21 Amazing Wedding Arch, Altar, and Backdrop Ideas for Your Ceremony
From a palm leaf-covered chuppah to a colorful floral arch, the designs at these real-life celebrations offer inspiration for every style.
Swapping vows might be the most important part of your ceremony, but having a beautiful backdrop for the moment you say “I do” doesn’t hurt either. Read on for maximum arch, altar, and installation inspiration from recent local celebrations.
Photo by Lisa Rigby Photography
Bride Alexis had her heart set on an outdoor wedding, but in the end, she and groom Archie opted to host their May affair at the Boston Harbor Hotel. To bring to life the natural feel the bride was seeking, Table & Tulip and DesignLight transformed the hotel’s Wharf Room into a vibrant indoor garden featuring a floral-adorned chuppah with tent-like drapery suspended from a chandelier.
Drapery DesignLight
Flowers Table & Tulip
Photographer Lisa Rigby Photography
Photo by Cambria Grace Photography
For a laid-back bride, florist Shawna Havenga created a floral installation at the base of a large tree at Eisenhower House in Newport. The design featured loosely arranged foraged greenery and local flowers such as white garden roses and delphinium, which she attached to the trunk using chicken wire and fishing line.
Flowers The Wild Dahlia
Photographer Cambria Grace Photography
Planner Always Yours Events
Photo by Autumn Nicole Photo
For their wedding at Edson Hill, a picturesque inn in Stowe, Vermont, Hilary and Clay requested a romantic, nature-inspired arch featuring rich earth tones. Erin Ostreicher of Vermont-based floral-design company Nectar & Root adorned a preexisting arch on site with dahlias, golden rod, ranunculus, and garden roses.
Flowers Nectar & Root
Photographer Autumn Nicole Photo
Planner Always Yours Events
Photo by Zac Wolf Photography
This vintage-loving bride and groom threw a retro-themed wedding at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, complete with a jukebox as part of their ceremony backdrop.
Day-of Coordinator BAM Events
Photographer Zac Wolf Photography
Photo by Undressed Moments
Planner K. Kerkorian Weddings & Events
Photo by Annmarie Swift Photography
Planner Keri Ketterer Walter and florist Shawna Havenga didn’t want the altar at this State Room wedding to distract from jaw-dropping views of the Boston skyline behind it, so Havenga designed a low semi-circle installation with white delphinium, roses, and stock, plus spirea and spring greenery.
Flowers The Wild Dahlia
Photographer Annmarie Swift Photography
Planner Always Yours Events
Photo by Elizabeth LaDuca
For a wedding at a private estate on Mount Desert Island in Maine, the bride’s father built the ceremony arbor using driftwood he foraged from a local beach during morning walks. Bar Harbor-based floral design studio Chickadee Hill Flowers then adorned the structure with local blooms.
Flowers Chickadee Hill Flowers
Photographer Elizabeth LaDuca
Planner R.L. Sisson Events
Photo by Brian Adams PhotoGraphics
To play up the grand scale of the two-story timber frame barn at Roads End Farm in Sandwich, New Hampshire, Malloy Weddings hand-painted a modern color-blocked design on a 10-foot canvas for the ceremony backdrop.
Planning and Flowers Malloy Weddings
Photographer Brian Adams PhotoGraphics
Photo by Lindsay Hite Photography
For their July wedding at the Gardens at Elm Bank, Lindsey and Gabe wanted the décor to be equal parts rustic and elegant. To achieve an elevated but natural look, Whim Events created a white birch chuppah adorned with white blooms and greenery.
Photographer Lindsay Hite Photography
Planning and Flowers Whim Events
Photo by Elizabeth LaDuca
For the wedding of two Harvard and MIT PhD candidates at the MIT Chapel, Floristika Studio surrounded the white marble altar with a ring of flowers and greenery, which they dotted with pillar candles .
Flowers Floristika Studio
Photographer Elizabeth LaDuca
Photo by Sabrina Scolari Photography
Joyce Holland and the team at Stoneblossom Floral and Event Design adorned an arbor overlooking Narragansett Bay at OceanCliff with peonies, garden roses, hydrangea, and locally sourced greenery and vines.
Flowers Stoneblossom Floral and Event Design
Photographer Sabrina Scolari Photography
Photo by Kate McElwee Photography
To channel the springtime vibes Julia and Jon wanted for their May wedding at the Boston Public Library, Table & Tulip designed a circular arch with coral and peach shimmer roses, peonies, lilacs, and snap dragons, as well as abundant greenery that matched the bridemaids’ emerald dresses.
Flowers Table & Tulip
Photographer Kate McElwee Photography
Photo by Brea McDonald Photography
For this on-stage wedding at Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel, Maine, Minka Flowers’ Michelle Rose created an asymmetrical arch with cascading greenery and clusters of champagne, blush, and burgundy flowers.
Flowers Minka Flowers
Photographer Brea McDonald Photography
Planner Azalea Events
Photo by Lindsay Hite Photography
At a botanical celebration at Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, Hana Floral Design created a palm leaf-covered chuppah that matched the centerpieces and decor at the couple’s reception.
Flowers Hana Floral Design
Photographer Lindsay Hite Photography
Planner True Event
Photo by Kissick Weddings
For their rustic ceremony at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham, Samantha and Brad tied the knot under a wood-framed arch adorned with a cluster of colorful buds.
Day-of Coordinator Without A Hitch
Flowers Still
Photographer Kissick Weddings
Photo by Amy Spirito Photography
Jordan and Chris’s November wedding at the Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital featured a metal arch with an autumnal floral spray and a cluster of greenery.
Day-of Coordinator Without A Hitch
Flowers Twig + Briar
Photographer Amy Spirito Photography
Photo by Brea McDonald Photography
For a wedding at the Big House in Kennebunk, Maine, Minka Flowers designed a custom gold-metal arbor and decorated it with ghost wood and driftwood in addition to greenery, herbs, ferns, peonies, roses, snapdragons, and ranunculus.
Flowers Minka Flowers
Photographer Brea McDonald Photography
Planner Azalea Events
Photo by Erin McGinn Photography
At Rosecliff mansion in Newport, Ariel and Benjamin wed under a dazzling chuppah decorated with peonies, roses, and vines.
Flowers Stoneblossom Floral and Event Design
Photographer Erin McGinn Photography
Planner True Event
Photo by Zofia & Co.
This Texas bride wanted abundant peonies and garden roses at her White Elephant wedding on Nantucket, so florist Dawn Kelly and her team designed a colorful arch featuring hydrangea, peonies, garden roses, and dahlias for the outdoor ceremony.
Flowers Soiree Floral
Photographer Zofia & Co.
Photo by Genevieve de Manio Photography
Inside a clear tent at the Museum of Fine Arts, Marc Hall Design constructed an acrylic chuppah draped with fabric and orchids for a bride and groom with a contemporary aesthetic.
Flowers Marc Hall Design
Photographer Genevieve de Manio Photography
Planner Janie Haas Events
Photo by Madly Photo
To contrast the industrial feel of Union Square’s Warehouse XI, Lauren and Ben’s metal-framed wedding arch featured a delicate arrangement of pastel-hued florals.
Day-of Coordinator Without A Hitch
Flowers Whole Foods Wellesley
Photographer Madly Photo
