My Wedding Table Design

I thought it only fitting that my first real post on my new blog be about my wedding. Not only is it the biggest event that just happened in my life, it is something I worked hard at for 9 months, but realistically planned my whole life! Over the next few months, I thought I would feature different key elements of the wedding and wedding process. Today, I thought I would focus on one element, the reception table design. In planning my wedding, I definitely knew there were areas I wanted to splurge on and others that I knew we could do at a reasonable price, and the tables were no exception. Below is a listing of all the main items that made up the beautiful tables (pictured above) at our wedding.

1. Linens- While at first, I thought I could save and use the hotel's linens, I quickly learned that the linens would be a key way to bring all the other elements together. We chose our linens from San Diego Linen Company. Since we were just looking for a simple satin gold linen, this Company offered the lowest price. To the right is just a quick shot of how the linens turned out.

2. Chargers- From the get go, I absolutely knew that I wanted chargers on the tables. What I didn't know was how expensive chargers were to rent- most Companies wanted at least $5 per charger to rent!! Since, I found that completely ridiculous- I was determined to find the best price. We ended up buying chargers as opposed to renting and paying $10 for 6 chargers- which was a huge steal comparatively! Bed, Bath and Beyond no longer offers the deal, but here is a link to single chargers through their website. I recommend buying versus renting chargers, as you can always sell them after the event, or use them for future hosting. 

3. Place Cards- Since we were doing a sit down dinner, it was necessary to have a way guests could identify their seats. While Etsy has a ton of options, I found this great website, that had a small gold frame to insert the placecard information, plus it doubled as a wedding favor. I maintained an excel spreadsheet of each attendee's name and their choice of entree. I then did a "mail merge" into labels, the same size of the frame, and edited the font to make it more elegant. I then printed on cardstock myself and hand cut and stuffed each place card (huge cost saver!).

4. Thank you Card-  One way I wanted to add a personal touch to the wedding table, was to do a "thank you" card at each place setting. I found that for only $25 you can have someone on Etsy design something unique just for you.  Here is the link to our design on Etsy. We then took the design and printed it ourselves at Office Depot, on gold cardstalk.  

5. Flowers- I think flowers deserve a post in itself. I will say though, we found a great florist that added in vase rentals, and free crystals and lights as part of the package. Here is her website. She did such a beautiful job and I loved how the crystals hung down.

In summary, here are a few tips I found out and used to save money while keeping our tables classy and elegant:

1. Pick up versus deliver the linens. This can be a huge cost saver, especially if your event location is far from the linen warehouse.

2. ALWAYS buy versus rent table accessories (except linens). I found renting to not only be expensive, but again  Companies charge to deliver the items. Buying not only offers you the capabilities of keeping the items for future events, but you can sell them on second hand wedding websites. Some I recommend are Tradesy and Wedding Recycle. 

3. Use Etsy designers. The people on Etsy are soo talented, and I have found the prices to be a lot lower than if you go to an outside designer. 

4. Print yourself. I found that prices to have some design and print for me to be very expensive. A great alternative is to pay for the design service and print yourself. Not to mention, Office Depot and Office Max always offer coupons you can use for the printing.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo, Alysia