1. Attach the garland to the edge of the canopy
A garland of fresh leaves or flowers around the edge of the hupa canopy brings a bright energy to the wedding space. The garland should be quite light. Use light flower branches, wildflowers, or herbs. You can make the garland yourself or ask your florist to make it for you. Garland is also available from online florists.
If you rent a chuppah, look for one that has little loops around the edges that you can easily attach your own garland to with florist wire.
2. Attach flower bouquets to posts
You can conjure up a world of different wedding styles depending on the types of flowers and other elements in the bouquets: romantic roses, shabby chic lavender, rustic sunflowers, stalks of wheat tied with a gingham ribbon, simple white hypericum berries or daisy gerberas. bright orange and pink. for complete fun.
For this to work, your posts must have a good anchor to hold the bouquet; either an indentation in the top of the post that you can securely tie ribbons or florist wire to, or an anchor attached to the post.
3. String garlands of garland between the posts
If your huppah has valances, that is, pieces of fabric that hang down the sides, draping the garland from pole to pole in front of the valances creates an interesting visual interplay of color and texture.
This is another approach that works best with fairly light garlands, otherwise the chuppah can look heavy. Use greenery, flowers, or leafy grasses.
Use florist’s wire to attach the two ends of one garland to the tops of adjacent posts. Let the garland hang over the face of the valance.
For a more formal look, leave a few garlands hanging from poles. The ends of the garland should hang slightly lower than the lowest point of the draped section.
4. Scatter flower petals on the ground
If your wedding ceremony is outdoors, scattering flower petals on the ground below the chuppah evokes a sense of natural beauty that is easy and inexpensive to achieve.
If you’re getting married outdoors in the spring, you may be lucky enough to have nature roll out a carpet of flowers in your wedding space. If not, spread your own petals on the ground in the chuppah space and maybe even in the hallway leading to the chuppah. You can spread the petals before the ceremony or incorporate them into the procession. Scattering flower petals is a great paper to give to one or two young bridesmaids or flower girls.
5. Hang ribbons from poles
Add color and movement to your huppah with long ribbons that catch the breeze. Ribbons make simple and inexpensive wedding decorations. They should hang one-half to two-thirds the length of the huppah poles.
You can keep the look simple with one color or combine ribbons in all of your wedding colors to draw the huppah into the rest of your wedding decor.
6. Wrap the garland around the posts
This is another huppah decoration option that works especially well for outdoor weddings.
To create a balanced look, always start at the top of the posts and wrap greenery or flowers around all posts the same number of times.
Carefully consider the direction in which you wrap the garland or the overall effect could end up looking lopsided and a bit lopsided. The easiest approach is to wrap all the garland pieces in the same direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) around the posts.
Alternatively, start at the top of the posts and wrap the garland around the two left-hand posts in a clockwise direction, and wrap the garland around the right-hand posts in a counter-clockwise direction. In this way, the viewer’s eyes are lifted up and away from the center of the hupá space, creating a sense of light and openness below the hupá.
7. Do not decorate it at all
Your last option for decorating your chuppah is to not decorate it at all, but to leave it unadorned and keep the emphasis on the people below the chuppah and the ceremony.