For example, let's say you met each other in college - you can use hot spot names from around campus as your table names and put a photo of you both posing from that location. Or perhaps you are book lovers or music lovers - you can use popular titles to name your tables that way. My husband and I are movie lovers, so for our wedding all of our tables were named after movies - and to take it a step further, every single guest's place card had a quote from their table's movie. We used mostly romantic movies (this was for a wedding, after all) but we also catered the movies to the guests at that particular table. So for example, my family was sitting at the "Father of the Bride" table, my bridesmaids were all at "The Notebook" table (because we're obsessed with that movie, naturally), my older aunts and uncles were assigned "When Harry Met Sally," the groomsmen sat at "Wedding Crashers," and so on. (Way more fun than just being table number 24, right?!) Each guest at that table had a different/unique quote from the movie, picked specifically for them. Sure, it was a bit of work, but if you really love movies (or song lyrics, or booze, or whatever theme you choose) then it doesn't really feel like work! My husband and I actually had SO much fun picking all of the quotes out for each movie.
So here's an example:
So come on, get creative - if you guys are drinkers, you could have tables named after different drinks and reflect that in the centerpieces (or have that specific drink waiting for guests at the table - but that's only if you're as crazy as me... :) Or you can even go with wines if that sounds less daunting to you. Or try a location theme, or dog breeds if you're pet lovers (okay, that one sounds like it's going to far.... but I threw a "cat party" once, so it's not totally insane! :) But I promise doing something fun will leave a longer lasting impression that just a boring ol' table number, and it's something relatively simple and FREE (if you make your own signs, etc) so it's a great easy addition to spruce up your event.