5 Creative ways to “number” your reception tables

Your ceremony is over and you are married. Wow! The first part of your day is complete. Now comes the fun part….your reception. While you and your husband have pictures taken, your guest will be heading to the reception. Once they arrive, where will they sit? If the food at your reception will be served buffet style, open seating works perfectly. However if the meal will be plated, you will need to do place cards and perhaps also assign tables. Doing the seating chart is a fair amount of work and is straight forward…..not a lot of room for creativity. You will need a list of all your guests, which entrée they will eat and where they will sit. Place cards and table numbers do not need to be fancy or expensive, but these can be a place you show your creative flair or continue the theme of your wedding. Here are five ways to be uniquely you with your table assignments:

• Name tables instead of numbering – use your favorite wines or types to label your tables: Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, etc. Your place cards could be bottle shaped or the color of each wine type.

• Label your tables with names of states you have visited together or lived in – each table could have a story about being in that state: the state where you met each other, where you each grew up, where you vacationed together or went to school. Place cards could have a ribbon matching a color in the state flag or a picture of the state plant or bird. You could do cities instead of states. Have fun with this!

• What if you and your groom are big readers, you could use favorite author’s names or book titles. You can really take off with this one. Your place cards could be bookmarks with the guests name, entrée and author/book. You could include your names and wedding date and their place card can double as your favor. Your guests now have a keepsake from your wedding to use again in their favorite book or magazine.

• Add some bling to your guest tables and use gems as the names. You could go really glamorous with this one. If your base table cloths are white or ivory, you have a great “canvas” for adding some color to your tables. The Diamond table could have rhinestones around the center of the table and the place cards can have a “diamond” glued to it. Think your birth stone, his birthstone and then your whole bridal party for gems to use. Craft stores have rhinestones in many colors and shapes.

• Let’s say you love to garden. What is your favorite thing to grow? This one has lots of options. Pick your favorite culinary herbs and spices for table names. Try flowers, vegetables, fruits, or shrubs. Your place cards could have a picture of the plant, vegetable, fruit, etc. Your favors could tie in with corresponding seed packets for your guests. Or choose wildflowers and there is actually handmade paper that has wildflower seed embedded in it. The paper can be used for place cards and table sign, and then the really cool part: seeded paper can be planted and the seeds will produce wildflowers. From table décor to place cards to table sign into a guest favor. Eco friendly and creative too!

Part of the fun part of wedding planning is being able to infuse the personality of you and your groom into the day. Be uniquely you all the way to your reception tables. I would love to help you create unique ways to name your tables. Seating charts can be a chore and you can hire me to do these for you.

3 best ideas from the creative DIY bride

One of my 2009 brides had a flair for creativity. Not only did she have great craft skills but a motivation to keep within her budget. Her ability to craft many parts of her wedding reception herself saved her money and gave her the chance to make her wedding her own. Here are a few of the great ideas she used:

Place cards – This bride found a template to create place cards with a cut out for a swatch of fabric to show through. Each of her twenty-two tables had a 14” square of unique fabric at the center of the table. The fabric in the place card matched the fabric for those guests’ table. Ingenious!! She also added a handmade table number for each table which was also printed on the place card for that table. See the link to get your template and directions for making these place cards.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/place-seating-card-templates#slide_2

The place cards were then attached with straight pins to a foam core board which was covered with fabric. As guests came and picked up their place cards, the pins were pushed into color coordinated pin cushions.

Centerpieces – Many brides will use a square beveled edge mirror for the center of each of their reception tables. So you already know this bride used the twenty-two different fabric squares for each of the guest tables. These served three purposes: 1.) Fabric squares were color coordinated with the guest place cards so each table was unique. These also echoed the wedding colors. 2.) Each served to be the base for the three potted plants that were the floral centerpieces for each table. All the plants, some flowers and some culinary herbs, were potted by the brides and friends before the wedding. The potted plants also served as an additional favor for guests to take home at the end of the night. 3.) The fabric squares were gathered up at the end of the evening and then given to an aunt of the bride. The aunt had promised to make a quilt of all the squares as a gift for the bride and groom, to be displayed in their home.

Favors – These were a square two piece glass picture frame that doubled as a coaster. This bride inserted various pictures of her and the groom into these and tied them up with a ribbon. The picture frames gave the guests a dual use. One as a framed memento of the bride and groom and two, as a coaster which could be used for protecting their own tables at home from water marks. Guests, if they chose to, could switch out the picture later and color coordinate it to their home décor. Extra frames/coasters were available if guest wanted to have a matching set.