26 Ideas for Decorating a Church Wedding Venue

One of the biggest considerations when choosing a wedding venue is the location’s natural beauty. For many couples, selecting a gorgeous outdoor or spectacular indoor space is the answer to any concerns about the ceremony’s decor.

However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t decorate the ceremony venue at all. While many churches are architectural marvels, with high ceilings and delicate stained glass, bringing your own flair into the space is a must for a wedding.

If you’re not sure where to start, keep reading for some elegant church wedding decoration ideas.

Decorating for a Religious Wedding Ceremony

Traditionally, many couples have a religious ceremony that feels comfortable for them. While this has lately fallen out of favor, couples that have an important spiritual connection should be encouraged to have a ceremony that speaks to their faith.

One good thing about a religious ceremony is that it does a lot of the work for you– it limits your ceremony venues to spaces of worship, gives you a handy officiant in your trusted faith leader, and often includes familiar vows and other traditions.

By using familiar and personal themes in your religious ceremony, you can emphasize both your love for your new spouse and your personal connection to your faith.

While your religious venue of choice may already have decor, most religions allow for extra decor in the form of flowers, aisle decorations, and altar decorations. Before you can plan your church wedding decorations, however, you’ll want to choose a church or other house of faith.

 

Choosing Your Church

One of the first steps to any wedding planning is selecting both a ceremony and reception venue. In fact, according to our planning timeline, this should be done at least a year before your selected date. Venues book up fast, and you don’t want to miss out on your dream spot.

As stated above, requiring a place of worship as a ceremony venue is a good thing, because it limits your options and keeps them from seeming too overwhelming. However, it also has a drawback, in that you don’t want it to be booked on your ideal date.

It’s important to select a church as soon as you possibly can and to discuss reserving the date of your choice with the necessary coordinator.

 

26 Church Wedding Decor Ideas

If you’ve already picked a location and are starting to think about decor, you’re in the right place. From entrance signs to altar fresheners, there are a lot of different church decor options that will have you swooning during your walk down the aisle.

The first thing to take into account when looking for ideas, however, is the church’s specific aspects that will influence how your decorations look in it. For example, if the church is very stain-glass heavy, you may not want very colorful decorations. If the ceilings are very high, you may not want to fall in love with any sort of hanging decorations.

Keep these things in mind as you browse!

 

Decorative Entrance

For the church’s entrance, a beautiful flower arch like this one looks especially nice to spruce up an ancient facade. A bit of greenery goes a long way in modernizing the historical.

If the door is set backward, like this one, an arch may not fit, but large vases of flowers do! These autumn colors do a lot to indicate that the ceremony space within is just as beautiful.

To combine both of the elements above, growing greenery that comes together from individual pots, like this, is a sort of symbolic representation of your and your new spouse joining together. It also has impeccable medieval vibes.

 

Giving Guests Signs

This watercolor floral sign is incredibly classy and elegant. Offering guests just a simple welcome, this sign will let them know they’re in the right place for a beautiful wedding ahead.

For a bit more of a rustic elegance, this wooden sign lets the guests know that seating is not assigned. This sign would look particularly great in a church with a more country vibe, especially if the church has a lot of wooden elements.

If you want something super minimalistic, then look no further than this sign. Nothing beats black Times New Roman on a white page– it’s perfectly simple, and the epitome of elegance and grace.

 

Event Programs

One thing you may want for your wedding ceremony, especially if it includes a lot of tradition, are wedding programs. These simple white ones make use of a fun font to let viewers know what to expect.

For something a little more modern, these have an element of beautiful watercolor greenery to match with your classy, ivy-covered vibes.

If your dream church is not exactly modernized, meaning not air conditioned, offer an olive branch to your sweaty guests by giving them a program in the form of a fan. These programs are somehow classy even though they’re attached to a popsicle stick.

 

Floral Arrangements

A lot of church weddings go for white flower arrangements because they look nice with everything and complement the decor that the church already has. This beautiful bouquet remains all white and green yet nicely textured and earthy.

If you’re a fan of color, these incredible pink-and-red roses are romantic and somewhat mysterious. The pedestal idea is great for any florals– arranging your flowers so that they seemingly “grow” all over the structure gives a feeling of curated wildness.

If you’re planning something with summer vibes, go for something entirely covered in greenery. This vase of greenery makes me think of classy European summers. They would look especially nice in an old church, maybe made of stone.

 

Pew Decor

Obviously, one of the most important aspects of decorating your church ceremony space is decorating the church pews. These simple touches of green tied with a white ribbon will add a little extra something to an already beautiful space.

For something very romantic, gorgeous roses like these are a classic way to add a feminine touch to a space. The pale pink color will surely stand out.

For a more glam look, tying some streams of tulle with a sparkly band to the pews will modernize an old space and express your luxurious theme effectively.

 

Beautiful Altar

Obviously, there probably isn’t a ton you can do to alter your church venue’s altar. However, you can add some decor to bring your own theme into the fold. Here, this couple added some gorgeous bouquets to the already ornamental space.

If there is an arch structure, you may want to add a cotton sheet and some florals to decorate the structure. This decor looks so gorgeous and ethereal, especially if you add some lacey elements to the fabric.

If you’re able to, you could create a flower wall and insert it in the space behind the altar area. Flower walls are super trendy right now, and add a gorgeous texture to any space. You can read more about making a flower wall here.

 

Unique Styles

If you’re having a holiday or Christmas-themed wedding, you could follow the lead of this church, which is decked out with Christmas trees and holiday string lights. This is a unique look and theme for your big day.

For something a bit more modern, and if you’re not a flower person, you could do a large wall of colored streamers, like this one. This is a gorgeous and trendy choice that blends the modern aesthetics of your wedding with the traditional space of your faith.

 

Religious Elements

If the church you’ve selected has a large cross, you could decorate it with florals to symbolize the personal connection you share with the symbol. By adding your own floral touch, you’re carrying your theme into the sacred space.

This gorgeous tapestry has a significant passage from Song of Solomon 3:4, showing how the Bible connects to your own vow. You could hang this in the church space for a more modern callback.

To take it even further, you could line your aisle with signs that say a few words from a favorite passage, as shown here. As you walk down the aisle, you will be able to read the entire section of meaningful words.

 

Working with the Space

One of the most important things when decorating your ceremony is to work with the space itself. Here, the wedding is in a very large and already ornate church, so the couple decided to keep their own decor minimal, with just collections of white flowers.

The space may be lined with colored carpet, in which case you don’t want any of your decor to clash. This bride chose a red ribbon to match the red aisle runner– it ended up paying off for a beautiful monochromatic flair.

If your space features gorgeous and ornate stained glass, then you might want to cut down on bringing your own decor. This bride went for simple candles to complement the space, which was the right choice, as the royal blue of the windows makes enough of a statement on its own.

 

All About Wedding Decor

Use our favorite elegant church wedding decoration ideas to plan your wedding ceremony!

Here at Yeah Weddings, we’re here to help with every step of the decorating process. From copper wedding decor to outdoor wedding decor, keep reading for ideas for every aspect of your wedding.