How long must bamboo dry before you can use it?

I just received the following question on my company’s Facebook wall and was wondering if anyone can help me answer:

“I’m hoping to make our chuppah & planning to cut down some bamboo that grows wild around here. Does anyone know how long bamboo needs to dry before it can be used for something like this? If it’s not totally dry (wedding is at the beginning of May) will that be a major issue? Thanks!!”