How to Pull Off Hanging Reception Flowers
When it comes to wedding floral arrangements, there are a hundred and one trends that are constantly changing. One that seems to have stuck around for a while is the trend of hanging flowers at your wedding reception venue.
This style of floristry works well because it can be switched up to make use of any kind of flower or match a multitude of different wedding themes. From bright, tropical looking displays to softer, more romantic floral combinations, there is a lot to love about the hanging reception flowers trend, and there are a lot of avenues that you can go down with it.
As with anything to do with wedding floral arrangements, make sure to get your photo references together before you go and sit down with your chosen florist. If you also bring in some photos of your wedding reception venue, they’ll be able to help you figure out what’s doable and might be able to find work arounds if your venue isn't happy with drilling holes or suspending flowers from the ceiling.
With this particular trend, there are a few points to think about before you commit to this look, so let’s find out more!
Use sparingly
The important thing to remember with any kind of statement piece for your wedding reception venue is that you shouldn’t go wild with it. If you have flowers hanging from every inch of your reception ceiling, not only will this be ridiculously expensive, but it’ll also make the room look small, dark and claustrophobic. Those are words that you definitely don’t want to be associated with your big day!
Instead, identify a few key places to hang flowers where you can tie them into the rest of your wedding reception decor. Remember, these hanging flowers aren’t the only piece of decoration that you’re going to have so factor that into your design.
Also, remember to leave enough space to let your theme breathe. Often we try to decorate every corner when actually the white space helps make your hanging flowers or other decor pop more.
Contrast with natural elements
This is a great thing to remember regardless of whether you’re planning on hanging your floral arrangements at a wedding reception or are putting them in vases to help brighten up your house. It can be easy to get over excited about the colourful flowers themselves and forget to factor in the greenery that needs to go around them.
Not only does this greenery offer some much needed contrast and depth to your floral arrangement, but it also grounds it thematically. Rarely will you see flowers without any greenery around them in nature or in bouquets, so if you don’t add some leafy greens or sage coloured reeds, your wedding flowers are probably going to seem a little bit off.
When you’re looking at rooting your hanging flowers and you’re trying to find something to attach them to, it’s a good idea to use natural elements like wood to ground your display and offer that contrast to the soft flowers that make this trend so interesting.
Tie into your bouquets
Although these hanging flowers might seem wholly like wedding reception venue decor, it’s really important that you tie them into the rest of your wedding theme, and specifically any bouquets and boutonnieres that you and your party are wearing. If you like the flow of cascading flowers, perhaps you can follow this theme through with a bigger, waterfall style bouquet that really makes a statement. You’ll see this incredibly brought to life in the bouquet of this wedding photo shoot!
Fundamentally, you want your wedding guests to see a clear thread from your ceremony flowers, to your bouquets to your hanging reception flowers. You want there to be a cohesive look that utilises colour palette, flower varietal, textures and arrangement styles.
Again, this is something that your florist is really going to be able to help you with. They’ll be able to see the job as one whole project, even if the theme and atmosphere are different between your wedding ceremony and reception venues.
Make it a focal point
If you’re going to go with a statement floral arrangement like having hanging reception flowers, you’re going to want to make it a focal point. Whether it’s a space where your guests can have photos underneath it as a sort of informal photo booth, or you have it hanging over a banquet-style long table so that your guests feel as if they’re dining in a natural paradise, there are plenty of ways to make it a focal point of your reception.
When you see Michael and Michaela’s reception table in the images presented here, you will be wowed!
It’s important to note that when you’re choosing pieces of decor to be a focal point, you have to make sure that there’s enough empty, white space around it to really let it sing as the images show. After all, if you’re going to all the trouble of having a hanging floral arrangement made and suspended, you’re going to want it to have the biggest impact possible.
Final tips
Let’s wrap up this article with a few final tips for how to pull off hanging reception flowers.
Check the lengths of your hanging flowers against the heights of your tallest guests. No one wants to be bobbing and weaving around them, and you don’t want them getting damaged throughout the night. Remember to account for jumpy dancing and high heels!
Make sure to double check with your venue where they stand on hanging stuff from the ceiling and attaching things to the walls. Especially in listed venues or older spaces, there might be a weight limit that you need to be mindful of or certain areas in the venue that you need to avoid.
Don’t be afraid to use artificial flowers if the cost is starting to creep up – as long as they fall in a natural looking way, no one will be able to tell the difference if they’re all the way up towards the ceiling! There’s also the added benefit of you being able to use them again afterward as a nice memento of your wedding that you can have on display in your house.
Hanging Wedding Reception Flowers
From Milk + Honey Photography – “For our shoot at Ritchie Hill in Charlotte, North Carolina, we were inspired by a fresh design that would speak to brides in any region. We wanted to create a clean floral design that would not distract any wedding dinner conversation, so we decided to take it off of the table all together and hang it from the ceiling!”
“We wanted to mix traditional with exceptional, so we mixed in a succulent theme with a sprig of bright hanging flowers, and shot our beautiful table set up on a pure white 1,600 square foot vintage front porch.
Our florist, Nectar Inc., ran with the falling flowers theme, and tied it into our brides one of a kind draping bouquet that was even adorned with dry falling moss to match our Flower Box Chandelier.”
“It was important to us to portray true love throughout this entire shoot, so we worked with an amazing engaged couple, Michael and Michaela (how cute is that?!) that emitted everything we were hoping for! Their love really shines through.”
“Each piece of this styled shoot was carefully created and pulled together to not only compliment the overall vision, but to bring about a light atmosphere that would be ideal for any spring or summer wedding.”
Credits: Photography: Milk + Honey Photography Co. // Florals: Nectar, Inc. // Calligraphy: Kristen Henderson Calligraphy // Watercolor: Champagne Maker // Cake: Suarez Bakery // Rentals: Elegant and Classy Events // Vintage Tableware: Vintage Charlotte // Beauty: Mirror Bomb // Tanning: Bronzed Berry by Christina // Accessories: Pages to Petals // Bicycle: BikeSource Charlotte // Catering: Bistro Catering & Events // Wooden Crafted Piece: The Flower Box Chandelier Company // Bridal Gown: Ladies of Lineage, Sassi Halford // Veil: Charlotte Clean Tulle // Sash: Hermonie Belt // Bridal Stylist: Carefully Curated by EB // Consultant: Charlotte Brides // Models: Michaela & Michael // Groomswear: Alton Lane // Venue: Ritchie Hill in Charlotte, North Carolina.