Wedding Guest Seating Display Board (& Post-wedding Mod)

My wife and I got married in NYC. It is somewhat of an expensive place to get married, and also, we wanted to personalize our celebration as much as we could. One of our first thoughts was how to let people know which table they would be seated -- since guests got their tables as soon as they arrived, we wanted to make it both easy and fun.

So, I devised a simple sort of peg board. Our space was very vintage and our theme was "vintage meets modern" so I splifferenced (split the difference) it.

Super simple design and came out amazing!

NB: Submitting this to the DIY Wedding Contest, so if you enjoyed it, please drop me a vote! Thanks!

1 x 3/4" MDF board at 2 feet x 3 feet.

1 x long outside trim piece

1 x MDF primer

1 x paint color -- royal blue was our color

1 x silver spray paint

1 x 100 gold hooks

1 x wood glue

A printer and paper

A hole punch

With MDF, because it is a porous material, you need to lay down a MDF primer first. So, I did. One nice coat on all sides of the board. Once the primer was dry fully, I painted the whole thing blue.

While the primer dried and then the paint dried, I prepped my trim. I measured 2 x 3 feet and 2 x 2 feet of trim and cut to size. I then measured the width of the trim and marked off the ends of each cut piece and connected the appropriate far corner to the marked off point via a cut to make a nice right angle for the trim to connect as a frame for the board.

Once the trim was cut, it was as simple as laying them on some scrap paper, shaking up that silver spray paint can, and giving the trim a couple of passes with the spray can.

Now we've got board and trim.

I attached the trim to the board with a thin layer of wood glue, placed a number of heavy books on top of the trim to keep pressure, and let it dry overnight.

Then we figured out the minimum number of pegs we needed and decided on a good distance for pegs (ended up going 7 x 13). From there I created a template on a piece of paper to layout an even spacing between all of the pegs, and then, carefully, made guide dots on the board with my template for all the peg holes.

I used a 1/16th inch drill bit and drilled pilot holes in all the designated marks, cleaned off the surface, and twisted in the hooks.

The board is essentially done.

We designed square name cards and printed them out on some thicker card stock paper and punched holes in the top. We also printed out and framed a chart of the table layout in the floor plan and put that next to the display board as well.

Compared to the standard seating card on a table folded in a tent shape, the peg board made the experience a little more fun, allowed an easier time finding one's name, and added a different feel to the space.

What's better than something awesome you can use once? Something awesome you can mod and use again and again!

Because of the size (2 foot x 3 foot), the peg board is perfect for a mod.

My plan is to buy a 2' x 3' canvas (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Y3EST2/ref=wl_it_dp_o...

Buy a couple of small hinges...

And, attach the canvas to the left side of the peg board, and with the help of an artist friend (or a sip & paint session), the peg board goes from seating display to a secret hidden-behind-art jewelry board.

I'll add pictures when I get to the mod, but we plan on hanging it in the bedroom and instead of a jewelry tree or piles of my wife's jewelry laying around and getting tangled, her earrings and the like will now have a perfect place to get organized, and who doesn't want something hidden-behind-art in their house? Just saying.