How To Make A Wedding Arch Stand Up: 3 Best Ways

There are three ways to learn how to make a wedding arch stand up. This guide will provide three bases you can make for different kinds of wedding arches to suit any wedding venue. 

And if your wedding arch is flimsy and you’re running out of time to stabilize it, we included a tutorial to stabilize the arbor. But what if you don’t have a wedding arch at your altar yet? 

how to make a wedding arch stand up

Here is a list of where to buy wedding arches for your convenience.

 

How To Make A Wedding Arch Stand Up: 3 Easiest DIY Wedding Arch Bases

 

  • Cement foundation

A cement base is best to make your wedding arch stand up and keep it from falling. This is possible to be a DIY project and is ideal for heavy wedding arches or windy venues that can tip off the wedding arch. 

However, do it for a few days before the wedding for the cement to dry completely, and the drawback is it’ll be hard to reposition the wedding arch around the venue because cement is heavy. Nonetheless, you only need to fill a box, bucket, or pot with mixed cement and a PVC pipe in the center.

Whatever you’ll put in the center should fit well with the legs of your wedding arch. Then, conceal the cement for a bridal look with flowers, moss, or rocks, whichever suits the wedding venue. 

 

  • Pot base

Another base or foundation where your wedding arch can stand is pots. If you made a light arch or don’t know where to position it in the venue, pot stands are practical as they are heavy for stabilization but light for repositioning the arbor. 

Select pots that are big and heavy enough relative to the size of your wedding arch. Then, fill it with soil or stones while accommodating the legs of the wedding arch. 

The taller the pots, the more stable they will be in supporting the wedding arbor. And, of course, you want to fill it with something that won’t move around when the legs of the arch are standing in them.

 

  • Log base

The final easy DIY wedding stands you can use for a wedding arch are made of logs. A log base is exceptionally versatile for outdoor wedding venues and rustic wedding themes. 

However, you’ll need tools to prepare them. For example, drill the holes that will receive the wedding arch legs into the heavy logs. 

Furthermore, you may need to prepare the logs so they are perfectly flat underneath and won’t flip when supporting the wedding arch. Then, use decorations on the logs so the arbor will look more natural, especially with the landscape of your venue. 

 

How To Keep Wedding Arches From Falling

If you’re running out of time and the wedding arch seems to fail to stand up, you can quickly stabilize them with a DIY stand made of wooden boards. Select boards that are large and heavy enough relative to the size of your arch.  

  • Cut four wooden boards so they’ll be the same size for each foot of the wedding arch; you’ll use two boards on each side of the arch
  • Build the arch stand by sandwiching the posts on their boards and secure with bolts
  • Hide the baseboards with fabric or foliage, whichever suits your wedding venue
  • Alternatively, you can brace the sides of the wedding arch with sandbags and cover it with wedding venue decors 

 

How Do I Make A Freestanding Arch?

To save the time needed to build up the base for a wedding arbor, why not learn how to make a freestanding arch instead? Creating one is easy, as shown in this tutorial by Kirsten Dunn

  1. Prepare four pieces of 4 by 4 wooden posts by cutting them into 80 inches
  2. Prepare two pieces of 2 by 4 wooden posts and make a 24-inch piece with straight angles, and two pieces with opposing 45-degree angles where one of them has a shorter side measuring 12 inches, while the other’s shorter side is 48 inches
  3. Measure in from the point of each end of the long pieces and mark 2 inches to cut at a straight angle
  4. Sand and stain the wood as needed
  5. Measure 2 inches from each end of the shorter sides of the front and back top pieces 
  6. Create the arch’s top frame by aligning the 48-inch and 24-inch wooden pieces and secure with screws
  7. Attach the longest posts from step one as they are the legs of the arch with screws
  8. Position the front of the arch facing up and add the diagonal support pieces an inch from the top of the frame 
  9. If needed, add stakes at the bottom of the freestanding arch when you install it in the wedding venue

 

How to stabilize a freestanding wedding arch

You can buy pre-made wedding arches you only need to construct together at the wedding venue. But to secure it, especially in a windy environment, find a place where you can tie it or stabilize its base with sandbags. 

Do you want an unconventional but eye-catching arch? Read how to make a wedding arch out of branches

 

Conclusion

And that’s it! You learned how to make a wedding arch stand up using cement, pots, or logs.

It’s also possible to stabilize a wedding archway with wooden boards, sandbags or by tethering it to a spot in the venue. Let us know below what common issues you want to solve with wedding arches.