Table Plans for Christmas Weddings

Chestnuts roasting by the open fire, mulled wine, carols sung by choirs and sleigh bells ringing – what a lot of inspiration for a festive seasonal Christmas wedding.

Table plans and escort cards

Festive table plans could include:

• Use a stocking shaped piece of card for each table, and print guest’s names onto it. If your venue has a fireplace, then ask if you can decorate it and hang your stockings from it!
• Alternatively, hang them on a tree or across the wall.
• Add some festive images to your printed seating plan. From sparkling snowflakes to a cheery Father Christmas, the possibilities are endless.

Pine cones, dusted with white snow, make beautiful, rustic and natural escort card holders. A simple craft for DIY-ers, you can also buy them ready made and personalised.

Other Christmas themed ideas for escort cards could be:

• Glittering baubles, hung on a Christmas tree or placed in a festive bed of fake snow or tinsel, with guest’s names and table numbers written or printed on them.
• Instead of placing your escort cards on a table, use some red ribbon to hang them from a Christmas tree, or place them around a large Christmas floral wreath.

Table names and numbers

Table names could include:

• Father Christmas’ reindeer – Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, with Rudolph and his red nose at the top table!
• The twelve days of Christmas – a partridge in a pear tree
• Famous or favourite Christmas carols
• Christmas pantomines – Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots or Cinderella
• Winter flowers – ivy, holly, mistletoe or snowdrops
• Christmas songs – Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, Let it Snow, Jingle Bells or Santa Baby
• Christmas food – turkey, Christmas pudding, figgy pudding and cranberry sauce

Table décor

Add some Christmas spirit with some cheerful Christmas bunting around your tables.

Ask your florist to incorporate Christmas flowers and colours into your centrepiece, such as holly, ivy and mistletoe decorated with red and green ribbons.

Favours could include

• Personalised Christmas crackers
• Personalised baubles for your guests to take home and remember your happy day every Christmas when they put them on their tree!
• Mini Christmas puddings, mince pies or Christmas chocolates

Real Weddings

Here’s what three UK couples did with their Christmas themed festive wedding days, proving that its the most wonderful time of the year!

Emma and Karl in Lancashire, Jan 2011

A snowy day in January 2011 greeted Emma and Karl, who had carol singers and a big brass band to play Christmas music on their wedding day. The bride carried a beautiful bouquet which was designed around an icicle them.

Emma and Karl’s table plan was cleverly created using a Christmas Welcome ring (a large Christmas wreath). Their top table was lit with twinkling fairy lights and the wedding cake decorated with Christmas foliage including mistletoe, Christmas roses and white magic.

Amy and Jim

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Rich purple, silver and magenta paired with snowflakes and sparkling crystals decorated Amy and Jim’s winter wonderland wedding.

The seating plan used glittering festive names, such as sparkle, twinkle and shimmer. The table décor matched the wedding theme, with purple ribbons on napkins and snowflakes on place cards. Favours for guests were hung on a beautiful tree, which was then transformed into a wishing tree, where guests wrote their good wishes on labels decorated with snowflakes.

Tara and James in Surrey

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas… Blue skies and fresh white snow greeted Tara and James on their wedding day. Festive guests arrived at the reception venue courtesy of a 1912 bus, and were warmed up with mulled wine on arrival. During the evening, Christmas films were projected across the walls, and professional dancers performed the seasonal Nutcracker ballet.

Tara and James named the tables after Father Christmas’ reindeers! They also used ivy to decorate their seating plan.

Other ideas

• Invite a local carol singing group to entertain during the evening.
• Set up a photobooth with Christmas props – for example, a fake Father Christmas beard, sack and hat, a Rudolph nose and antlers and plenty of tinsel and baubles.
• Make your own Christmas bunting to decorate the venue.
• Don’t forget to check our Christmas themed Pinterest board, where you will find lots more exciting ideas for your festive wedding seating plan! This theme also fits well with many of our previous articles, such as Winter Wonderland and rustic themes.

Sources

Amy and Jim – dodmoorhouse.co.uk
Emma and Karl – flowerdesignstannes.blogspot.co.uk