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Every wedding has a Welcome Table before guests are escorted to the ceremony. Welcome Tables serve many purposes including presentation of the Guest Book, delivery of important information and even dispensing of ceremony materials your guests might need to pick up on their way by.

For some AWESOME quick and simple guestbook, ideas visit our Pinterest Board for Project Block 2 HERE.

How to Coordinate Welcome Tables

Welcome Tables have their own purpose and own “furniture” display. It is not to be confused with Project 1 which is Guest Entry or Project Block 3 which is the gift table. Both are very similar and may even overlap a bit. Project 1 tells guests where to go, where to park and how to get to the actual ceremony. Spoiler Alert, Project 3 is usually just a big empty table. Project 1 is directional whereas Project 2 is more like ‘You made it, now here is your next step’ to guests. That next step is signing-in…

What goes on a Welcome Table | Guestbook & Pen

This is where we really get into the coordinating piece and how this Project becomes necessary. It serves the purpose of “bookkeeping” if you will…

Do you know why you need a guestbook? A Guest Book is a log of all the guests who attended your wedding, along with their address so that you can send them a thank you card purely for attending. Yes, you need to do that. Even if guests don’t bring you a gift, you need to send them all a thank you card for attending your ceremony.

The guestbook for your wedding should be a quick signature or comment-leaving style keepsake that doesn’t require guests to think, be creative or hold up the line delaying the ceremony. The sole purpose for this is to build a list of attendants. Should it be fancy and expensive? No. Should it exist on your wedding day? Yes. That’s why we give it a Project Block.

The location of a Welcome Table

Welcome Tables can be located where it is most efficient for your guest to get what they need from it. I call it Project Two because I believe it best fits its purpose when placed between 1 and 3 on the physical route that guests will walk on your Big Day. Though very well based on how you are using it, it might work best physically after Project 3’s location or even right next to the aisle {Project 4}. When guests pass your entry signs and get closer to the aisle they will need to: Sign your guest book, put down their gift and then PICK UP anything they need for the ceremony….

The guest needing to set down their gift before they can sign the guest book is a loose end that can easily be tied up with Project 2 and 3 simply being in close proximity.

The importance of a Welcome Table

Project Block 2 is the first visual impression guests receive of your wedding and sets a tone. It communicates your style and sends a subliminal message for what to expect and how guests should behave. This is the first fun project where you can showcase your theme. For example, if it is a destination wedding you can use a globe or if it is a barn wedding you can use hay bales! A fancy display with vintage romance novels on an antique vanity with handkerchiefs is going to communicate a very different message to guests than a lasso leaned against a hay bale. That big mouth guest who had intended to holler like he was at a baseball game after your I Do’s might reconsider when he sees a bit of an elegant expectation… {maybe not, still} But you get the point.

What doesn’t go on a Welcome Table

I know what you’re thinking, “Kandice, my guestbook is a piece of art they’re all just going to sign and be done with.”

Yes, I agree with your 2-birds, 1-stone effort. But you’re going to miss a key piece and that’s the log of guests. I also highly doubt you’re going to go through all those signatures (if you can read them) and know who to address every thank you card to…

These things are a Project Block 11 {Interactive Guestbook} which is best placed at the reception or immediately after the ceremony during cocktail hour. Trust me when I tell you, you do not want your gorgeous keepsake signed by frantic, late guests.

Here is why… For that Project you want your guests to read instructions and take their time. Not scribble because they are late or frantically finish it without any thought and screw the whole thing up! Those awesome, amazing, crafty ideas about advice giving and fingerprint-leaving with rocks and Jenga pieces that you see all over Pinterest and you’re uber excited about everyone doing are Project 11. They happen after the ceremony when everyone can take their time. Plus, then they don’t have to remember to come back to it after they’ve hustled to their seat…

Bringing it all together…

Decide on the location of your Welcome Table and what you are putting on it. Welcome Tables are a great place to put important Sub-Projects such as Programs, Favors, and Ceremony Tossers.

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