Start your wedding table decor on the floor plan, and leave the flowers until late. Settle the table shape and each guest's elbow room, then the service style and the venue's answer on flame. Only then choose the linen, centrepieces and candles.
Write each decision down as you go, and your notes become the brief for the stylist, florist and hire firm.
Stylists work from the room inwards, so each decision below narrows the next. The table shape sets how much space a centrepiece has, the service style sets what must stay clear, and the venue's rules set what can burn or hang. Follow the steps in order and each quote you collect will build on a brief that holds.
Start with elbow room. Party Rental Ltd advises 24 to 30 inches per guest, about 60 to 75 cm, and Premier Table Linens says a 60-inch (152 cm) round comfortably seats eight and a 72-inch (183 cm) round seats ten. If the count doesn't fit, take a seat off each table before you squeeze anyone.
Long tables are tighter than they look. Barlens, a marquee hire firm, seats three a side on a 1.8 m trestle and loses the end seats once tables join in rows, and where decor runs down the middle, Allens Hire suggests a wider table, about 1.8 m by 90 cm. At 60 guests or fewer, one long table, or two in parallel, lets you sit among your guests under a single low line of flowers.
In a large room, place the stage, walkway and dance floor before any table, then leave about 137 to 152 cm between tables so staff can pass behind chairs. Have one sample table built and signed off before the rest are set.
Shared platters, jugs and bottles claim the centre of the table, leaving room for a thin run of foliage and candles at most. A plated dinner frees the middle for a fuller low design. Before you sign off the florals, set a test table with every platter on it.
Put these to the venue, and to any marquee firm, before you plan a single candle:
Is open flame allowed, allowed only when enclosed, or not allowed at all?
Are tapers allowed, or only pillars in glass?
Can anything be fixed to beams, walls, the ceiling or marquee poles?
What are the set-up and pack-down times?
Which suppliers are approved, and whose insurance covers what?
Some hotels and country houses ban naked flame outright, so get every answer in writing before you brief the florist.
Linen goes on first, and its size is arithmetic. MagicLinen gives the formula as table diameter plus twice the drop, so a 152 cm round needs a cloth of about 305 cm to reach the floor; for a formal drop that stops short, it suggests about 38 cm. On joined long tables, ask the hire firm to plan cloths by run length so the joins fall under a runner or centrepiece. Use one colour on every table, and ask whether washing and pressing are included.
Decide the look in one sentence your stylist can repeat back to you. A restrained table keeps to one palette of tonal linen, matte ceramics and flowers in a single colour, with fewer stems than you expect. It can also rest on one sculptural object per table, or on bare timber with only the setting on it, and the empty space becomes part of the design.
A formal table goes the other way, with gilded chargers kept through dinner, cut crystal and tall tiered flowers, and the head table as the fullest version. Where flame must be enclosed, tall hurricane glass or flameless pillars at two or three heights keep the gold catching light. In either room one thing repeats and only its scale changes, which is how round and long tables read as one design.
Fiore Designs, a floral studio, puts the lines at about 30 and 60 cm (12 and 24 inches) and says the range in between is where many arrangements block faces. Measure from the tabletop, not the floor.
Tall pieces need a slim stand and a small base, and Fiore suggests about 66 to 71 cm as a starting height on a 152 cm round. Judge any tall piece on a full-size mock-up from a seated chair, and under a high ceiling especially. On long tables, keep the whole line under about 30 cm, or see these centrepiece alternatives if you'd rather leave flowers out.
Flowers moved between air conditioning and summer heat "get stressed", says the Society of American Florists' Floral Management magazine, which advises hydrating them for at least four hours before use. In a cooled room, ask that flowers go from the van straight inside.
Hydrangea and sweet pea, with a vase life of 3 to 7 days, are fragile even indoors. For a warm marquee or garden, ask the florist which stems they trust in heat.
Dried and preserved stems need no water, so use them by design on a welcome table and keep them off the cake. On dinner tables, ask for low-scent flowers, since scent competes with the food.
Light the table for the room after sunset. Tapers give height without blocking views, and pillars in glass suit venues that want flame enclosed. Trudon's White Royales are dripless, smokeless tapers 28 cm tall with a 14-hour burn, and Trudon's shop lists all four markets below.
Heat is the taper's weak point, since wax softens in warm storage and tapers bend. In a warm marquee, keep them boxed in shade until they are set.
Keep table candles unscented, and view a lit sample table after dark before you sign off, because tonal linen and matte ceramics can read flat under evening light. Use stable, non-combustible holders and name one person with a snuffer. For more, see planning a candlelit reception and using lighting across the day.
The Emily Post Institute says the charger stays until the main-course plate is served, so it usually dresses the first course only. Ask your caterer when chargers are cleared. Gilded or crystal ones earn their place if they stay; if not, put the money into glassware or candles.
Set water and one glass for each drink served, and an alcohol-free dinner leaves room for finer crystal. For the rest of the setting, see how to build a wedding seating chart and these place card ideas.
A well-dressed table is mostly an edited one. Every extra item competes with the flowers, the candles and the food, and guests notice clutter long before they notice detail. Most tables look better without these, though none is a rule:
Acrylic table numbers
Scattered petals around the plates
Rows of identical bud vases with nothing to anchor them
Candleholders in three different finishes on one table
Hanging installations low enough to sit in the sightline
Burlap runners and jam jars as a default rather than a choice
A menu, place card, favour and sign all stacked on one plate
If an item has no job on the night, leave it in the box. Your stylist can always add a detail at the walk-through, but it is harder to take one away once the tables are set.
Give the cake its own table, out of the service path, dressed in the same linen and constant element as the guest tables and lit for after dark. Ask the maker how long each tier can stand in the room and which fillings hold in warmth, and keep the cake clear of sun and candles.
