These pretty planted place names (what a mouthful!) are really easy to make and would also double as lovely gifts for your guests.  For each guest, prepare a small flower pot that you’ve planted up, write your guests name on a plant label and stick it into the soil.  Place the flower pots in each persons place setting at their designated table.

I came up with this idea after a recent visit to the RHS Tatton Flower Show.  Not only is it a showcase of fabulous plants and gardens, but there are hundreds of retailers selling all kinds of lovely things.  I spotted a fantastic little booth selling a huge variety of plant labels.  I am always looking out for wooden labels, and they had a great selection.  This sparked the idea for this month’s creative project, and I bought a pack of chunky wooden plant labels and a Victorian terracotta pot.

To make your pretty planted place names you will need:

Small flower pots (new, vintage, or how about coir pots that are biodegradable?)
Wooden plant labels (or you could use lolly sticks)
A selection of small plants (pansies, violas, herbs or succulents would all work well)
Left-over paint or tester pots
A paint pen

To begin with I painted my wooden plant labels.  I used a left-over tester pot in a really dark blue so that my white paint pen would show up on it.  You could also use chalkboard paint and write with chalk, or use a lighter coloured paint or leave the plant label natural and use a darker pen.

Whilst the paint was drying, I prepared my flower pot.  I lined the bottom of the flower pot with a small square of newspaper to prevent any soil falling out – not great if you’ve got white table linens!

Next I potted up my chosen plant – a pretty Heartsease (or viola) which has edible flowers.  I found this plant growing in my garden, which is why it is a bit mud splattered from all the rain we’ve had – if you want yours to look a bit neater than mine, find a local nursery that can supply you with lots of small pots of your chosen plants.

Once the label was dry, I used my white paint pen to write the name of my guest onto the wooden label.  This was then pushed into the soil at a slight angle.

And that’s it!

Other Ideas
These pretty little plant pot place names could also be given to your guests as gifts at the end of the evening.

If you wanted you could always tie a ribbon or piece of raffia round the top of the flower pot.  This could colour co-ordinate with your wedding colours to tie in.

You could also save money on centrepieces by using the flower pots to decorate your tables rather than flowers.

For more on wedding favours check out our directory.