Wedding Etiquette Forum

Named tables - tacky?

My FI and I both majored in subjects related to math, so we were thinking of naming the tables at the wedding after various mathematicians.  Some people probably won't have heard of any of them, but others will have.  Do you think this is rude or tacky because some people might not recognize the names?  The wedding isn't math-themed overall or anything like that.  
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Re: Named tables - tacky?

  • It's fine.  We named our tables after cities we'd visited while living in Italy.
  • As long as it doesn't make it harder or more confusing for your guests to find their tables, I think it's fine. 
  • Some guests may find it a little odd, but not at all tacky.
  • I think that's fine. My FI is a mathematician too! A girl on my local named her tables after elements on the periodic table because her FI is a chemist and they got married on his grad school campus.
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  • Here's the list we're thinking of, can you guys let me know if you think any two of the names are too similar or might be confusing for some other reason?  Suggestions of other mathematicians who you think are more awesome are also welcome. :P

    Gauss
    Pascal
    Cayley
    Fermat
    Euclid
    Descartes
    Turing
    Gödel
    Hilbert
    Leibniz
    Newton
    Pythagoras
    Cantor
    Fibonacci
    Nash
  • I think its a really cute idea!  Those names look fine to me.
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  • I think those look fine :)
  • Could you also give each table a number so that it's easy for guests to find their table?  
    1. Gauss
    2. Pascal
    etc.

    Or put the tables into alphabetical order?

    The idea is cute, but you don't want people wandering around looking for their number forever. 
  • I think the table name idea is very cute and makes the wedding personal to the B&G.  Just consider the fact it may take people longer to find their tables.

    My sister is doing this and since everyone has the entire hour of cocktail hour (in the same room as dinner) to find their table.. I don't think it is a big deal.

    Some weddings open the doors for dinner and guests are expected to find their seats and get settled within minutes before introductions/toasts begin.  If this was the case for your wedding, I would think using table numbers would be more efficient.

    Just something to consider.  Sounds like a fun idea though!
  • Numbering them as well sounds like a reasonable idea, but for some of the longer names I would be concerned about whether we could fit in a number as well on the card.  I'm not really sure I understand what you mean by putting the tables in alphabetical order, since they won't really be in a line so it won't necessarily be clear where the next one in the alphabetical list should go after each one.  Could you elaborate?
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_named-tables-tacky?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e3d3a366-508e-461a-8989-cb1f7917f4ebPost:81c3eae1-c4d2-4bf5-aca0-233844570661">Re: Named tables - tacky?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I think the table name idea is very cute and makes the wedding personal to the B&G.  Just consider the fact it may take people longer to find their tables. My sister is doing this and since everyone has the entire hour of cocktail hour (in the same room as dinner) to find their table.. I don't think it is a big deal. Some weddings open the doors for dinner and guests are expected to find their seats and get settled within minutes before introductions/toasts begin.  If this was the case for your wedding, I would think using table numbers would be more efficient. Just something to consider.  Sounds like a fun idea though!
    Posted by PharmacyBride[/QUOTE]

    <div>There will be a cocktail hour where people will have the chance to familiarize themselves with the layout of the tables, so that is a good point that people taking a bit longer to find their tables might not be an issue in this case.</div>
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_named-tables-tacky?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e3d3a366-508e-461a-8989-cb1f7917f4ebPost:61cb8d2c-2419-4f61-b7f0-a3cd6e1252a4">Re: Named tables - tacky?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Here's the list we're thinking of, can you guys let me know if you think any two of the names are too similar or might be confusing for some other reason?  Suggestions of other mathematicians who you think are more awesome are also welcome. :P Gauss Pascal Cayley Fermat Euclid Descartes Turing Gödel Hilbert Leibniz Newton Pythagoras Cantor Fibonacci Nash
    Posted by damaless[/QUOTE]

    <div>I wouldn't like this idea. Some of those names are hard to pronounce and when people ask me what table I'm at, I know I would look like an idiot trying to pronounce Leibniz or Euclid.</div>
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  • cute and original
  • We're naming tables after cities in Ireland. Might be an idea for ya!

