One of the reasons we chose our venue was because of the giant stone fireplace downstairs in the Great Room. Since we’re not getting married in a church, I thought the fireplace would be really pretty to get married in front of.
*That’s my Mom, who’s 5’6″, standing in front of the fireplace.
The next step in the equation was to figure out how to decorate the fireplace for our wedding, but since we are on a fairly tight budget it couldn’t cost a lot. After searching around online, I found this photo by Melissa Schollaert via Snippet & Ink. I love that the candles give off a warm glow, and the greenery intertwined with it gives some interest. I also liked that the mirror would reflect not only the candlelight, but whatever is going on in front.
Luckily, I started thinking about this part of the decor last winter – when the “fall” decor was on sale! When I saw this garland on sale at Pottery Barn, I quickly snatched some of them up!! They’re faux, so I don’t need to worry about the leaves wilting or turning on me, and I can reuse them after the wedding!
My next step was to think about candles. The fireplace is truly massive. The mantle is 6’7″ off the ground! I didn’t want only small votives up there because I didn’t think they’d have enough impact. I liked the look of the hurricanes, but it could be expensive to buy so many (the mantle is also over 7′ long). My answer lie in two nooks off to the side of the room. Two beautiful iron votive candleabras that we could move to the mantle and use!! They are so beautiful, real iron, and very heavy! And they’re a great scale. Although you can’t really tell from this picture, they are over 2′ tall and just as wide!
The last piece of this puzzle was the mirror. I am fortuante enough to have a rectangular mirror that we could use. It’s not an expensive mirror, so it’s not very heavy, which will make it easy to transport. Although it’s not on the same scale as the candleabras and mantle, I think it will work. It’s about 4′ long, so the edge of the candlabras will overlap it a little, and it will reflect the candlelight as well as us at the ceremony. I did a partial mock-up at home of what this will kind of look like, sans candleabras and with only one garland, and here are the results:
I am really pleased with the result! Since we have about 8 garlands, we will have plenty to decorate the mantle, as well as some other areas. And with the addition of the candleabras and a few votives, I think the fireplace will really be a focal point. The best part about all of this, though, is that for the cost of 4 garlands ($36 – my mother bought the other 4), and some votive candles, I have my ceremony decor mostly wrapped up!
If you see things in your venue that you would like to use or incorporate into your decor, just ask!! When we rented the venue, they never said anything about the candleabras to us, nor was it written anywhere in the contract. All I did was ask, and they said yes! I think they are so pretty, and really I think they’re more special than just using a few hurricanes.
Hope you all have a great weekend!!