WEDDING AISLE LUMINARIES: LIVE PLANT ARRANGEMENT

by Shirley Bovshow "Eden Maker"+ / 0 Comments / 1970 View / April 29, 2015

Weddings are so romantic.

Beautiful, fragrant flowers weave through wedding arches, masses of blooms adorn the aisle, and the bride carries the most beautiful bouquet of all.

In a few days, these important flowers will be rotting in the trash.

Not very romantic, right?

As a proponent of using live plants in wedding ceremony decoration, I’ve designed two wedding venues this year using live plants, much to the delight of bride and groom.

And why wouldn’t they be happy?

They can take their wedding flowers and plant them in their yard; their first garden!

How romantic!

I was asked to participate in creating some of the wedding decor for the upcoming wedding of my cast mate, Paige Hemmis, on the Home & Family show on the Hallmark channel.

As a matter of fact, her wedding to Jason Short will be celebrated in an upcoming, primetime “Home & Family Wedding” special on the Hallmark channel.

You’re invited to watch on June 22 at 8/7PM central time.

My recommendation?

Use as many live plants in the wedding decorations as possible so that Paige and her fiance, Jason, can take them home and plant their wedding garden.

I collaborated with Dave Lowe, the art director at the Home & Family show, on the wedding aisle luminaries.

He designed the structure: a galvanized bucket with tall candelabra where live plants could be placed in the base.

I designed the live plant arrangement based on the flowers that Paige and Jason selected for their wedding: hydrangea and roses.

Take a look at this simple wedding aisle luminary using live plants!

MATERIALS FOR “LIVING WEDDING LUMINARIES”

Galvanized bucket
Hurricane lantern
Porch/table leg
Terra cotta saucer
Redwood brick
Screw washers
Wood glue
Glass glue
Sharpie

INSTRUCTIONS

Use Sharpie to outline redwood brick on bottom of bucket.
Apply wood glue to bottom of porch leg and glue to redwood brick

Use drill and screw two screws into table leg to hold in place
Drill brick and leg into bucket

Drill screw into the center of terra cotta saucer and then screw into the top of the table leg
Apply wood glue to the bottom of the hurricane lantern and then firmly place it on to terra cotta saucer

We painted the candelabra in a white “crackle” finish to compliment the rustic-chic look that Paige loves so much.

Here’s a video that demonstrates how to create the crackle finish look with paint, in case you don’t know how.

LIVE PLANT DESIGN FOR WEDDING AISLE LUMINARY

The plants I selected for the wedding aisle luminary include pink hydrangeas, creme miniature roses, and white alyssum.

The strategy with live plant bouquets is to buy a number of small plants that will fit in your chosen display.

I found 5-inch potted hydrangeas at Trader Joes as well as the 4-inch miniature white roses.

Both plants were in bloom with plenty of buds that were going to open in the next 5 days.

Sweet alyssum comes in 6 and 9-packs which I cut into individual plant cells.

This makes it easy to “tuck” in alyssum plants into the arrangement where there are gaps and where “fill” is needed, just like in cut arrangements.

I also snipped stems of variegated yellow and green Hebe for added texture and color.

It’s important to buy your live plants as close to the wedding day as possible for the freshest blooms.

You need time to assemble the luminaries before the wedding too.

MATERIALS FOR LIVE PLANT ARRANGEMENT

Assorted plants in 4- or 5-inch containers (hydrangea and mini roses)
Foam blocks to insert in display container to prop up plants to desired height
Packing peanuts to fill in gaps between plants
Plastic plant liners for individual plants to keep water from dripping in galvanized bucket container
Moss to cover plastic containers and any holes
Greenery cuttings from your garden to add texture, contrast