When I was decorating weddings, my primary concern was — how are the head tables set up? That was my main job, of course, and it mattered because the number of head tables and the amount of time I had to decorate impacted how elaborate the decorations would be.Above, this 18th birthday party had the simplest of head tables — a rectangular table seating four people. Oh, but there are so many other configurations…

This is a relatively simple head table layout — one long table in front, a sweetheart table in the center behind and above, with a round cake table to the left. And, apparently, a random round table to the right to even things out. Heheh.

Here’s two long head tables, one on a riser, with a backdrop behind it all.

Here, we’ve got a long table in front, a sweetheart table and two shorter long tables on a riser in back, with a backdrop. The three tables on the riser appear to be so close together, I suspect they were actually attached before I got to them. When that happened, I called the banquet staff in and would ask them (nicely) to give the sweetheart table a separate table skirt.

Flickr photo by Martin’s Caterers

This is a configuration I don’t often see. A straight up long table on a riser, with a small cake table in front. The ice blue “draping” is not actually draping, but simply square tablecloths laid out diagonally, with the corners cinched up in the center.

Flickr photo by Martin’s Caterers

I’ve seen so many weddings, but this is a really cool layout to me. There’s a shorter head table on a riser, and a long head table lower down in front, but the table’s ends curve! A cake table sits front and center, and next to the head table up top, there’s a table that appears to be holding a sculpture.