The DIY Seating Plan that will get your Guests Talking
Hands up if you LOVE a juicy DIY to sink your teeth into! After the epic response on my Instagram story earlier this week, I just had to share how I put together the seating plan for our wedding - and how you can tailor make your custom plan to your very own day.
Your Canvas
Every great work of art starts on a beautiful canvas, and your seating plan is no exception. I used a sheet of ply from the hardware store, sanded it smooth and cut it to size. You could leave it natural like I did, or stain, paint or whitewash it to suit your theme.
As an alternative, you could use a sheet of perspex or acrylic. A favourite material of mine, these look so amazing left clear, or you could again paint the backing side in a metallic paint for a stunning sheen, or any hue you like!
Flute board, thick cardboard, or glass (be careful!) would totally work too.
Text
No seating plan is complete without a "find your seat" or similar sprawled across the top. If time is on your side (unlike me), you could easily paint this on - but it will take a few hours! I was lucky enough that my sister in-law dabbles in stationery design so we were able to create a vector file and take this to Dynamite Signs for them to print on clear vinyl.
Christchurch Weddings favourite Paris and Pine offer a service to take care of this entire part for you too, just pick your method and font style and Paris will take care of the rest.
I'm totally not perfect, and I slightly misjudged how wide I needed the ply to be, so we just had our MC explain how the order went (Bridal table first, then top down in rows according to table numbers). You could paint, stick, or print extra 'images' for your table numbers down the side to make it super easy for your guests, who (let's face it) will be well on their way to a good time come seeing the seating plan!
If you wanted, you could write each guests name under their mug shot, or check out the below for options within the online print shops.
Pretty as a Picture
Here comes the fun part! I went hunting on Facebook and Instagram for images of all of our guests. Take into account that Facebook will quite often lower the quality of an image when you save it, so find the clearest ones possible. The fact that these photos are quite small is a huge bonus - it won't really matter if they're not crystal clear.
For the guests I couldn't find images for, I got them to send me through pictures - I just didn't say why ... mwaahahaha.
To print our images, I did this online via PhotoBox using their Standard Retro Prints. It did take about four weeks to arrive, and one of my parcels went missing so you'd want to allow about two months to stay stress free. Harvey Norman also have an Instax Style option that are ever so slightly larger - but they're local and easy to deal with. If you happen to have a polaroid on hand in the lead up to the wedding, you could also take snaps of your guests over the engagement period and leave them guessing what it's for!
I left ours in colour, but black and white looks absolutely phenomenal - especially on clear acrylic. Feelin' me now?
Slip Slop Slap
PVA ain't going to hold this match made in heaven together, so opt for something that comes out of a gun - like gorilla glue, or hot glue. With ours being stuck to wood, gorilla was the best option. For perspex, acrylic or any of the other materials, double sided tape would probably do the trick.
The Finishing Touches
Getting your florist involved is ALWAYS a good idea. They could put together a little somethin' something all around the board, or just in the corners, or up the top depending on your budget.
Time to Show off
Now it's time to showcase your outstanding project, after all - you totally smashed it out of the park with this unique, personalised idea! Our ply board was pretty heavy, so hubby made a custom easel for it, but you can easily source your own from any hire company in Christchurch. Scope out your venue too, maybe yours will look nice propped up on a wine barrel (or a half one) against a wall, against a tree close to the reception area, or maybe theres an option to string some twine to the sides and hang it (for the lighter materials).
If this DIY floats your boat and you take on the challenge, don't forget to hashtag #christchurchweddings in your pictures, or tag @christchurchweddings on Facebook or Insta - I'd so love to see your very own work of art!
Would you like to see more DIY moving forward? Let me know in the comments xx
Until next,
