Decorating a community hall for our wedding -advice needed

chrish12345

So we are trying to decorate our local community hall for our wedding reception and im having a few difficulties identifying what I need! I have read a few threads on here of people doing the same and I have looked at websites but when I try and find the materials they specify they only seem to be sold in the USA..

So im in desperate need of help on two levels! 1. Inspiration and 2. Sourcing cheap stuff!

We need to do this as cheap as possible so I was thinking of buying as much as possible second hand so I can resell it again after and not loose out too much


The vision - We want to turn the hall into a secret garden, the reason being it would be nice to have it outdoors but with the weather being so unpredictable its out of the question. Also marquees are way too expensive!

Its a fairly big hall 21m x 10m and has a very high ceiling.. maybe 5m?

Floor - I plan to astro turf the majority of the hall, leaving an area of wooded floor for dancing. There seems to be enough available on ebay second hand, the main issue would be the weight of it.. Any other suggestions here?

Walls - The walls need to be covered up. We were thinking of white sheeting it all but that doesn't feel very garden like or we are not sure how to get it to stay up?

Ceiling - We could white sheet that as well with wires but again not quote sure how to make it more garden

Tables - Again white table cloths and decorated with moss. Need some inspiration here too, we were thinking of having an edible centerpice but disguised as something else IE a choclate log as real looking as possible any other suggestions?

Lighting - fairy lights should work wrapped around branches?

We will be using potted plants to decorate around the room and the colour theme will be green white and teal.

As for the sheets, where is the cheapest place to get it from? What named materials should I look out for?

Any ideas much appreciated!

julie03

you could use blue sheets on the walls for a summer sky and paint on fluffy clouds, and maybe a picket fence not sure for the ceiling though

miss_independent

Congratulations!

For inspiration Pinterest and WeddingGawker are two great sites! Also, have a look on wedding photographers websites as you can look at what the couples did with the space they had.

Things like sheets, you can beg, steal and borrow lol! But if you wanted to bulk buy fabric, my main advice would be to go direct to a factory or warehouse that supplies fabric to fabric shops.

This might sound mad but what about using artificial christmas trees and chopping them up into individual mini trees or branches and wrapping fairy lights round them? The wire in the Christmas trees make them more pliable. You could also integrate flowers (silk or real, silk are easier) and organza or sparkly ribbon.

I'm sure others will have better ideas than me!

Secret Garden theme sounds amazing!

miss_independent

A quick google brought up this;

http://ohdarlingdays.co.za/2011/12/tracey-and-ryan-enchanted-secret-garden.html

Amanda65

You might find a roll of cheap white / coloured material from a rag market cheaper than sheets and you'd have the advantage of being able to cut to size. Are you or do you know anyone 'arty' who could paint trees etc onto the material

chrish12345

julie03 wrote: »

you could use blue sheets on the walls for a summer sky and paint on fluffy clouds, and maybe a picket fence not sure for the ceiling though

Hi Julie thats not a bad idea but I think we are going for more of a night time thing so fairly low lighting with fairy lights etc

miss_independent wrote: »

Congratulations!

For inspiration Pinterest and WeddingGawker are two great sites! Also, have a look on wedding photographers websites as you can look at what the couples did with the space they had.

Things like sheets, you can beg, steal and borrow lol! But if you wanted to bulk buy fabric, my main advice would be to go direct to a factory or warehouse that supplies fabric to fabric shops.

This might sound mad but what about using artificial christmas trees and chopping them up into individual mini trees or branches and wrapping fairy lights round them? The wire in the Christmas trees make them more pliable. You could also integrate flowers (silk or real, silk are easier) and organza or sparkly ribbon.

I'm sure others will have better ideas than me!

Secret Garden theme sounds amazing!

Thanks for the post, my fiance has become obsessed with pintrest in recent weeks! We will have to check out WeddingGawker though, sounds interesting!

That artificial tree might not be a bad idea! I was thinking of going down the local woods and picking up loads of loose but large twigs as the woodland is being coppiced but then they have no greenery so wouldnt look so nice

Amanda65 wrote: »

You might find a roll of cheap white / coloured material from a rag market cheaper than sheets and you'd have the advantage of being able to cut to size. Are you or do you know anyone 'arty' who could paint trees etc onto the material

Hi yeah I think a roll would definately suit better as we will need loads by the sounds of it! Handt really concidered painting trees on.. that might be an idea! Do you think that might look tacky? We definately want to avoid a tacky/ school play feel to it..

Amanda65

chrish12345 wrote: »

Hi yeah I think a roll would definately suit better as we will need loads by the sounds of it! Handt really concidered painting trees on.. that might be an idea! Do you think that might look tacky? We definately want to avoid a tacky/ school play feel to it..

Depends on the artist lol. If not trees maybe leaf prints?

angeltreats

You could get old pallets for free/next to nothing and use them to make some "fencing" fairly easily.

Candles in jam jars in amongst the moss on the tables would be nice, and less of a fire hazard than just bare candles. Ask on Freecycle or beg them off friends & family.

For your cake, you could do a huge buche de noel complete with meringue mushrooms. Very easy but very effective, and you could do it yourself a day or two before as it keeps well. I did one last Christmas that went down a treat and really looked the part.

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/community/yule-log-buche-de-noel-recipe

I love the whole idea, I'd love to go to a wedding like this!

chrish12345

angeltreats wrote: »

You could get old pallets for free/next to nothing and use them to make some "fencing" fairly easily.

Candles in jam jars in amongst the moss on the tables would be nice, and less of a fire hazard than just bare candles. Ask on Freecycle or beg them off friends & family.

For your cake, you could do a huge buche de noel complete with meringue mushrooms. Very easy but very effective, and you could do it yourself a day or two before as it keeps well. I did one last Christmas that went down a treat and really looked the part.

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/community/yule-log-buche-de-noel-recipe

I love the whole idea, I'd love to go to a wedding like this!

That cake looks great. The mushrooms would be a nice touch

Thats made me think of what other natural garden things could be recreated as edible, heston blumenthal style!

lolly_896

The only thing i can think of is bunting? Use pinking sheers in stead of scissors and you should be able to make metres of it cheaply?

Are you looking for a Garden party look or a woodsy feel?

spacey2012

I would not stick up any cloth sheeting that has not been approved with the correct fire rating, things can and do go wrong when people stick things on walls
(see Brazilian nightclub fire)
All it needs to do is cause a stampede when some drunken fool puts a lighter to it.
Why not look at an LED lighting rig and coloured light the walls ?