Unique DIY Table Decorations

Flowers? Check. Candles? Check. Throw in the place settings, and you have your typical reception table. Now, we’re not knocking flowers and candles (nor silverware, for that matter, unless you’re dining with cavemen), but adding a little personal oomph to the tables goes a long way toward making your wedding truly unique. Three things you might want to consider when planning your tables are 1) location; 2) the season; and 3) your personal history as a couple.

Here are a few ideas we love, some of which we’re shamelessly stealing from weddings we’ve been to:

• For a seashore wedding: shells, rocks, sea glass, driftwood, plastic pails, beach-y things. Fill large (scrubbed, please!) clamshells with Jordan almonds or after-dinner mints. Place colorful sea glass in the bottoms of clear vases for your flower arrangements. Buy or make seashell napkin rings. Instead of expensive formal flowers, collect and arrange bunches of decorative seaside grasses and wild flowers, even good-looking weeds, that evoke the beach.

• For a city wedding: scour Chinatown for tourist knickknacks that would make fanciful table decorations. “I Love New York” magnets or San Francisco backscratchers would make great place card holders. For the diehard fan, how about a small Red Sox pennant on every seat back? (Just be prepared for scuffles with Yankees groupies.)

• For an autumn wedding: colorful leaves, chrysanthemums and gourds are no-brainers. But also think about the subtler beauties of the season: dried purple hydrangeas, red and orange bittersweet vines, dried pods and grasses. Nix the Halloween theme unless you really want to be the talk of the town.

• For a winter wedding: holly branches, decorative glass balls, lots of white and silver, evergreen topiaries, red and white striped mint candies, even a touch of tinsel (careful – a little tinsel goes a long way).

• For tables that truly reflect the two of you: sit down together and brainstorm. How did you meet? Where did he pop the question? What do you love to do together? Where have you traveled? At one wedding we attended, rather than being numbered, tables were named for different places in the world to which the couple had traveled or that were special to them. Each table had a placard explaining its name. Loved it.

Like to rock climb? Carabiner napkin rings. Book worms? Bookplate or old-school card catalog place cards. Feel free to get quirky here. You’re already putting yourselves out there as a couple that thinks outside the box.

When it comes to weddings, the great thing about getting creative is that you’re usually going to come up with lower-cost solutions than if you paid someone to do it all for you. How cool is that? Even cooler, your personal touches will make for a unique event that your guests will always remember.