Chuppah Construction

[rewolf]

Every new wedding season I stress over my outdoor arbors/chuppahs and their stability. I have a new mechanics idea that I'd like to pass by you.

My problem area is the front horizontal rail which carries flowerwork across the entire top - about 7 feet long. The top rail is completely hidden by the flowers and so darn heavy with 5-6 soaked Oasis blocks and flowers. I just want to get rid of the weight.

Background Info - My arbors/chuppahs are constructed from (4) 1 1/2" wooden rods that sit vertically in simple iron umbrella stands. Cross rails are also 1 1/2" wooden rods. The four corners are always lashed down to the ground with a support wire.

What if I attached 5 blocks of styrofoam to the top rail and then attached chicken wire to this rail. Then used water tubes for the flowers? Is this just insane? Would a gazillion water tubes be heavy.

Any suggestions?

 

[Allie444]

I find water tubes really heavy. We do the front of chuppahs all the time with only 3 of the full block tribute cages and I feel like I get a good full look and can cover 7 feet with no problem. We make the cages at the shop and then fill in on site. Here is a link that has 6 feet of flowers with the 3 bricks.....

http://www.floweralliestyle.com/2012/01/pretty-garden-rose-wedding-at-the-jones-victorian-estate/

this wasn't perfectly filled in but you can see the 3 cages hold a lot...

 

[rewolf]

Thank you Allie.
I simply need to pare down the number of bricks I use. I've been using the smaller Corso but I'll give the Tribute a try.

 

[christi_dellarobbia]

Katie,
Could you not use metal rods instead of wooden? That's what we do and boy do they hold the weight. I do think that Allison's suggestion for less cages is best as well. You can pack a lot into tribute cages!