremony ideas  I come across...

jennipea382

I agree that you could double your flowers as reception decor. Maybe not for centerpieces, but you could use them on your dining table, the gift table, guestbook table, something like that. Or is there somewhere else you could donate the flowers? Maybe a nursing home or hospital? If there's one nearby maybe you can arrange for someone to pick them up after the ceremony or have someone drop them off on their way to the reception.

Also, I don't think a lot of decoration is necessary. I don't know what your church looks like but a lot I've been to are gorgeous inside! If we find a place other than our reception venue for the ceremony, we probably won't do much decorating (plus for us, the ceremony won't be long so the guests won't be in there long. I know that's usually not the case with a Catholic wedding though!).

kaceymarie

we aren't having decorations at our ceremony. i feel like for our wedding simple is the way to go.

Caitlynmk

Thanks ladies, I was thinking along the same lines! I don't think we'll have an aisle runner but we will have hydrangeas on every other pew so I think that will be enough.We're planning on having someone take those pew flowers from the church to reuse them on the guest book and gift table. The church is really pretty, and with the palms already being there as decoration, I'm thinking we can nix the altar flowers.

Jennipea- I love the idea of donating the flowers to a nursing home, we're actually already planning to do that with the centerpieces from our reception

misscrafty84

I'm getting married at FIs Lutheran church but am Catholic and I agree, you'll probably be fine, I'd almost guess they might have the church decorated for Psalm Sunday before your wedding, I'm sure it'll look great. I'm trying to stick to, 'less is more'. I'm not sure we'll do any decorations at the church, I'm tempted by the petal aisle runner but think it would look weird if iut was the 'only' flowers, kwim?

kari06_12

I'm so back and forth with the petal aisle runner ... all I can think about is how much time it is going to take ha.  Trying to decide if it'd even look right ... also considering two skinny ones (like 3" maybe) on each side of the aisle ... going back and forth ... ahh tough call!!