Wedding Blog
Mr. Joey just sent me a few shots of the chapel we’re getting married in. I’ve only been once, and I had asked him to take some pictures in between classes.
The chapel is really simple and has A LOT of light during the day. It’s also really plain (which can be good) and has a lot of chairs that aren’t exactly the cutest things. Why couldn’t they have grey seat cushions?
Besides a flower arrangement on the altar (which we’d reuse at the reception), I don’t know what to do to decorate. I thought of hanging a few of vases off the first chair in every other row. Perhaps a little yellow ribbon and one of these vases from CB2?
The thing is that I didn’t budget for decorating the chapel. The ceremony is only a blessing, and the whole thing should only take about 30 minutes. So, I don’t want to spend too much money.
What do you think? Would you leave the space as is? If you’d decorate, how would you do it on a budget?
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Well, how many guests will be in attendance? You might not really see the seat cushions if it’s a larger number!
Do you have the freedom to do pretty much whatever you’d like in that space? (My church has 40,000 restrictions — or so it seems.)
I would only decorate the areas that will be in the pictures - like around the alter. Doing the aisle would be nice but I would try to go for something larger that would really bring the attention away from the things you don’t like. It also seems that this place has some high ceilings so is there any way you could may bring the attention upwards?
Those vases are really cute. Maybe another decorating option would be to make some ribbon bunches to hang from the sides of the pews? If you got some sale ribbon from Michaels or a craft store, it probably wouldn’t be too expensive, but it might add some color and detract from the grey seat cushions 
The space is beautiful and purposefully spare. Instead of flowers, perhaps a small ribbon-tied bunch of greenery on the chairs along the aisle. Perhaps eucalyptus or laurel?
I LOVE the windows in that chapel!
I would look for budget-friendly cloth in your colors to hang as banners. They’d break up a lot of those huge brown walls and draw attention away from the seat cushions. Then you could line the aisle with the same cloth, and maybe still use the vases (which are adorable).
I agree, the space is beautiful! The natural light is going to be breathtaking!
I do love those little vases from CB2 and if you can find away to incorporate those into your budget I’d say go for it! 
honestly the lighting in the chapel is very pretty. If you are having a blessing and thats it and not really budgeted to spend money on decor, I would leave as is.
i don’t think the chair seats matter as much, because in your photos, everyone will be sitting on them anyway right??
i love the windows/lighting!
for my ceremony decor we are making aisle prisms a la Mrs. Peach with baby’s breath (http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/09/22/wedding-ceremony-decor/)
We will also have two large vases with two dozen white tulips. We are also have galvanized buckets filled with baby’s breath behind the bridal party in front of church.
I wanted it to be simple but noticeable.
I have a similar situation– although your chapel is cuter than my chapel. I am not doing much to decorate, because, like yours, my ceremony will only be 20-30 minutes. I would have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to transform the chapel, which I don’t have. Instead, I’m embracing the beauty and simplicity (and trying to embrace the teal colored cushions in my pews) & just doing minimal decorations.
Perhaps a simple aisle runner with some rose petals would add a little detail to your location.
I don’t think you need to do much to decorate - you will be the center of attention and BEAUTIFUL!
I’m not decorating my church at all… I’m putting up unity candles that’s it!
I think that chapel is beautiful enough to speak for itself…anything you try to do in there is just going to be overwhelmed by the beauty of the space and the bride standing in the middle…so just go with it and save your pennies.
I would definitely leave it as is - it’s really lovely on its own. We had a similar situation - a short ceremony in a campus chapel and we just bought a big, pretty plant for the altar, which we now have in our home.
I wouldn’t worry about the seats. At least there IS cushioning there…
Honestly the only decorations I notice in a chapel are the aisle decorations. Everything else is icing!
I once attended a wedding where the bride/groom received a nice gift set of drinking glasses with slightly flared rims prior to the ceremony. She used the set as aisle decor to make vases for flowers. They also hung some from sides of pews with ribbon and placed a votive candle in the bottom with those colored glass pebbles. PRETTY and budget friendly!!
After washing, they later found their intended home in the kitchen cabinet!
i think the space has a lot of potential for beautiful pictures! good call on reusing the altar flowers at the reception. are there flowers you could place in like, pew cones and then reuse them?
Gorgeous space, love it! I like Miss Perfume’s idea of using some grey foliage, like artemisia or santolina. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/sach4.htm
I bet you could find some gardeners willing to part with some extra santolina in the summer for decorating since it grows like a weed. Or you could get some potted plants at the nursery with grey foliage & yellow flowers, wrap them in your runner scraps, use them at the chapel & then give them as favors.
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Mrs. Joey, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGO
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History Teacher
Engagement Date: June 24, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union Cafe
About Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
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