Two days before the wedding I met with Carlos, my decorator, to go over some last-minute details and to give him all my DIY projects he would have to set up. He went away with a glass bowl full of Jenga pieces and purple pens, the table numbers and seating lists, the striped straws, and our cake topper.
We discussed all the flowers one last time and went over flower logistics. I have hydrangeas in my bouquet, which tend to be very delicate, so he had to make my bouquet only a few hours before the ceremony, just after he finished decorating. Since the wedding was at 9:00 AM and there was an event at our venue the night before, Carlos had to pull an all-nighter to get everything done. The party the night before stopped at 12:30 AM, but he couldn’t decorate until they finished all the cleaning at 2:00 AM. He was such a good sport about it, too!
Papi Boa whipped up a super-handy layout of the venue in Autocad so we could clearly define where everything would go.
A – Table by the entrance with a bowl full of the Jenga pieces that will become our guestbook after our guest sign them
B – Where the DJ will be
C – Mami Boa insisted on putting together a slideshow, so this is where the screen will be.
D – Our dance floor
E – Where the buffet will be located
F – Where our ribbon seating list will be displayed toward the outside
G – Table for the favors (more on them soon)
H – Our sweetheart table
I – Our cake table
We arranged the guest tables so that adults in our family would be the closest to us, our friends in the middle, and the teenagers farthest away. Hopefully this provides a good flow of conversation since our guests will know most of the people they are seated around.
Did you plan a layout for your venue before the wedding?
Our coordinator created a layout before our wedding, it was so nice to be able to visualize and explain the layout before the reception since I wouldn’t be there to set it up!
It was a joint venture between myself and the venue. We decorated the day before, so I was able to tweak anything I didn’t like. I ended up loving our layout and thought it was perfect!
Our venue requires a floor plan. Basically, it looks like yours!
Very helpful – we haven’t done this yet, but we are meeting with our coordinator next weekend.
I need to do this, but I’m not sure when! I think it may be more of an on the fly kind of thing once we get the tent set up.
Yes i totally did a floor plan! our wedding is at noon and our venue won’t let us get there to decorate until 9am that morning! my mom will be directing all our helpers that morning as i have to be ready by 10:30 am for photos, so the floor plan is a must. We are also planning on doing table mockups and photographing them from all angles so that the helpers have a guide on how the tables are going to look.
I need to create our floor plan and seating chart (I’m actually kind of excited to place people at tables and hopefully create some new friendships amongst my guests)!
Oof, we have to start working on our floor plan right now and I am NOT looking forward to it! I can’t believe your venue’s coordinator stayed up all night!! That is some serious customer service right there!
Mrs. Boa Constrictor, Isabela, Puerto Rico Age and Occupation: 22, Undergraduate Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Soon-to-be Civil Engineer Engagement Date: May 19, 2011 Wedding Date: May 2012 Venue: El Faro Convention Center About Me: I’m a Caribbean gal, born and bred on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, finishing her last year as an undergrad. I describe myself as a “closet nerd” as I secretly enjoy reading research papers, playing video games, and geeking out on Lord of the Rings movie marathons. I will marry my college sweetheart, a soon-to-be civil engineer, who loves Legos and old-school Puerto Rican cooking. This is sure to be a fast-paced year with our wedding, honeymoon, college graduation, new jobs, and a cross-country move all within less than 30 days of each other!
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