Agree the cutting time with the caterer so slices reach guests with dessert. A tier you plan to keep sits outside the serving count, so tell the maker early. Display tiers over a kitchen cake suit a very large guest list but are never required.
If the cake carries flowers, ask the maker which stems are safe near food and how they are kept off the icing. For shapes and finishes, see these traditional wedding cake styles.
Book early. Bridebook, a UK planning app, suggests enquiring about decoration hire 6 to 12 months ahead, and Pink Clover Florist suggests 10 to 12 months for a florist in peak season. A full-service floral quote should cover design, sourcing, installation and breakdown, as Fleur and Forage sets out. A hire quote should show each of these on its own line:
Every item, with its quantity and unit price
Spares, especially glassware and napkins
Delivery and collection, with dates and times
Set-up and pack-down labour
Washing and pressing, or the fee if they are extra
The replacement cost of each piece, for breakage or loss
Tax
Deposit and balance dates
The last date you can change numbers
Put the name of whoever counts the hire in and out on the run sheet, or have an event hire team set, strike and count it.
Brief the marquee firm and your stylist on these:
Floor: Ask for flooring or a levelled base, since uneven lawn tips long tables and glassware.
Sun: Ask where late sun falls during drinks, and keep linen, flowers and candles out of it or drop a side.
Timing: Ask when setting starts and how long each table takes, then work back from the doors opening, with flowers and tapers last.
Sides and wind: Agree who raises or drops the sides, and by what time the wind plan is decided.
Waiting space: Name a shaded, cool place where flowers and the cake wait, covered, until they are set out.
These three cause most of the trouble on the night:
Wax on hire: Ask how your hire firm charges for wax on linen and glass, and use dripless tapers.
Draughts on flame: Weight the linen and put every flame in glass where air moves.
Nobody owning the tables: Name one person, write a run sheet of who sets what by when, and walk the room before the doors open.
The steps hold in any country. Suppliers, weather and customs change, so confirm each price below when you book.
For a Hunter Valley estate, The Pretty Table delivers to the Hunter, with a Weave linen tablecloth at $60 excluding GST. RosyPosyCo, a Hunter studio for table florals and installations, publishes a $5,250 minimum for full service, and Couture Botanical is a Hunter floral and planning studio. Interflora lists peony, rose, lisianthus, delphinium and Queen Anne's lace in season in November, with dahlia and zinnia into December.
Cessnock's mean maximum is 27.1°C in November and 29.2°C in December, so in a marquee, plan on pillars in glass. On a Total Fire Ban day you cannot light a fire in the open, so ask your venue in writing whether that covers table candles. On Wedded Marketplace, see Bay Window Events in Newcastle and SOCO Event Hire in Mittagong.
With Dubai's October mean maximum at 35.1°C, ask that flowers travel chilled. Dubai Civil Defence's published rules don't address table candles, so plan on enclosed or flameless ones until your hotel confirms. Ask the hotel for the ceiling height, rigging points and build window, and whether an outside stylist may build beside its in-house decor team. A ballroom of 350 on rounds of ten means 35 tables, so ask the hotel how long its build window allows.
In many Emirati weddings the men's celebration is separate from the women's. Agree whether one stylist builds both halls and the kosha, confirm an all-female crew in writing, and ask who may photograph the women's hall. Ask the cake maker to confirm in writing that extracts, gelatin and any edible gold are halal. Firenze Flora makes centrepieces and ceiling florals, Olga Events builds koshas and stage backdrops, and Wedded Marketplace lists DesignLab Experience.
For a Cotswolds house, start with its recommended-supplier list. Kate Gordon-Lennox Flowers works with British-grown flowers, and Flowers from the Farm, the British growers' association, lists roses, sweet peas, cornflowers, nigella and ammi for June. The Luxe Collection hires glassware from its base in North Wiltshire, with an April to September minimum order of £500 plus delivery.
At Little Rissington, June averages 18.96°C by day and 9.65°C at night, with rain on about nine days, so plan for a cool evening and a wet-weather marquee. The Manor House at Castle Combe has published a "strict no naked flame/ candle policy", so ask your own house and its insurer for theirs. On Wedded Marketplace, see the London florist So Blooming Beautiful.
For a Hudson Valley estate, Witch Hazel in Newburgh sets a $7,500 minimum for full-service wedding florals, and Fleur and Forage, across the Hudson Valley and New York City, sets $10,000 for full service. Ask the estate whether it allows outside rental firms and taper candles, and which suppliers it requires.
Albany's October normals are 61.6°F by day and 41.1°F at night, about 16°C and 5°C, so plan heaters, tent sides and glass around every flame. In New York City, the FDNY issues open flame permits; outside it, ask the estate and its insurer which permit applies. On Wedded Marketplace, see Jen Gould Events for florals, lighting and furniture, and Wedded Events.
Through Wedded Concierge, a Wedded Advisor sources the stylists, florists and hire firms that suit your room and negotiates with each, across countries if you marry abroad. Your advisor briefs each supplier from the same floor plan and flame answer, so the stylist, florist and hire firm quote on one brief. To browse first, start with Wedded Marketplace.
Settle the floor plan and the venue's answer on flame before anything else, and your stylist and florist can quote on a brief that won't change. Book hire early in peak season, then confirm the final numbers, linen sizes and delivery window a fortnight out. On the day, give one person the final walk-through before guests are seated, with the run sheet in hand.
Written by
Content and Creative Manager
Joseph Joshua is the SEO & Content Manager at Wedded Wonderland, bringing an editorial and search strategy perspective to the publication’s coverage of luxury weddings, destination celebrations and bridal lifestyle. His approach to content centres on helping readers move from inspiration to informed decisions, with attention to the design, craftsmanship and personal details that give a celebration its character.
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