At a wedding, where does a guest spend the most time? Possible answers include A) the dance floor, B) the (open/cash) bar and C) their tables. There’s not a lot you can do about decorating the dance floor and the only thing you can really decorate a bar with is pretty bottles of alcohol. So you should spend your time and energy decorating the guest tables.

Flickr photo by lisarunolfson

The table above is super fancy. I’m not suggesting that my tips will make your guest tables look like this, but you can take different things from this example and the others I found on Flickr to make your wedding look all the nicer.

Flickr photo by tibimages

For example, instead of plain white table cloths and napkins, you can opt for a colored damask option, like the gorgeous sage green cloth above. The colored wineglasses adds another dimension to the whole look.

Flickr photo by tibimages

If you have to use a white tablecloth, consider a colored, sheer overlay. I love how the black napkins match the black overlay. And the gold plates tie in nicely with the napkin ties (pun intended). Extra points for the red and blue bottles — how cool do they look???

Flickr photo by Tracy Hunter

This tablecloth might look plain, but if you click on the photo, you’ll see closeup the silver, glittery pattern. Now, I can’t tell if that’s actually paper with glitter glued on at intervals, or if this is actually patterned cloth. If you do try to replicate this, make sure you put your utensils on top of a napkin or a place setting, to avoid having your guests have glitter for dinner. If I had been setting the table, I also would have placed the favors on top of the plates — having those pops of color from the red ribbons fanned out makes everything look prettier.

Flickr photo by Linda’s Kitchen

If all you can manage is your tablecloths and napkins, make them super colorful, to make each table stand out. All you’ve got here is tablecloths and napkins on most of the tables, but doesn’t it make the entire room look festive?