Table names instead of numbers...

How large is your wedding and how dark will the room be?

I'm only asking these questions because I once went to a wedding, with table names instead of numbers, and it was a mess. There were photos of the couple at various landmarks, around the city. Since the lights were dim and there were over 200 guests, some of use wandered around, for awhile.

Maybe if they were laid out in alphabetical order, it would help?

P.S. Our venue gave us a room layout/diagram, with numbers already assigned to the number of tables we needed. I'm assuming it's easier for them with serving; we had to write in the number sitting at each table and the number of each entrée choices, per table.

We are probably going to use a mix of names/numbers. Each of our tables will be named for a board game that we play, but each table will also have a number associated with it for those that are not as familiar with the games we will be using.

Right now, we're at about 220 invited, hoping/planning on about 170 guests.

I'm not sure how dim the room will be but can definitely ask the venue.

Serving will not be a problem for us because we're doing a buffet

We are going to do places, our favorite places weather they are a city or a building. Chicago is the first city we lived in together, so it will get a label. East Lansing, Silver lake sand dunes, Houghton MI, Margies ice cream, Atlanta MI, Mackinaw Island etc.

I am a HUGE baseball fan. FH is letting me have some baseball elements in the wedding. One of those is naming the tables after baseball positions instead of numbering them. I did see somewhere on the forums that people that did this had a diagram of where the tables are to make it easier for guests. In my case, those that know anything about baseball know that those positions also have a number (pitcher=1, catcher=2, etc). Obviously we can only have a total of ten tables with this system (the 10th is our family table me, FH, & his children, which will be the dugout), which means we can sit eight people to a table and have room for everyone (small wedding, only 73 people including us & BP).

We will have city names of places we visited together, we'll have a picture of at at the place and a vintage (or vintage looking) postcard with the name of the city. We won't have too many tables though (less than 80 people) and our wedding is during the day, so light isn't a problem either.

How about "bat boy" for the kids table Kimi? Manager for parents table? Fans table? My husband and I were spitting off ideas. Love baseball too and love your idea of doing the baseball positions! Good luck! Love the creativity.

Amy, good ideas. We aren't having any kids at the wedding other than my two nephews (both age 4) and FH children (ages 9 & 12). My nephews will be at the table with their parents (and each other) & FH's children will be with us. The youngest is autistic and we really don't know how he's going to handle the whole wedding/reception as it is. The closer he is to us and familiar things the better.

Names can get confusing when trying to find the table, unless you have a chart showing were each table is.

BTW, congrats Amy! I just noticed that you got married yesterday.

Thank you Kimi! Good luck with yours!

Commenting to follow! 12 tables shouldn't be too hard.

I went to a wedding recently where tables were named after video games. They only had 10 tables, so it wasn't hard to find ours. We were also right by the entrance, though, so we didn't need to look for long.

We thought about using names of local restaurants and other food places we really enjoy. FH loves food. haha

We ended up doing baby/toddler pictures of us with an actual table number. I'll let you know how it goes!

We got married on a ship so I was going to name the tables after different types of nautical knots and have the knots displayed on a plaque. I'm not DIY savvy enough, and didn't feel like learning how to tie 12 or more types of knots, so I went with the basic table numbers haha.

I've seen popular streets in the wedding city.

Well i am definitely a fan of this since, i am your sister lol. How about authors since your a bookworm or browns players since obviously you are both browns fans. Stadiums, different equipment

You could do names and numbers, like "Table 1: Fred and Wilma." Table names are hard to find without numbers.

I agree about the names AND numbers, so guests can find their seats.

But also, if you don't have an idea already, don't force it.

We are doing this. We are naming them after places we have traveled together. BUT, we are including a number because otherwise people will be searching for it without any directions. Numbers have a logical sequence and people will know when they are getting close to their number.

So we will doing something like: Table 1: Venice, Italy, Table 2: Bergen, Norway, etc. We plan on having a photo of us at the location next to the table number.