Are you planning a wedding and want to decorate the chairs yourself? Do you want to create a unique rustic decoration for a chair?
I will help you.
As a florist specializing in events, my job is to create a custom floral design for ceremonies, celebrations, or any other events. A successful decoration should be cohesive and well-rounded without being overwhelming.
Today, I’m sharing my tips and professional advice for decorating chairs & armchairs. While it’s optional, this will help create an exceptional atmosphere for your wedding day.
The seating decor is a finishing touch that will enhance the rest of your decoration, whether it’s in a church, a town hall, out in nature, or in your reception hall. You can have it done by a professional or create it yourself easily. To do this, you have the option of tying colorful ribbons and fabrics around the backs of chairs and armchairs. You can also attach flowers using raffia or wire, which you can hide with thin ribbons. Be sure to choose foliage or flowers with sturdy stems, and set up these decorations as close to the event as possible to ensure everything is perfect when your guests arrive!
Curious to learn more? Keep reading to discover:
- What a chair decor brings to a wedding
- What are the different types of seating that can be decorated
- How to choose your type of decor
- Inspiring ideas for decorating your chairs
- Specific tips for decorating the bride and groom’s chairs
Why Decorate Seating for an Event?
When we enter a reception hall for an event like a wedding, we often feel like we’ve stepped into another world—one that’s magical and festive.
Decorating not only allows you to impress your guests but also invites them to explore your world. For this reason, I always advise couples to choose a decor style that truly reflects who they are and holds meaning for them, to make a lasting impression.
In this setting, the chairs may seem trivial. However, they are one of the most important elements. Decorating the seating allows you to:
- give unity and coherence to your entire decor
- make each guest feel a little special by providing a chair that differs from the everyday
- highlight the newlyweds with a pair of richly decorated armchairs
What Types of Seating Arrangements Can We Create?
During the ceremony, you and your guests will be invited to take a seat several times: in a religious venue, at the town hall, possibly during the reception, and especially in the area where you will have your meal and continue the celebrations.
Several chair designs can be created in this context: I’ll explain them to you in the following lines.
In a Church, a Town Hall, or during a Ceremony in Nature 💒🌳
For these locations, the key is to highlight the couple getting married.
To achieve this, you can decorate the chairs or armchairs that your guests will be sitting on. If you plan to have a floral arch for your ceremony, it will create a stunning effect!
To enhance their walk down the aisle between the guests’ chairs, I also recommend decorating the chair next to the aisle.
👉 In a church, these decorations are called “church pews“. To learn more about this topic, I invite you to check out this blog post titled “How to Decorate a Church? “!
For a photo booth, indoors or outdoors 📷
One of the latest wedding trends is to offer your guests a backdrop where they can take memorable photos of the wedding. Typically, this backdrop features a beautiful setting that you can create using:
✔️ an arch decorated with draping fabric and possibly some flowers,
✔️ decorative items that match the theme of your wedding,
✔️ candles, lanterns,
✔️ and possibly some chairs that you can decorate!
At Your Venue for the Meal and Celebration 🥳
If you have to create just one seating arrangement, in my opinion, this is the one to go for!
Indeed, your reception hall will host you throughout the evening, and possibly into the night. It is often beautifully decorated, featuring floral centerpieces and table runners, along with potential flower arrangements on the buffet, and string lights…
To create a beautiful decorative ensemble, you can lightly embellish the guest chairs, while providing more elaborate decorations for the bride and groom’s chairs at the head table.
How to Decorate a Chair for a Wedding?
Now let’s get to the heart of the matter: in this section, I’ll share some decor ideas to enhance your seating and create a stylish and original decor for your wedding.
A simple and elegant decor with fabric or ribbons 🎀
One of the easiest, quickest, and most effective techniques for decorating your chairs is to tie a beautiful fabric or ribbon around the back, making sure to create nice bows.
This video, although in English, is very visual and will help you create beautiful décor:
👉 This is a decoration that you can easily create yourself, without needing the help of a decorator.
A Personalized Decor to Highlight the Couple 💑
Do you want to create personalized decorations for the bride and groom’s chairs?
There are plenty of options. For example, you can set up some beautifully calligraphed decorations on the backrest, featuring “Bride” and “Groom,” “Mr” and “Mrs,” or even your first names.
To elevate your decorations, you can hang a small olive branch 🌿 (or another type of greenery) on one of the top corners of the backrest, using a ribbon that matches the color of your decor. This will create a bohemian vibe that is especially perfect for a romantic, rustic wedding.
A Trendy and Rustic Décor with Flowers 🌼
To create a stunning decor, flowers and greens will be your best friends.
To create floral chair decorations, you can ask your florist, who will use their expertise to craft an intricate design (for chairs, for example).
However, you might also consider decorating yourself by creating small bouquets of 3 to 5 flowers, which you can then attach to the chairs.
🔸 Which Flowers to Choose?
The floral decorations on chairs are very temporary, as the flowers cannot last long without water.
Make sure to choose plants that can last a long time out of water (like foliage and thick-stemmed flowers) and set up your decor on the chairs the same day as the ceremony, just a few hours before the meal.
💐 For example, you can use: carnations, wax flowers, calla lilies, thistles, protea, lisianthus, and more…
In any case, choose plants that complement the overall floral design of your wedding to create a beautiful harmony.
👉 Be sure to properly hydrate 💧 your plants before planting them by trimming the stems to 4 inches and placing them in fresh water for at least twelve hours before installation.
🔸 How to Set Them?
You can use natural rattan for most seating. However, if it’s a wicker chair, like the “Emmanuelle Chair,” I recommend using thin wire and a pair of wire cutters, utilizing the weave of the backrest to arrange your flowers.
👉 You can then add some ribbon to these links for finishing touches.
🔸 An Alternative: Dried Flowers
If you don’t have time to prepare everything on the day of the ceremony, you can also create small bouquets of foliage and dried flowers, which you can set up the day before the event.
I hope this article has inspired you for the decoration of your chairs and armchairs! Whether for your ceremony or as beautiful gifts, I invite you to visit our online store specializing in floral items, where you can find stunning bohemian flower crowns 👑 for your wedding.