I’ve never decorated a ceiling, yet its one of the most common questions I get — how do you decorate the ceiling? How do you hang fabric from the ceiling? What fabric do you use to decorate the ceiling? I can understand why everyone wants to know how to do this — just look at the above picture. Decorations like this really make a venue look special. (Fabric + lighting = WIN!) Unfortunately, I’ve never decorated a ceiling myself, though I have decorated at venues with permanent ceiling decorations. I do have some thoughts on this though. If someone asked me to decorate a ceiling tomorrow, it would depend on a few things. First, do I have a tall enough ladder? Fabric ceiling decorations look really nice in tall, open spaces, so you would need a really tall ladder — if your average banquet room height is 10 feet, I’d say you’d need a ladder that goes to 16 feet and above. Second, what does the room look like? Is it a flat ceiling with nothing hanging down from it? If so, I’d need to attach some hardware that won’t leave a huge hole, yet will be stable (and this may negate the whole endeavor).

If not, and there is something like the chandelier pictured above, or railing, or eaves, then hanging fabric is a definite possibility. Third, how does the venue feel about this kind of decoration? Some venues may not want folks hanging off their eaves because of liability issues. With all that said, I set about looking to answer the original questions. But since I’ve never done it personally, I scoured Flickr for designers who have and asked them to share a few tips. Carrie of Events With Design, from Central Kentucky, has several photos on Flickr of venues they’ve made to look spectacular. Above, is a gym. Here’s what she had to tell me: Thank you for your interest in our ceiling decorations. You would not believe the number of calls we get from these photos. We are located in Central Kentucky and do not usually travel out of the state to do these. We are usually booked for the date or the client does not want to pay travel costs. The ceiling cover we do are hung from a wire cable system.

Not all venues are right for this type of install. There has to be something to attach the cables to. We usually do these in gyms with exposed metal beams and a track system to allow us to get access with ladders. In some locations we have to rent a lift in order to get up high. We usually use gossamer as our fabric. The fire codes in our area require all fabric to be fire retardant and gossamer is the most cost effective material to use. However we now have a source for treated fabrics and hope to do some more elegant ceilings this year. You can see what Carrie and I both meant — not every venue is right for this sort of decoration because you need to have something the strong the decorations can be anchored to. And try as you might, you probably don’t want to drape hanging fluorescent lights — do you really want your decorations to bring down the lights as the party goes on? Flickr photo by Impressions Decorating Christina of Impressions Decorating also shared a few of the details behind her ceiling decorations.

I use this ceiling canopy at a certain location here in Kelowna, BC Canada. It is called Summerhill Pyramid Winery and its a gorgeous location except for the long tracks of sprinkler pipes on the ceiling. This canopy has 6 rod pockets with rods in them and sits right on the pipes. It is about 9 feet up so all I need is a helper and a ladder and some zap straps. The venue is great with us, always recommends us to brides which is nice. Used Furniture For Sale In Grand Junction CoI have 2 partners that work with me so we can accomplish the entire wedding decor together including all linens, flowers, table decor, backdrops and ceilings.Persian Cats For Sale Bay Area Flickr photo by Flowers by AlisCat Breeders In Brooklyn

I don’t know much about the technique behind the decorations in this picture, but I am familiar with these repeating tray ceilings. You see these kinds of ceilings often at hotels’ main ballrooms. The tray of the ceiling often houses lights, spotlights and other stuff for the hotel to use, but it seems decorators can also make use of these spaces for fabric. *Mary Carlson of MJ Decorations recently left this comment, which I decided to bring into the blog post: Ceiling draping is not for amateurs. By the time you buy or rent the fabric, hardware, ladders, lifts, etc…it is quite expensive. I usually use voile and I have it in white and ivory, and have used colored fabric for Proms and parties. I have brides ask me to drape fabric on low, (11′ or lower) ceilings, and it just doesn’t look as good as the pictures of these very high spaces. Venues with ceiling grids are the easiest. You can use ceiling clips or specialty magnets with hooks that are relatively expensive, but are perfect to do this kind of hanging.

You must also be aware that many venues do not allow amateurs to do this because of the danger of working up high, and because it is easy to mark up or crack ceilings. If you find a venue that has fabric on the ceiling, look at it carefully. Some venues do not take it down very often for cleaning, and I have seen venues with bugs, silly string, rose petals, balloons, and a thick layer of dust in their draping. Every venue is different, so no one method of hanging works for them all. Part of my job is to evaluate the venue to be sure that I can accomplish the look that the bride wants. And, many venues want the draping taken down right after the wedding. All of these factors contribute to the cost. It is probably not for the budget bride.Do you have a reception space that needs a bit of sprucing up but you have a limited budget? Are the walls bare? Is the carpet not the color you were hoping for? Is the chair seating blue and your theme is aqua? How do you warm up and mask a room that is perfect in some ways but needs that extra punch? 

Add some fabric, sheers and sashes to make the room warmer. The good news, you can achieve a professional looking room without it costing you bundle.  I had a budget of $6,000 for my wedding and I saved $850 doing these two projects myself. You can pick up sheer curtains at Target or Walmart for about $9.99 for 2 panels and rods for $5.99. Get the curtains as long as you can. In the photo I used eight curtains. Three sets are sewn together. Place two curtains together and sew the top seams together. Make sure you don’t sew the existing sleeve where the rod is supposed to go through. Once your done you will use the front panel to feed onto your curtain rod. I put a double on first then a single panel, then another double panel, then another single and finished it with a double panel. On your double panels (the two that are sewn together) gather the front panel and tie a bow or sash on the front panel this creates the illusion of a double rod look. Hang your curtain rods with the fishing leaders from the ceiling. 

You have to have a drop down ceiling, piping so some type of ceiling grid to do this. Wrap the leaders around the grid and hang the rods. We used one leader on each end and in the middle, so they hung straight. Note:  If you have a table, like I did in front of the curtains, then they don’t need to touch the floor. No one is going to see it hanging a foot off the ground, and if they do so what! Use fishing leaders to hang things evenly from the ceiling. I used them for our lanterns and the curtain rods. Measure from the ceiling down and then by using different size leaders together you can achieve the appropriate hanging length. If your thinking of doing ceiling draping – you can do it yourself. It’s not as hard as it looks as long as you keep it simple. I used 150 feet of Iridescent Organza Wedding Craft Fabric that I got on ebay. I cut 2 – 75′ panels and draped them from one end of my room, crisscrossing in the middle to the other side of the room for $89.99.