DIY Wedding Arbor

Johnny completely led this DIY wedding project! The idea of having a handmade wedding arbor to be married under then transferred to our backyard garden was super precious, and that quickly became the goal.

Since Johnny is handy, loves to build things, and is a great problem solver, this wedding DIY project had his name written all over it.

My only job was to find an arbor style that I liked and help him find plans to recreate it. Hello, pinterest! This arbor kept coming up in all my searches and I loved everything about it. So, I showed this to Johnny, and we got all of the materials.

He built most of it while I was away on my admissions travels, so it was exciting to come home from a 14-day trip to this in our garage:

Johnny roughly followed these building plans to create our own wedding arbor. The description list of materials needed and building plans is pretty solid and I think we spent just under $200 to build and then eventually set this arbor in our garden.

The hardest part was getting it into the truck to transport 30 miles to our wedding site! It took 4 of us to get it correctly positioned in Johnny’s truck, but it actually fit pretty nicely, and didn’t get damaged en route!

I love, love, loved the way everything looked for our wedding day with this arbor. It’s beautiful, and I love that my husband built it!

It’s even more special now that I can look out my kitchen window every day and see it in the garden.

We had quite the adventure getting it into the ground. We first had to use a post-hole digger (a first for me!) to dig 4 20-inch deep holes in the ground. Then we added a support block to each of the legs, overlapping the block and each of the legs by 4 or 5 inches. Then we had to place the very heavy arbor into the four holes, and level the whole thing. Johnny has way more patience than I do with these back-and-forth test-as-you-go projects, and between the two of us we have some pretty amazing strength!

Gravel and concrete were poured to stabilize it, and after that dried, Johnny placed some soil around the legs to make everything even with the ground. It’s there!

While I recently traveled to Texas, Johnny also build a second garden box, for the other side of the arbor. I’m so excited to have things growing on the arbor next spring! 

If you have the interest and skill set, DIY wedding projects can be so special. Every single time I look at this arbor, I remember marrying my husband, the beautiful words and sentiments, and the feeling of excitement and complete happiness in those moments. Such a treasure!

Check out more of our Wedding DIY projects on the Wedding Page!