Place Setting Ideas to Inspire Your Wedding Tables

If you’re having a sit-down meal at your wedding reception, then deciding on a look for your place settings is a key part of the overall design and you’re probably on the lookout for place setting ideas you love. Designing a table setting is so much more than just about providing people with plates, glassware, and utensils. It’s also about adding texture, dimension, and playful details in a way that’s tangible and personal to each guest. After all, it’s right in front of them! So if there’s one wedding detail you want to get right, this is it. With so many options you can mix and match for each element, it’s like creating a little work of art.

Of course, I’ve created hundreds of place settings for weddings and other events over the years, but each one had a distinct style and personality. Here are just a few of my favourite place setting ideas to inspire your own wedding tables!

To create an elevated garden feel, this table was decorated with botanical-patterned linens, featuring ferns and butterflies, and green and plum glassware that picked up the colours of the beautiful floral arrangements. For a rustic touch, we used emerald burlap to wrap the napkins and tucked a little fern leaf into each one. Bamboo flatware and small patterned plates added visual interest.

This table was all about old world glamour! Classic white plates and silver dinnerwear was set atop a lace tablecloth, while crisp linen napkins were rolled and held with pearl encrusted rings. If you’re looking for place setting ideas for a wedding with a vintage touch or a bit of Gatsby glam, this is a great place to start!

For this destination wedding in Ireland, we used modern transparent charger plates on charcoal silk linens, with the femininity of blush napkins and romantic floral stationery adding both contrast and balance. Metallic accents on the plates and glassware added a sophisticated touch.

Patterned blue china or Toile de Jouy fabrics really pop on a wedding table. You don’t have to limit yourself to one pattern either. For this gorgeous garden wedding, we used Toile napkins with matching menus and placed them on plates with a complementary green leaf pattern. The napkins were tied with a velvet ribbon hand calligraphed with each guest’s name, which also matched the soft blue-grey velvet tablecloths.

Looking for place setting ideas for a European wedding? This table design drew on both French and Irish influences. The wooden tables were set with rich jewel-tone elements in emerald, deep blue, and copper. Blue leaf patterns on the plates (which also had an unusual scalloped shape) played up the organic nature of the arrangements, while hand lettered place cards and menu cards added an extra special touch.

Sometimes all it takes is a few clever ideas to elevate a place setting from simple to unique. Guests at this wedding sat down to pretty green and white patterned plates that were a nod to the Irish wedding location, with velvet tablecloths for a bit of luxe. The place names were all inside jokes between the couple and their guests, which is the kind of personal touch that really makes your tables memorable!

This table was a gorgeous mix of luxury and heritage with a rustic flavour and bright pops of colour! I loved how the plates worked with the strawberries placed on each one as well as the gold flatware that flanked them. And of course, the orchid napkin ties were immediate attention grabbers! All of this worked beautifully on a raw wooden table with a raw silk runner.

These are just a few place setting ideas to get you feeling inspired, but of course we create a custom design for every wedding and event. Get in touch to find out more about working with me!

Slán go Fóill,

Tara

Images by Lisa O’Dwyer Photography, Story of Eve, Photogenic Photography, Paula O’Hara Photography, Doreen Kilfeather, DK Photography, Brosnan Photographic,