How to Create Your Own Table Plan

Custom made table plans from a wedding stationery store can actually be quite pricey, but you can save yourself money if you make your own. Table plans are not difficult to make & you may actually find yourself enjoying the distraction from all the other wedding ’stuff’ that’s going on.

Whether you’re a nervous beginner or a crafty expert, our step by step guide will show you how to create a table plan you can be proud of!

Things you will need:

   * Large piece of polyboard about 5mm thick about 60 x 38 cm
   * Colored paper such as wrapping paper in your chosen wedding colors
   * Thin white card
   * Quality paper suitable for printing on
   * Wide width ribbon or braid in your wedding colors
   * Thin ribbon or cord
   * Cutting board
   * Craft knife
   * Ruler
   * Pencil
   * Scissors
   * Double-sided tape
   * Spray adhesive
   * Paper adhesive
   * Colored marker pen
   * Embellishments such as buttons, flowers, brooches etc

   1. Cut your wrapping paper to 76 x 53 cm & using the spray adhesive, spray the wrong side of the paper. Position the board onto the paper center & press down firmly. Turn the edges of the paper over on to the back of the board, folding the corners in for a neat finish. Use any extra adhesive as necessary.
   2. Now you need to work out how your table plan will look. Get some inspiration from the internet if you need to. You can add a ribbon border all around the board or just along the top or bottom. Make sure you measure the position of each band of ribbon accurately to ensure the design is symmetrical.
   3. Next measure the central space of your board where you will position the cards that contain your guest’s names & table numbers. Use a pencil to mark the position of each tag. This design will have nine cards in a tag style which will appear to hang by ribbon. This mark will denote where you will place the ‘hanger’ on which you cards will hang. This hanger could be a button, brooch, flower or some other embellishment of your choosing.
   4. Cut out your tags from the thin card to a size of 12 x 6cm. On your computer, type out lists of six guests names, centered & in your chosen font. Print them out on your quality paper & cut them out to a size of 12 x 6cm. You need to ensure you have enough space at the bottom to write the table number. Use the spray adhesive to attach the paper to the card tags. When dry you can write the table number on the bottom of each using the marker pen.
   5. Now you need to attach them to your board. Use the glue to attach a 10cm piece of thin ribbon or cord in a loop to the back of the tag on the top edge. You can add another embellishment to the top of the tag at the bottom of the loop if you like. When the glue is dry hang them on the board in number order.
   6. If you want to hang your table plan up attach a piece of ribbon to the back in a loop using glue & some double-sided tape.