Sweetheart table decorations

Sweetheart tables are simply a table set aside for the bride and groom, away from the rest of the bridal party — as opposed to your traditional long head table at the head of the room at a reception. I’m not sure when this trend began, but I think before my mom’s retirement, I had been decorating sweetheart tables for at least five years.

Why have a separate table from your bridal party? Well, why not? They can be as simple as a small, cocktail table set aside from the rest of your tables, or put on a riser, to connote a place of honor. If anything, even though its the bride and groom’s party, the bride and groom are still the guests of honor.

Above, is a picture of the sweetheart table at a friend’s wedding at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley.

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Head table layout and decorations

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. Continue reading

Flower arrangements for your head table

Ever wonder what type of flowers are best for a head table at a wedding reception? The answer is — any type of flower. Of course, there are different styles that are best for different lengths of head table.

This head table is actually shorter than a lot of head tables I’ve decorated, seating about eight people, I think. So the arrangement isn’t that long. Flowers in this arrangement, for a golden anniversary celebration, include yellow roses, orange daisies (not the gerber type), stock, orchids and stargazers.

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Decorating with fabric: Organza

You often don’t see organza fabric outside of formal events, whether its used on the formally-dressed attendees or on the formally decorated facility. Either way, organza is luxurious, shiny and eye-catching — and comes in dozens of colors. My mom had great foresight when she invested in dozens of colors (including at least three shades of pink) and at least a few hundred bolts of organza. It’s a great fabric to use for decorating, but try not to giggle when you spot someone wearing the same fabric you’re using to decorate a table. It’s happened to me before, believe me.

The photo to the left, by the way, was lifted from circuscitykids.com.


I used at least half a dozen pieces of organza on my friend Cathy’s wedding, to great effect. But with her sweetheart table and backdrop, I only used two. Why? Because less can be more, and with the white English netting, that bubble-gum pink has no choice but to pop. Organza, however, can be difficult to decorate with because its fabric. Let’s face it — your clothes wouldn’t lay flat if it weren’t cut in a particular way, and the same goes for yards of fabric used for decorating. Except, you don’t cut fabric you use for decorating. So what do you do? You pin it and you bunch it and you gather it, hopefully in a symmetrical manner. That’s my philosophy in decorating setups like these. 🙂

Here are two colors of organza used together. I actually prefer to use different types of fabric on my tables — like English netting with organza — but that tends to limit my color choices. Most of my English netting is white, so for this gorgeous champagne color, out came the organza. This happens to be a long head table on the floor, with two shorter tables on a riser flanking a sweetheart table, plus that backdrop. And in case you were wondering, I don’t draw my tables in advance — I just seem to see them in my head when I get there and see blank tables.

Since I love the champagne organza so much, here’s another example from a job in Whittier. But besides that, I want to point out how easy it is to fluff organza. This sweetheart table here is decorated with just one long piece of organza, even though I decorated it a bit like a baker decorates a cake. I twisted and fluffed the organza along the edge of the table, as well as draping it along the table skirt. With a color like champagne, its not too overpowering. I wouldn’t recommend this technique with a stronger color like pink or purple.

And here’s a close up of how organza hangs. This photo, not previously posted before, was taken at a gazebo ceremony at the Almansor Court in Alhambra. Go to the post to see the finished set up, but this photo was taken from in front of the gazebo — basically the groom’s view as his bride walks down the aisle. The organza has a luminescent quality, really shining in the sun — and it doesn’t hurt that the skies were gorgeous that day. But organza should be used outdoors sparingly, since its relatively thick and wind can make it look and feel like a sail.
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Long head table decorations

Decorating a long head table for a wedding reception is tough. Trust me, when I was still decorating, I preferred a small sweetheart table to long head tables any day. However, they’re usually a necessity, because its probably cheaper and many couples want to put their bridal party and sponsors in the spotlight with their own especially designated tables.

Above, you’ve got a combo — two long-ish side tables uncomfortably close to a sweetheart table, decorated with lavender, silver and white draping. I’m not sure who put the bridesmaid bouquets at each point where the draping is gathered and attached to the tables, but its a nice touch. You can click on the above picture for its full size, or keep reading for a closer look at an angle.

