Wedding Blog
Until the day we met with our florist, having an altar never occurred to me. I don’t know why it wasn’t on my radar - I had thought about chairs, aisle decorations, runners, but no altar. The options she had to show us weren’t really my speed, as they were mostly arches that would cost several hundred dollars to cover with flowers. I figure that since we’re outdoors I don’t want to spend a lot of money “bringing in” more of what’s naturally there already. Plus, the entire ceremony will probably last about 20 minutes.
My cousin got married on a lake and her now husband and his Mom built their altar, which I think turned out really cool:
(Ignore the hideous MS Paint work in the middle there - I cropped them out of the picture for privacy’s sake!)
This picture was taken during the rehearsal, they put some fresh flowers on it the day of the wedding and it looked lovely. Plus, I think it’s special that they built the altar themselves. Mr. Sundae seems to think that building what he calls a “stick altar” will be quite the challenge considering we’ll have to actually assemble it up at the lake. We probably won’t be up there until a day or two before the wedding, so that might leave us pressed for time.
But, what if we do something a little more simple? Like this:
(For the life of me I can’t remember where I found this picture, it was before I started sourcing. My apologies!)
I love how simple that altar looks with the two containers of flowers on each side. We’re going to be using hydrangeas throughout the entire ceremony and reception (more on that later), so I think that filling the containers with white hydrangeas would be perfect. Now I just have to talk someone into building that altar 
Have any of you used altars outdoors our built them yourselves? Am I nuts for even attempting this? I have visions of it falling over on our heads!
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Share this post: Going To The Chapel… er… Lake
My dad and uncle built mine! It was just a simple arch they made out of two trees and some sprigs of a flowering bush the morning of the wedding (since we wanted the fresh greenery/flowers). You can soooort of see it here:
http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/08/14/the-bluebells-ceremony-pictures/
The only tricky part was trying to make sure it didn’t fall over. For that, they used really long wooden stakes (purchased at a hardware store) and hammered them in as deep as they could, then used lots of heavy duty rope to bind the bottom 6 or 8 inches of the trees making up the arch onto the stakes. It ended up being rock solid!
So pretty, Mrs. Bluebell! Really good point about the wooden stakes, that makes hopeful that it can be sturdy
Hi there, I think Rebecca Romijn (who used to be Stamos) used a arch in her first weeding. And they had asked their guests to bring flowers in a specific colour. And all the flowers were tied to the arch to make it special. That way all guests could leave their mark.
Maybe that is an idea how to get an altar and get your guest involved. This idea can be pushed further by having the guest write a personal note, that is attached to the flowers.
Greeting from Germany!
i love the that there are two coronas standing side by side on table on the left.
Yvonne, that’s a great idea…I love how personal that makes everything.
NT - you are very observant
I actually didn’t notice the paint job. How sad is that?? I think a handmade arch would be really nice for an outdoor wedding- better than paying a couple hundred bucks for something you could make yourself.
This is also my dilema. We need to decide how we want to frame our vows as we are getting married on my grandmother’s lawn with a view of the valley. Perhaps you could find 2 simple would trelleses that you can just run some vines through it.
You should be able to build a stick altar pretty easily. Definitely drive some kind of stakes into the ground, attach/lash it to the altar. If you want to make things a little more secure, you should add diagonal support along all your “vertical lines” of your alter. Example:
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You don’t need to make an X pattern but alternate directions of diagonals and it should be pretty sturdy.
I had some friends make a stick arch for their wedding:
You can see it here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tne/1403071970/
One option might be to sink the poles into something heavy, for example, planters with flowers–and as long as you keep the horizontal stuff lightweight, then I think you’d have to worry less about diagonal supports…
Ok so I really like the first one - however the second one reminds me of those stick figures from the Blair Witch Project. So maybe try and do a cross between the first one and the second. Just my suggestion.
I make arches and chuppahs often for my brides and I have to say that I have gotten really creative most of the time- using my surroundings. It really is not that difficult. If it is a densely wooded area, I would suggest cutting down a few smaller tree trunks and using them for the 4 posts… then using smaller branches to stabalize them (they don’t have to be perfect or even straight) and I think that it is always lovely to give it a “pitched roof” that ends up looking like a make-shift bird house or framework to some sort of building…
If you are a little worried about getting the “sticks” in time… then I suggest purchasing birch poles, which work really really well. The most important thing is to have several methods available to attach it all (twine, nails, etc)
Good Luck and I think that in truth, it is far far more economical and EASY to make this yourself!
love it! especially with some flowers draped over
We were fortunate enough that there were 2 trees perfectly positioned at the head of the “aisle,” so we had the judge stand there, and we got wonderful pix of the three of us framed by the trees in the background.
However, before we went “au natural” I considered some sort of altar-y thing…b/c it’s a windy place, one of my top contenders was to put either bamboo poles or shepherd’s crooks (I was thinking the black wrought iron type) and hanging flowers/white lanterns off them (to match the rest of our reception decor) at the head of the aisle. I wanted to just set off the head, rather than creating a big giant archway, which just seemed like too much trouble/expense. That way you don’t have to bother w/ the whole “it might crash down on our heads” crosspiece. Oh, and ditto the suggestion about “planting” your vertical pieces in planters — that way you can set them pretty deep and get a lot of support.
[...] I’ve mentioned before, this was my original inspiration for our altar (still can’t remember where I found this picture, [...]
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Mrs. Sundae, Chicago/Lake Geneva, WI
Age and Occupation: 28, Knowledge Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Investment Advisor
Engagement Date: July 20, 2007
Wedding Date: September 2008
Blogging Since: February 5, 2008
Venue: The Abbey Resort
About Me: It’s hard to believe that by the time Mr. Sundae and I get married we will have been together for almost ten years. When we first met in college we split dollar pitchers and now we share the mortgage payments. Despite our love for the city we are looking forward to tying the knot in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
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