All you need to know about how to decorate your wedding tables.
A step by step guide to planning amazing and unique wedding décor and how to put it into practice
You will want your venue decorations to enhance your wedding attire – as it is a reflection of your style and unique to you.
Here is a step-by-step plan to help you determine your perfect decorating style and how you can create bespoke table and venue decorations.
Step #1: Plan
Don’t be tempted to settle for the first things that you find, and don’t stock up on decorations too early until you have sorted your theme and style. You may end up wasting money on purchases that you don’t use. Choosing wedding décor that’s beautiful, cohesive and a reflection of what you love requires planning.
You’ve probably spent a bit of time sorting the venue as well as your caterer, the type of food and beverages you are serving, and maybe even the entertainment. This takes time and planning, and while couples often think they can save money on decorating it is actually the one place where your guests spend the most amount of time. Remember they are likely to spend several hours seated at each table so it’s important to spend that extra attention to the detail.
Plan to sort all of your decorations long before your wedding date and definitely organise everything well before the week of your wedding. This will ensure you can have a calm, restful week that will put you in the right mind-set to be able to fully enjoy your wedding day.
Step #2: Choose your style
Firstly, you may have an idea of this when you first get engaged, but don’t be surprised if this changes once you sort a few other details. Ultimately you need to know your venue, your guest list, your wedding date and your bridal party.
Your venue – Is it a large ballroom or small outdoor setting? Is it in a barn like building or at an inner city cooperate venue? Is it at a winery or in a marque at your family home? Is your ceremony going to be at the same venue or at a completely different location to your reception venue?
Your guest list – is it small and intimate or a huge family affair? Are you going for formal or casual? Are you looking to have printed invitations or are you inviting your guests in a more casual way, for example via Facebook? Do you want your table scaping to reflect anything you have already printed?
Your wedding date – What time of the year is your wedding? What time of the day is the ceremony? Are you serving food? Is it a buffet or fine dining?
Your bridal party – what style are your gowns and bouquets? Are you having lace and sparkle, or are you more structured and couture? Do you want the table decorations to match your bridal party colour palette?
It can be hard to describe your vision and style so you could also focus on the feeling you want guests to have at your wedding, so do you want everyone to be: Relaxed? Formal? Romantic? Modern? Edgy?
Remember you will be much more likely to be happy with your wedding style if it truly suits your personal tastes. While others may offer suggestions or have opinions of what you should have stay true to your aesthetic and do what makes you happy.
Sometimes it helps to come up with three words that best describe your wedding vision. This will help you stay true to your vision whenever you feel overwhelmed with all the choices or ideas that others think will suit you.
In the end you might come up with a simply style descriptor such as: Classic. Glamourous. Bohemian. Rustic. Beachy. By-the-water. Minimalist. Clean and Modern. Country and Cottage. Country and Rustic. Hollywood Glitz and Glam. Fancy Dress. Black Tie.
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Step #3: Choose your colour palette
This can be influenced by your favourite colour, or the time of year and also the time of the day that you are getting married. Is your ceremony in the morning, afternoon or evening?
Think by season: Spring or Autumn, Summer or Winter, they never appear in just one colour. Unless you choose to, you do not have to have everything matching the one colour you may have for your bridesmaid’s gowns. Rather think of colours in groups or like paint swatches. That way you can feature a couple of complementary colours and add similar hues to give your décor a cohesive look.
Remember there are no rules! If you want a monochromatic scheme or two complementary colours or an entire range of shades, go for it!
Step #4: Choose and match your venue
Your venue may already dictate how and what you can use in your decorations.
Use its features – that stained glass window, the chandelier, the exposed beams, the landscaped gardens or water feature, the beach with a view. How can you use them to your advantage?
In this way you may be able to eliminate unnecessary purchases as you don’t want the décor to distract from the features that would have attracted you to the venue in the first place.
Ask the venue owners if they have photographs of previous weddings to help you visualise how the spaces can be used. They may be able to describe how other weddings looked even if they don’t have any photos themselves. This will also allow you to create your own unique style that is not just a repetition of another wedding that was held in the same space.
Step #5: Sorting the essentials
These are all the functional things that are like a canvas that you are then going to draw or paint upon. Begin with the tables and chairs. There are many options and prices available to hire, your style will help you decide what you want.
Do you want to use chair covers and sashes or bows?
Next is the table cloth. What colour and type of table linen do you want? The two most popular wedding colours are black or white. But even these come in a variety of textures and patterns. You can of course have something completely different, parchment paper to draw on, tapa cloth, or bare tables – it is up to you, there are no rules! The type of table covering may also be determined by the use of a table runner.