Forgive me, I can’t remember the name of the hotel pictured here, but — it was a hotel! Anyway, you see the silver draping was used to accent the lavender (one of my favorite color combos). The sweetheart table is set apart with lights underneath the table, which makes a pleasing glow through the silver and white draping.


I’m positive that this set up is at the Pacific Palms in the City of Industry. This is a double long table set up — a long table on the floor and a long table on a raised tier. If I remember correctly, most long tables seat about 15 or 16 people. However, they are not easy to decorate. You usually need several yards of draping, like 20 to 25 yards, plus, making all those loops symmetrical often takes a lot of pinning and unpinning and pinning again, plus, when you’re working with two long tables, not everything will line up, as you can see from above. (Above, things probably line up from a certain view, but it doesn’t look lined up to me from this picture!) When I first started draping it would take me an hour to do each table. I can do a long table in 20 minutes now.


This reception was at the Courtyard in Baldwin Park, but don’t ask me if it was called a Courtyard at the time — its undergone several ownership changes over the years. This set up was unique. If my memory serves me correctly, this was a big U-shaped table. I’ve done a couple of those setups at this hotel. Anyway, you don’t see the U-shape here, but when it comes to a looooong head table that angles, all you can do is create a big visual impact and try to get everything mostly even. Pink helps a lot in that sense.


Yellow and silver for a silver anniversary celebration at the Glendale Hilton. This long table was not as difficult to decorate, since it was not excessively long — it appears to seat 10. There is a sweetheart table setup behind the long table, and its flanked by two medium sized tables which seat four each. If I must recommend a set up for a lot of people at a head table, this would be it.
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Double duty day

I know I’ve mentioned before that I used to work for my mom, the florist. I never did much floral design myself, but became an expert of sorts in draping, which she uses for her various weddings and parties. Anyway, lately, she’s been asking me for help with some of her bigger events. I actually did most of this work last night (I did, after all, have to work today) but went back to take pictures with her camera and my camera. (My mom seems to think that because I took a photography class, my taking the pictures is better.) Here are some of the photos:

The party was an 18th birthday debutante ball-type of deal. Filipinos tend to do these up really elaborate, and this is possibly one of the best examples of really elaborate. This scene here was just the entrance. I didn’t include it, but there was actually another one of those tall arrangements at the flanking the other side of the room entrance.

This is, obviously, the main focal point of the room, what we call a head table and backdrop. For some Godforsaken reason my mom had shown these folks pictures of work done by another company that was gaudy, pre-done and dripping with silk flowers. The family wanted us to copy those pictures, for some odd reason, but whatever – I did it my own way anyway. Besides, I knew what they wanted – real gold, real flow-y, real elaborate. Most of the material used is organza, English netting, plus this really soft gold, glittery netting that I love to use. My mom makes her own knots and all the flowers are real. By the way, is that photo lopsided or what?

I just had to include a photo of the regular tables. The family rented the cream-colored, organza tablecloth overlays for each of the tables, plus white seat covers, from my mom. Of course, you couldn’t really see the seat covers in these pictures. I just want to point out that each table had several votive candles, a program featuring that picture of the debutante that was blown up for the entrance, plus a glass rose as a giveaway. Dude, this is an 18th birthday party, not a wedding – remember that.

Ah yes, and this is the cake table. Also done up with that gold netting, organza, English netting and plenty of real flowers, mostly stargazer lilies, rose petals on the cake table and stephanotis in the cake. The cake was really tipsy, though – every time someone stepped on the riser (yes, the head table and cake table were on risers), the top layer would shiver.

So there’s a quick rundown of some of the work I used to do on a regular basis. The designing is pretty cool – there’s nothing better than working under deadline to finish something you can see and feel later on. I don’t miss doing the grunt work – planning Saturday itineraries, being short, therefore being the one to load arrangements and equipment into the van, especially in really hot weather (why is it there are more weddings during the summer?!), looking up directions, especially for my mom who hates to take the freeway (somehow, she makes it work). But having woked on, say, an average of three of these type of weddings/parties a month over five years, you can see why I opted for the park near the ocean on the night of a blue moon in a simple, store-bought, white dress with a bouquet picked from a garden just 30 minutes prior when I got married. (P.S. I added the copyright watermarks and made the pictures as small as possible so that they won’t get jacked. If you only knew how many times people have taken pictures without permission just to try to imitate…..man.)
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