Decorating a community hall for our wedding -advice needed

chrish12345

miss_independent wrote: »

OP, just a thought you could incorporate... Its easy to get hold of bunches of old fashioned iron keys (like in the book) and string them with ribbon or add them to centrepieces for decorative effect.

Fake heather can look very real and effective/pretty. Ivy HAS to be incorporated for that wild/overgrown look.

We actually thought about doing something with old keys on the table plan somehow, so you have to take your key to your place..? Not quite sure how just yet!

BritAbroad wrote: »

White sparkly tulle is inexpensive and you could wrap it around pillars to hide it. I like the idea of a painted sky on blue fabric - since you want a night-time theme you could have a navy sky with the moon and stars, and still do the white picket fence idea. You could also fill planters or half-barrels with mossy rocks. What about playing a CD with running water sounds (or if, you're really adventurous, rig up a stream using using assorted plastic tabs and crates carefully disguised and a pump for a fish pond!).

Get onto some American websites - they go to town for any sort of decoration and you might find it's cheaper to order from there. If you're going to do fairy lights, why not start asking your friends and family now if you can borrow their Christmas tree lights? Sounds like you'll need quite a lot so you probably want to start accumulating them soon!

I was thinking about doing some sort of fountains! You can buy pumps on ebay for about £8 so there is definately potential there. I origainally wanted fountains as centerpeices but binned the idea due to cost.. I never thought about making them though!

Yeah we will need alot of lights but luckily the hall have a stash that they said we can use! We dont want any guest bar close family and the bridesmaids/best man to know the theme so borrowing around might be difficult..

jackyann wrote: »

I agree that cheap fabric can quickly & effectively decorate somewhere. This site has cheapish fabric, but more importantly, sells fire retardant fabric (cheapest is £4 a metre) and sprays: fabricuk.com
These guys are a bit cheaper, but you have to ring them for info about fire retardant: http://www.fabricland.co.uk/
I have used really cheap fabric from markets (50p a metre) but not in situations where fire might have been a concern.

Thanks these sort of links are most helpful

nickj wrote: »

don't know what your budget is but my brother in law did our local hall out with marquee linings which are very effective http://chesterfords.info/chesterford%20CC%20Page%205.htm

Thats alot of fabric and looks great! Any ideas where to get stuff like that for cheap??


Thanks for the posts so far!

FatVonD

Could you get a recording of a waterfall instead of having a water feature?

How about painting names onto large pebbles/stones for place settings?

Gloomendoom

FatVonD wrote: »

Could you get a recording of a waterfall instead of having a water feature?

There will be a big queue at the loos.

chrish12345

Any suggestion for an edible center peice apart from a log chocolate cake that we could have for desert?

Gloomendoom

You could surround the chocolate log with chocolate bunnies.

Peanut2013

Just wanted to say I think this is a gorgeous idea and wish you all the luck

aliama

I feel a bit guilty for being the damp squid, but what's going to happen with the cleanup afterwards? Will you have until the next morning, or will they expect you to have the place clear by the evening? Because if it's the latter, I'd bear that in mind.

Other than that, it sounds like you have some lovely ideas. For the edible centrepiece, this might be a bit of a silly idea, but what about a croque en bouche with green icing? (to look like a pine tree)

chrish12345

aliama wrote: »

I feel a bit guilty for being the damp squid, but what's going to happen with the cleanup afterwards? Will you have until the next morning, or will they expect you to have the place clear by the evening? Because if it's the latter, I'd bear that in mind.

Other than that, it sounds like you have some lovely ideas. For the edible centrepiece, this might be a bit of a silly idea, but what about a croque en bouche with green icing? (to look like a pine tree)

Just googled what that was and I quite like the idea! I wonder if something else could be used instead of icing to make it look like a tree.. green die in think cream or slices of a green fruit maybe..

we have the hall for 4 days in total, two days before, the actual wedding day and the day after for a cleanup!

aliama

chrish12345 wrote: »

Just googled what that was and I quite like the idea! I wonder if something else could be used instead of icing to make it look like a tree.. green die in think cream or slices of a green fruit maybe..

we have the hall for 4 days in total, two days before, the actual wedding day and the day after for a cleanup!

Ah, plenty of time for a clean up then.

I was thinking you might be able to use some pine cones or autumn leaves (although maybe the wrong time of year) to decorate it. or mushroom sweets around the base to make it look like a forest floor.

http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/taveners-coconut-mushrooms-p-408.html

claire16c

chrish12345 wrote: »

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..

Have you looked up the materials you want on ebay? You could just buy them from an American seller. Or US website if they ship internationally.

Aslong as you keep each package under £17 you wont get charged taxes - remembering to include the postage charge. And if its something you really want it might be worth it anyway if the taxes are minimal - normally the £8 Royal mail 'admin fee' is more than the tax!!

I ordered some decorations for my wedding from Israel and China off ebay and saved a lot of money!