Design Inspiration | Place Settings

One of my favourite aspects of creating a wedding design concept for my clients is their Reception styling. The Reception space is where you and your guests will spend the majority of the day; for drinks, dinner, and probably dancing too, so it serves a variety of purposes and offers you the opportunity to inject your personality and creativity to create a space that will be sure to wow your guests!

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be offering some inspiration for creating that wow factor reception space, and this week I’m starting with place settings. Think about it; whether your guests are enjoying their meal, listening to speeches or watching moves on the dance floor, your guests will spend a considerable amount of time sitting down at their table. It’s therefore just as important to ensure that the place settings are a practical, functional space as well as being beautiful and complimentary to the rest of your wedding decor.

Initially plan what you will need in order to serve your wedding breakfast…after all, place settings are made for dining – so practicalities first. If you’re having a 3 course seated meal, you won’t need any additional plates on the table, so keep it simple. If you’re having sharing boards in the centre of the table, incorporate crockery into your place setting – consider how you can use a variety of textures, patterns and colours to create the overall look. There are a whole host of companies in the UK who specialise in crockery and glassware hire, so shop around to find the most suitable supplier for your style (and price range!). Remember, your caterer or venue may have alternative options than their standard range – so it’s worth asking them before you start adding hire to your budget.

Once you have thought about which crockery, cutlery and glassware you would like to use, consider how you will use your stationery and favours with your place setting; will you have individually printed menus? How will you display your place names? It’s all too easy to get carried away, so try not to include too many unnecessary additions which will clutter your settings. You don’t want your guests to start storing items by their feet whilst they’re eating because there simply isn’t room on the table!

Try and blend your place settings with the rest of your decor; create a statement bow using the same ribbon as in your bouquet, add a sprig of lavender or rosemary if using within your floral design (the room will smell gorgeous too!), co-ordinate the colour of your napkins with your Bridesmaids dresses, or use gold rimmed glassware or crockery if your stationery includes gold highlights!

I could go on forever with more ideas, but this simply wouldn’t be an inspirational post without some beautiful imagery of place settings, so I’ll let them speak for themselves…

Image by Jessica Burke Photography via Style Me Pretty
Image by Michael & Anna Costa Photography via Style Me Pretty
Image by Anouschka Rokebrand via Avenue Lifestyle
Image via Ruffled Blog
Image by Taylor & Porter via Wedding Sparrow
Image by Jessica Gold Photography via Style Me Pretty
Image by Jen Wojcik Photography via Style Me Pretty
Image by KT Merry via Style Me Pretty
Image by Jacque Lynn Photography via Elizabeth Anne Designs
Image by Jose Villa
Image by Jose Villa

For more inspiration and ideas, feel free to browse my Pinterest board and pin to your hearts content!

Jeni x