Our table plan didn't actually cause too many arguments surprisingly. It was a little stressful trying to fit everyone in, especially due to the fact we had already fitted in 20 extra people than recommended into the hall! We were already having the top table up on the stage to make extra space and managed to squeeze in 14 round 5' tables! As a result we were trying to keep the tables of 10 to the ones with children as they take up less space, and the tables of 9 for the adults so they have a bit more room. Unfortunately we didn't have enough single people for the odd tables so had to do a lot of juggling but we managed in the end I think with only two tables of 10 adults.
We wanted to mix our families and friends up a bit rather than seat them only with people they already know, to encourage mingling later in the evening and to allow everyone to get to meet someone new. We tried to keep families with children of the same ages together so they might have more in common and it all seemed to work really well. I've even had comments from guests that it was the friendliest wedding they've ever been to as there weren't cliques in the evening - everyone was mixing and dancing together and having fun with the photo booth! Even the evening guests noticed it.
The idea for the table plan was another RMW inspiration! I had already decided to use a similar frame I had seen on ebay but LOVED the idea of using ribbons (of which I still had plenty from Country Baskets) instead of mounting the cards onto a back board.
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| Photo by Shoot Lifestyle via RMW |
We laid out A6 mock ups of our 15 tables to see which way they would fit best before ordering the frame as they have so many different sizes.
Our first choice was to go for a landscape arrangement as above which would have fitted perfectly into the 25" x 40" frames but they didn't have any silver ones in stock. They did have a 30" x 40" so we went for that and rearranged them to make sure they would fit....
This actually worked out better as we could arrange them as they tables would be set out in the room which made it easier for people to find where to sit. Again Mum made all of the stationery including the individual glittery dragonflies and brought the card for us to print the tables. Nik had great fun using Mum's special punch to round the corners! She had also made some glittery toppers for the tables using one of her special crafty cutter machines! When the frame arrived we measured and laid out all the ribbons on the rug with the pieces of card before stapling the ribbon in place.
We then stuck each card on with double sided tape, Nik measuring to make sure they were evenly spaced. The table names were reefs we have dived together since we've been seeing each other.
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| Eriyadu was the reef we got engaged over (on the jetty) |
We then stuck blank matching cards to the backs to strengthen the card and make it a bit more sturdy. We had also put a backing on the middle ribbon to stiffen it although it didn't make much difference so we didn't bother with the others.
I added a few more staples to the edge of the ribbons at the bottom to stop the ribbons twisting with the weight of the cards, although when it was stood up it wasn't as much of a problem.
We kept the dragonflies separate for transporting it and left them in an envelope with a picture of how we had laid them out for Rebecca to stick on on the day. She did a great job and it was positioned on one of the huge old radiators in the corridor, out of the way of the entrance to Maxwell Hall (the main hall) but very accessible and noticeable to everyone.
Post Wedding Update:
2 comments:
Hello!
We're getting married at PBH in two weeks time! Just trying to sort our table plan - how many round tables were you able to fit in? And how many people round each table? Thanks for your help!
HI Lorraine, 2 weeks, how exciting!
We actually had a little disagreement with them over the number of tables we wanted, our caterer and one of the PBH staff had told us they could fit 14 tables (as it had been done before) if they were all 5' and we had the top table on the stage. They tried to tell us we had to have banquet tables instead but it worked well for us and there was still enough room for servers to get round with food and wine. We tried to limit tables to 8 or 9 where possible but had some with 10 on where there were children. I didn't want people to be squished but we ended up with more guests than originally planned and it meant we could fit everyone in! It all worked out brilliantly on the day. Good luck with the plan and with your big day! (I've just added a pic of the tables in the hall on our day so you can see.)
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