Name cards

When I am organising wedding tables I often find myself talking brides out of having too many flowers on the table.

There has been a fashion recently for alternating high and low arrangements on tables - a mix of low down rings and towering 4 feet high vases. The idea is that people will be able to see the flowers over the guests' heads and that they won't get in the way.

I feel that the tall arrangements - often in skinny conical vases - make the room feel quite claustrophobic, like there is something hovering around, and as they are inherently top heavy they can topple over if the table is nudged (I have seen this happen and it makes a mess).

I prefer to have small scented arrangements and to mix these with attractive place settings and candles. The photo is of one of the zinc pots that I use as a place card holder - it is really a candle-holder but here it is as a place card holder filled with buttons. It can also be filled with beads, shells, small flowers, sweeties etc. etc.

I am going to try and persuade my sister-in-law-to-be to have them filled with loveheart sweets.

As candles I like to use glass tealights - they give a lovely glow and can be ordered from Luckycats in bespoke fragrances.