Ask Abby
Our last question for today comes from Lauren…
Q4: I have found a really cool, yet unexpected (at least compared to the usual country club weddings) site for my wedding. It’s the Oklahoma City Farmer’s Market. The building has beautiful, if rough around the edges, architecture. Huge, paned windows, an enormous wood floor…it’s a beautiful space. It does have its quirks. One that has me pausing are the murals on the wall of various fruits and veggies and maybe a farmer here or there. For the most part the walls are white stucco and crumbly cinder blocks (I swear the overall appearance is very nice! Though we will have to fancy it up with a lot of candles and greenery and flowers). Anyway, I’m wondering if you have any ideas about how to camouflage a few walls, or portions of walls…
I think that this is a pretty common dilemma…figuring out how to hide the blemishes of a space, while not spending a fortune or taking away from the overall style that you’ve planned. Anyone have any tips for Lauren?
A: First of all, I love your venue. So unique, so beautiful. I think that they key to adding texture to a large space and/or hiding blemishes is large panels of fabric. It doesn’t have to be cheesy or too wedding-y. Simply choose a really simple, semi sheer fabric and hang along the wall with the murals. I
agree with the readers that lighting here is key. Spending a bit of money on a lighting team will totally change the look and feel of the space. Good lighting can easily hide parts of the room, while highlighting the beautiful elements. For a space like this, lighting is worth every penny.
Wow thats a tricky one. First of all I just want to say how much I love your venue! How unique and fun! Since the walls are 30 feet, or, at least thats what it said on the website, here are my ideas. Some of them might be a little costly but they are ideas, none-the-less.
1. Have some sort of facade built to cover what you don't want to see. There is however, the question of what to do with it afterwards. =/
2. I'm sure there is a place you can rent beautiful curtains (LARGE curtains that is) that would drape over whatever you want to hide and add some soft edges to the space.
3. If you are having someone do the lighting, have the lighting directed to the center of the room and away from the walls you don't want people to see. That way the center of the room where the party is is light, and around the edges are dark.
4. Rent some trees to put around the edges of the room. You can string them with lights, or if its winter time treat the plants with ornamental snow. You can also rent shrub walls, or so I have heard. =)
5. Also going along with the lighting, just try and make the focal point the center of the room and away from the walls.
Those were all the ideas I could come up with. I hope it helps and good luck with your planning!
I would do lighting .. Omni lighting in Tulsa is very good and they have curtains that could be placed in certain parts to hide to reduce some of the blemishes. If you wanted to do lots of fabric there is an outlet Fabricut in Oklahoma - near Pryor that you can get yards and yards of sheers and silks for very inexpensive prices.
I have the same situation with my site.I am going for a cool and sophisticated winter wedding.I have hired a lighting company to drape the walls and celings of my site with inexpensive tulle. While this options works with my theme, it might be a bit formal for your venue. Have you considered renting large trees? If you put them togehter a few should proabaly cover a large space. I am also renting a few trees with lights,as my space is rather large & I wanted to create a more intimate enviornmnet.I don't know if it's possible, but I think your venue would look amazing with fruit trees. I like lemon and oragne. You could serve lemon or orange flavored cocktails to tie everything together. I would take it a step further and infuse a mixture of fruits into your center pieces. For example you could line simple cylinder vases with lemons, and use orange and yellow roses.It's a much more cost effective option then formal centerpieces.And I think it would be very charming with your venue.I have taken many floral arranging classes at the famous Flower School, in New York City.The florists there always stress that repeating the same elements
(whatever they are: shapes, flowers, fruit)is the best and easiest way to create a really dramatic and cohesive event. Also using one or two colors as your pallet helps with unifying a look.For more ideas there is a fabulous book by the famous floral designer, Preston Baily called "Inspirations." I have found this book to be very inpirational indeed, and I highly recommed it as a starting point in design and color.
I hope that at least some of these suggetions will be of use to you.
Best of luck,
Sherri Kardell
I've used cheesecloth or light muslin in the past, and dyed it to match the overall tone. It looks great plain (very ethereal) but won't camouflage the murals as well. Run twinkle-lights underneath the cloth and at night, the whole room will glow.
To hang the fabric, use a wooden rod as a curtain rod and suspend from the ceiling with fishline or thin wire . If you dye the fabric yourself, do it well before the wedding (depending on the dye, it can smell for a few days afterward) and wear gloves! Also, if you want the fabric to hang straight down you will have to tie small weights to the bottom corners (the weights should rest on the ground, but leave a little slack so the fabric sways around a bit).
If you don't want to hang the fabric yourself, try contacting a theatre rigging company. They may also have theatre drapes you can rent, though the drapes will usually be a dark color and a heavier fabric.
Hope any of this helps! Good luck with the planning!