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My daughter had one very specific request when it came to the decor of her reception space. She didn't want it to look like a church gym. I can understand that completely, but the problem remained that it WAS a church gym!
To completely transform the space, I knew I was going to have to drape the ceiling and the walls. Outside of
making her wedding cake, this one task was the thing I was the most nervous about. Many a night, I found myself wide awake at 2:00 am trying to figure out how I was going to get it to work.
The one stipulation I had from our church was that I needed to use the eye bolts that were already in the walls because they did not want any more added, which is completely understandable. With this restriction, we ended up using a tent design for our ceiling: one high middle wire across the width of the center of the gym and then draped it down to the ends of the room on each side, and then down to the floor. We used thin wire and turnbuckles to run the support across the three widths (middle and both ends), but be sure your middle height is at least a couple feet higher than your ends. Below is a picture of the center of the tent.
Below is a picture of one of the ends of the tent. We hung the three sections of wire first and then added the material. We started on one end on the floor, fed it up and over the end wire, across the middle wire and then down to the other end wire, then down to the floor. We got lucky because we used bolts of material that had 23 yards on each and that was the perfect amount to go the whole length, and give us a bit of material for a draping effect from point to point on the ceiling. No sewing required!
Once we had all the material hung, it came time to fine tune it all. We used small safety pins to attach the material to the two end wires and to pin together each strip of material so there were no gaps in our ceiling.
Our theme for the day when we were hanging this massive amount of organza on the ceiling and walls was "It doesn't have to be perfect. It is going to be dark." It is easy to obsess over every little seam and bump, but the reality is, once the party started and the overhead lights were turned off, and the uplighting was turned on, it was nothing but a glittery, magical space. Even I didn't notice the not-so-perfect sections. During the day and with the overhead lights on, we were also a bit frustrated with how see-through it all was, but again, once the lights were off and the lighting scheme going, it was perfect. The shimmer in the organza did a great job of reflecting the up-lights around the room and the lights from the DJ as well.
The material I used to drape the ceiling and walls was a shimmer white organza that I bought from
Gifts International. It certainly wasn't the highest quality of organza I have ever seen, but that didn't matter to me. I just needed the effect! I bought 460 yards and only paid $250. For those who don't know, that is a killer deal.
So how long did all this draping and wall covering take? There were 6-8 of us working on it and it took us about 7 hours. Now, having done this once before, I think I could easily do it again in 4-5 hours. Luckily for me, my next oldest child is only 17, so I have some time before having to whip up this skill once again :)
