Where we're (not) at - Part 3: The arch

Should we have an arch for the wedding ceremony or not? 

This is an ongoing debate that boy/man and I haven't yet resolved.

See, we're getting married on a dock, in front of a lake (weather permitting):

Here, specifically. But without the brown chairs.

That's another wedding on the dock. Not ours, obviously.

And we're not sure whether we should add a focal point (i.e. an arch/canopy) or if this will take away from the view.

If we do add an arch, it would have to be a rustic arch, to go with our "rustic chic" theme (which I realize I still haven't told you about - but that day will come). We're thinking either birch trees or other branches, like these:

Birch arch via Exquisite! Event Planning & Design. Perhaps just a tad over the top.

Branch arch via The Knot.com

Another branch arch option via The Knot.com

How the heckles are we supposed to build those things? 

Here's what the branch experts at Nettleton Hollow suggest (well, for the first birch tree arch):

Terra cotta pots filled with concrete and painted white.
(Not loving the duct tape look, though. Or the chipped paint.)

Notice the two birch poles in each pot, to make things sturdier.

I also found this quick and easy tutorial on making a DIY Branch Wedding Arch with curly willow. Apparently sticking the willow stems in sand does the trick. (I don't know if I trust this method. A dock on a lake = windy. And I can just picture the whole arch blowing away into the water during our super emotional vows.) Yeah, no.

And where exactly do we place the arch? On the dock? Will it look too random to have an arch in the middle of a dock? Or maybe we go with boy/man's idea and place it at the edge of the dock, where the grass ends? (And we could do the ceremony there, closer to our guests, with the dock in the background?)

By the way, if it rains, the ceremony will be indoors and the arch will be completely unnecessary. Or will it?

Yeh, so that's the dealio with the arch sitiation. What to do? Scrap it?