Does anyone know how to decorate a church?

[TheProvincialLady]

Last year I organised a group of about 15 people to decorate our local (huge, Victorian) church for Christmas. We had a huge real tree so I bought lots of tree decorations and it looked beautiful. We also used about a ton of real ivy, laurel, holly and other greenery from the countryside and people’s gardens, supplemented by fake wire-on holly berries and some fake flowers that have been languishing in a cupboard for many years.These were laid on window ledges and round the font. We also made some clove studded oranges. It looked lovely but very amateurish as not one of us has any talent previous experience.

This year I want to up our game a bit by using trays and oasis to enable us to make slightly more sturdy and longer lasting decorations but I have never done it before (nor has anyone else). We are likely to have lots more help this year including lots of young people and children so I want to make the occasion accessible and fun but also to look lovely. We are also hoping to start the Christmas Eve 6pm service with just candlelight so it would be good to use lots of candles in the displays.

Has anyone any good ideas to share? At the moment I am overwhelmed just by buying the oasis and trays - where so I get these from?! We have 17 window ledges 80cm x 16cm and two 240cm x 11.5cm ledges to decorate as well as the pulpit and the font. No pillars. The tree is sorted - 10ft real tree arriving on the 20th.

All ideas very welcome! We have a budget of about £300 for trays etc but could stretch to more and also have lots of ancient mid-matching vases. People will donate towards a few real flowers.

Help!

Sprays of greenery on the pew ends of the central aisle can look very effective, maybe do the first five or six rows.

What an exciting Christmas project to be working on!

There are often quite elaborate mechanics to get the Oasis trays to stay on sloping window sills etc. Are there any contraptions or stands hidden away in a storage cupboard/tower from previous generations of arrangers? Also garlands can be wired onto thick wire or rope. You can tie string tightly round pillars and then hang things from it.

Otherwise I'd say work with the architecture of the building and don't be too small and fiddly, you need a bit of scale.

Get in touch with your local WI - there's often members who are very good flower arrangers. The price of oasis has rocketed lately.

It was lots of things, not least a new priest and some luck, but two of the most important things were/are:

• A group of us cleaned every inch of the church, hall, sacristy. Every bit of brass was polished. All clutter removed. No sad displays of old books or prayer trees from 6 months ago etc that you see in many places. Every curtain washed/repaired/replaced. Everything polished. We now meet every fortnight on Saturday mornings to work our way round the church keeping it in the same condition, stopping for cake half way. It’s actually enjoyable and everyone is invited to and people get to know each other. And the church looks and feels well cared for and alive, rather than the sad dusty cluttered place it was which was so off putting.
• Put together a very good website and blog using Wordpress and keep it up to date every couple of weeks at the least. Banners outside with photos showing the church is diverse/busy/service or event times. Oh and lots of events to advertise

Decorating for Christmas feels incredibly important because again, it builds community, but it also demonstrates that we care and visitors/less frequent attenders will hopefully go away having had a lovely experience. That’s my theory anyway.

Try a local floral wholesalers , they will have everything that you need. You need tape for the oasis, trays and green oasis. Soak the oasis until it changes from light green to dark .
Start with a base of greenery and aim to make a diamond shape - you can then fill in with flowers , pine cones and orange slices . I dry my own orange slices on the radiators at home. Add different ones of greenery - rosemary is a good one to add and lots of berried ivy.
You can make chains of popcorn or cranberries to add into the tree and decorations . if you need any more help please DM me as I'm a qualified florist

Another one saying please check with your insurance re candles. I’ve worked for the cofe for years and we couldn’t use real candles unless they were a certain distance from people!

Get in touch with other local churches too and ask if they have a flower group or similar who can advise. We used to have one at one church I was at and then they’d visit other places to help them get ready for Christmas

Find and befriend your local WI groups. They’re full of talented crafters and will probably be able to help out

Is there a florist in the area who would advise, and maybe run an event (perhaps as a fundraiser)? A couple of our flower ladies are running a Christmas wreath-making event, with a suggested donation. Instead of personal wreaths to take home, perhaps make the communal decorations?

Another source of advice would be the flower "committee" of neighbouring churches? You might not want / like their style, but they'd have the experience of dressing similar venues.

I’m definitely going to follow up on WI Groups! Thanks

Re candles - the window ledges are high enough to need a ladder to reach and will make 100% certain that there is no way they could set alight any greenery. But will check the insurance and make sure we risk assess. Thanks for the nudge.