Step #6: Table-scaping to make it your own
Remember your guests will spend several hours seated at each table so it’s important to spend that extra attention to the detail on your tables. This is the fun part where you especially make the decor your own.
The main focus is usually on the table centre piece. It should bring your style into focus.
Are you thinking of lavish floral displays or simple candles and greenery garlands? This will help determine the place mat under your centre piece. Using wood rounds for a rustic feel or mirrors for a more lavish look. You might want to use a coloured woven mat or not need one at all if your table runner is in your feature colour. Of course, if you have a table runner you may not even need a place mat. Remember it’s your choice!
Next think of the vase you want to use. There is a huge variety and style available, so there are no rules on what you have to have here either. Just remember that the vase will determine the style of floral arrangement you can put into it.
The colour of your décor needs to tie in with your colour palette, so this may dictate the colour and type of flowers you can use. Consider using in-season flowers. Of course your centre piece doesn’t have to be floral – it can be a photograph, a lantern, a pot-plant, a candle, again it depends on the style you are trying to create!
There may already be lighting at the venue, but also decide on the lighting you will use on the tables.
This could be anything form copper seed lighting, fairy light strings, candles, lanterns or outlandish candelabras. It should bring all that you have already decided on as listed above into a cohesive style.
The napkin – like the table linen there are a number of choices; paper, linen-look paper or genuine linen. You could also make your own. The fold is another story! There are so many to choose from, again it depends on the look you are wanting to create and design. Remember too that someone is going to have to pre-fold them and place them in a specific way on your table so that you get the effect you are after.
Lastly, will you be adding guest place name cards? If you are you will also need a table number and a seating chart. If you are having a more formal affair you may want to add a menu card. It is also a good idea to bring the theme from your invitations through to any place name cards, menus or signage.
Step #7: The extras
There are many other ideas that you can use to transform a venue into a unique experience for your guests.
At the ceremony do you want to create an aisle? Do you want an archway?
Are you having a wishing well or gift table? Do you want the guests to sign a special book?
There are many options for display; welcome, bar, restrooms, a love quote or other meaningful message. Don’t forget the road side markers. You can also add a display board of photos, again the list is endless!
There are a number of other ideas that will help you create that feeling that you want your guests to experience: Lounge furniture, umbrellas, outdoor games, wine barrel leaners, or a photo. You could also do this with food treats such as a lolly table, donut wall or a cheese board.
Step #8: The walk-through
Ensure you have discussed with all your “planners” exactly how you want the venue to look and where you want everything placed. This might include your marriage celebrant, the rental company, florist, venue owners, table-scape designer and your wedding planner.
The walk-through ensures everyone who is setting up is on the same page. How the tables are to be arranged, how the room is lit, where the floral displays will be placed, where the signage goes, where wedding cake goes. All things that need to be discussed and planned if you don’t want any surprises that you weren’t expecting when you finally walk into the room yourself.
Step #9: Hire a professional decorating designer and set-up stylist.
If this all sounds too much then it’s important to hire a professional. Elbee Evolutions has a
systematic, planned approach to both designing, creating and styling wedding decor.
We will spend time consulting with you to ensure we have the table scaping theme of your dreams. We are great listeners, so we have the ability to draw out your ideas and form a cohesive theme from the smallest snippets of information that you give us, even without you realising this. We truly love to be inspired by your imagination and are great at being able to develop your thoughts into truly amazing bespoke table decorations.
We will bring your special day to life and offer the icing on the cake!
It’s our job to bring your dream to reality. We will develop your design and then create a visual representation of what everything will look like, and will work closely with you to ensure the final design is exactly as you imagined – from the table centrepiece to the lighting and the signage.
Again, it’s in the planning, we will ensure everything is ready and in place for the big day. Our time line will be planned so that we are 100% certain that our set-up will go smoothly on the day. We will go about our work in a quiet, calm manner and we always allow time to ensure we are not rushed.
We are always systematic and professional in all that we do on the day. We will not stop working until everything is perfect.
If you also choose to engage us with a pack-down service, we will enter your venue at a pre-arranged time and will go about our business in a quiet and respectful manner. We will ensure all our decorations are packed up and taken away and will always leave the venue as we found it.
Whatever you decide good luck on planning your perfect day. We'd love to help you. Get in touch if you'd like a complimentary wedding styling chat. Nothing we love more!
Do you need help finding your theme and style?
Check out my 3-step styling guide to get you started today!