Design a Wedding Venue Competition – Joe Carlton’s entry

The most elegant of weddings!

We were really impressed with Joe Carlton’s ‘simple, but elegant’ wedding venue, particularly the beautiful hand made flowers – perfect for even the most elegant of brides!  Here’s how Joe created his entry.

“I decided to enter this competition after reading about it in Dolls House World Magazine.  I’m not really sure where my inspiration came from – after reading the article I had lots of ideas from a big white fairytale wedding to a beach inspired wedding.  In the end I decided I wanted a simple, but elegant wedding.  The simple part to me meant a small gathering and a simple design.  The elegant side was my idea of using traditional roses and beautiful organza.

I started out with ten pieces of 6mm MDF to create the setting – I didn’t want it be too large, but big enough to fit three tables on – and began by making the three back walls.  I wanted the setting to have a fabric back drop so I first attached a white cotton fabric.  I cut the cotton to be 200 per cent bigger than the wall, I then started pleating the fabric and attaching it to the three walls, to get the draped effect I wanted – it took me about two hours for each wall over two nights, but I’m really pleased with the finished effect!  Once the glue had dried I attached the organza to give it that elegant feel.  I then added the ‘grass’ to the floor and started on the chairs and tables.

I had four tables in all – two round and two for the head table – together with 16 chairs.  I sprayed the chairs with an ‘Antique White’ gloss paint.  Once they were dry I dressed the chairs with the same organza as I used in the backdrop and made the table cloths from the same white cotton I attached to my back walls.  All I needed to do then was to dress the venue!

First, on the head table I placed a vase of Grandiflora Rose and on the other two tables I placed some standard red roses in glass vases. At the entrance of the venue I placed two urns, which I filled with handmade ivy leaves and fuchsias – all of the flowers, apart from the yellow spray, were hand made by me. For the finishing touches I added an arch over the entrance to the venue and covered it in climbing flowers, two benches for guests to relax on and the cutlery!

I hope you like my entry!”