Bottle Table Plan

How to Make a DIY Bottle Table Plan for £25

This is surely one of the simplest but most effective table plan ideas: using beer bottles as both vases and as a seating chart. (Useful and beautiful. Marie Kondo would be so proud). Plus, it’s FUN! You get to drink ALLTHEBEER. Or wine, or cider, or whichever nicely bottled drinks you can get your hands on. (But always drink responsibly, kids!). Here's how to do it.

Glass bottle table plan on rustic table at a traditional courtyard wedding

As you can see from the lettering on the glass bottles, you don’t need to be amazing at calligraphy for this DIY to be effective. Before I gave it a go, I was worried that the bottles might look a bit rubbish, as my calligraphy skills leave a lot to be desired. However, I found that just my normal handwriting worked pretty well.

Table plan created out of eight brown beer bottles, rustic crates and beautiful flowers, all resting upon a limewashed occasional table
DIY table plan created out of dark brown beer bottles which have guests' names written upon them
Bright pink peony resting inside brown beer bottle as part of a DIY bottle table plan

DIY Glass Bottle Table Plan {What You Will Need}

 

Items needed to create a bottle table plan for a wedding: brown glass beer bottles, flowers, a white pen and rustic boxes all resting on top of a limewashed console table

  • Pebeo pen, £2.75
  • Flowers (I used a mix of real peonies, tulips and roses, plus these faux peonies from Hobbycraft)
  • 20 Glass bottles
  • Table (You or your venue may have one similar, or if not, try scouring your local charity shops. Adam bought this one from Homesense a while back, but Cox and Cox do similar).
  • Rustic crates and boxes (The ones I used are a mix of boxes from H&M and Hobbycraft).
DIY Glass Bottle Table Plan {Instructions}
  • 1. Once you’ve glugged your way through enough bottles of beer (one bottle per table, obvs), peel the labels off and scrub away any glue/paper residue that may be left on the glass. I used Singha beer bottles and found that if you leave the bottles to soak for a couple of minutes, the labels scrubbed off pretty easily with a sponge.
     

Person cleaning brown glass bottle

 

  • 2. Arrange your assortment of boxes and crates on the table. Use a range of shapes and sizes of boxes to make it more visually interesting.

 

Person laying wooden boxes and crates upon a limewashed console table to make a base for a bottle table plan for a rustic wedding

 

  • 3. Use your Pebeo pen to write the table numbers and guests’ names on the bottles. (These pens are absolutely genius and can also write on wood: I used mine to create this DIY Pallet Wedding Sign). If you make a mistake, scrub it off with a sponge. Or you could just drink an extra bottle of beer and use that bottle instead...

 

Person writing the name of a wedding guest onto a bottle using a Pebeo pen to create a DIY bottle table plan

 

  • 4. Pop flowers into the bottles, and if you’re using real flowers, fill the bottles with water.

 

Bottle table plan for a rustic wedding, created using dark brown beer bottles, a white Pebeo pen, wooden crates and log slices, peonies and tulips.
Person putting two pink and yellow tulips inside a brown beer bottle to create a wedding seating plan
Table plan for a rustic outdoor barn wedding, created using brown bottles which have been written on using a white Pebeo pen, flowers and wooden crates, all resting upon a zinc-topped occasional table

 

  • 5. Arrange the bottles on top of the boxes, crates and tabletop. You could also pull out a drawer and pop one or two bottles inside it (or do the same with peonies, as I did).

 

 

Glass bottle table plan created using brown beer bottles and flowers, resting upon a rustic table in front of a brick wall in a traditional English garden

Another idea would be to recreate this table plan on a rustic wooden ladder or steps: basically anywhere that you can rest bottles at varying heights. Have fun drinking and DIY-ing! But please do both responsibly.

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