Dressing the tables
Midlands Wedding Styling Dressing the tables
A table has to be looked at, eaten from and talked across. Most centrepiece problems are one of those three being forgotten.
The table is where guests spend the longest and where the largest quantity of hired items sits. It is also where the constraints are most physical.
Height, and the sightline rule
The usable rule is that a centrepiece should sit below the eye line of someone seated, roughly 30 cm, or clearly above it, roughly 60 cm and up on a stem. Anything between the two blocks conversation across the table, which is what people remember.
Tall arrangements need weight or a wide base, and they need the venue's agreement if the ceiling is low or the room is used for dancing later. Ask before you commit.
Round versus long
Round tables seat fewer people per square metre and need a centrepiece that reads from every side. Long trestles seat more, need a run rather than a point, and photograph better down their length.
Long tables also cost less to dress per head, because a single run of foliage and candles covers what would otherwise be six separate arrangements. If the budget is tight and the room allows it, this is a real saving. See budget.
Candles
Check the venue's position before anything else, because it is the restriction most likely to end a scheme. See venue restrictions.
Where flame is permitted, it is usually conditional: enclosed in glass taller than the flame, a stated distance from fabric, and out before the room is left unattended. Dinner candles in open candlesticks are the arrangement most often refused.
Wax is the other issue and it is a money one. Establish with the hire company whether wax on linen and holders is laundering or damage. See hiring décor.
The place setting
Charger plates, napkins, menus, place cards, favours. Each is optional and each adds a small per-head cost that multiplies quickly across a hundred and twenty covers.
Two practical points. Charger plates are removed before the first course in most service styles, so ask the venue what happens to them and where they go. And anything printed with a guest's name has to be laid in a specific place, which turns dressing from a repetitive task into a careful one and adds an hour.
Numbers, plans and the awkward table
Table numbers or names need to be visible from standing height at the door, not from the seat. That is the commonest error and it is why guests mill about.
The table plan itself is a separate object with its own easel, its own lighting and its own failure mode, which is being placed where a queue forms in a doorway. See signage and stationery.
Linen underneath it all
Establish the drop. A cloth that stops above the seat looks unfinished, and one that pools is a trip hazard in a service aisle. Hire companies size by table diameter and drop, and the venue knows its own table sizes. Ask the venue for the dimensions rather than measuring badly yourself. See linen and textiles.
How long it takes
The number people underestimate. Laying, steaming and dressing a hundred and twenty covers with place settings is two people for three to four hours, before anything goes wrong.
That has to fit inside the venue's access window, which is why setup and turnaround is the page that decides whether any of this is possible.
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