  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_named-tables-tacky?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:e3d3a366-508e-461a-8989-cb1f7917f4ebPost:a3269591-6a61-45a8-800e-9eca6473ffb6">Re: Named tables - tacky?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Numbering them as well sounds like a reasonable idea, but for some of the longer names I would be concerned about whether we could fit in a number as well on the card.  I'm not really sure I understand what you mean by putting the tables in alphabetical order, since they won't really be in a line so it won't necessarily be clear where the next one in the alphabetical list should go after each one.  Could you elaborate?
    Posted by damaless[/QUOTE]

    If you numbered the tables, they wouldn't be in a line either, but most people could figure out that table 3 is probably close to table 5.  People could probably pick out that the Newton is pretty close to Pascal.  But numbering would be easier.  Or have a map of the room by your seating chart, showing where each table (by name) is located (Gauss is three rows back from the stage).
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_named-tables-tacky?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e3d3a366-508e-461a-8989-cb1f7917f4ebPost:b81045c0-4067-408d-bff0-27d2e4ad0d65">Re: Named tables - tacky?</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: Named tables - tacky? : If you numbered the tables, they wouldn't be in a line either, but most people could figure out that table 3 is probably close to table 5.  People could probably pick out that the Newton is pretty close to Pascal.  But numbering would be easier.  Or have a map of the room by your seating chart, showing where each table (by name) is located (Gauss is three rows back from the stage).
    Posted by mica178[/QUOTE]

    <div>I could maybe swing a map of the room including tables by name.  That seems like a good plan.</div>
  • it's not tacky at all - but it can be difficult for your guests to find their table. i agree with the idea of numbering also. i don't see why you couldn't fit both. you can always adjust card and/or font size, or make the number smaller in a corner.
  • I think it's cute.  I haven't heard of all of yours, it might be better to go with more recognizable last names (either really famous, or have a theorem or something named after them), not that it really matters.  FI and I thought of a few more in case there are some you'd like to sub out:

    Galileo
    Poisson
    Archimedes
    Lagrange
    Carnot
    Kepler
    Brahe
    Einstein
    Boole
    Copernicus
    Fourier
    Schrodinger
    Hubble
    Euler
    Venn
    Laplace

    FI found this website, which was helpful:
    http://fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm

    I only included people I'd heard of, but you and your FI, being math people, may know more on the website.
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  • And you can always do two lines, one with the name and the second with the number, rather than trying to fit it in one line.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_named-tables-tacky?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e3d3a366-508e-461a-8989-cb1f7917f4ebPost:e0427e9f-9615-4cb2-9e4d-7e0ea316b9a8">Re: Named tables - tacky?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I think it's cute.  I haven't heard of all of yours, it might be better to go with more recognizable last names (either really famous, or have a theorem or something named after them), not that it really matters.  FI and I thought of a few more in case there are some you'd like to sub out: Galileo Poisson Archimedes Lagrange Carnot Kepler Brahe Einstein Boole Copernicus Fourier Schrodinger Hubble Euler Venn Laplace FI found this website, which was helpful: <a href="http://fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm" rel="nofollow">http://fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm</a> I only included people I'd heard of, but you and your FI, being math people, may know more on the website.
    Posted by LauraT25[/QUOTE]

    <div>Archimedes!! How could I forget?  We nixed Euler because it was too similar to Euclid.  And I have too many bad associations with Fourier. :P  Some of the others I think of more strongly as astronomers, even though I know they used a lot of math to do their astronomy.  I think we had Poisson, Lagrange, Laplace, and Einstein in our original list but they got cut when we cut down to 15.  But I do want to replace one of the names with Archimedes, now.</div>
  • You're right, Euler and Euclid will look sort of similar.  I know a lot of them I think either astronomer or physicist, mainly, but they were basically all 'math' until recently.  I was trying to think of people whose names showed up in my math classes (Lagrange multiplier, Poisson distribution, etc).  The only one I use on a regular basis is Fourier Transform and I'm not really a fan.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_named-tables-tacky?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:e3d3a366-508e-461a-8989-cb1f7917f4ebPost:7f15d24c-07e3-4204-95c6-19b8719f3fa4">Re: Named tables - tacky?</a>:
    [QUOTE]You're right, Euler and Euclid will look sort of similar.  I know a lot of them I think either astronomer or physicist, mainly, but they were basically all 'math' until recently.  I was trying to think of people whose names showed up in my math classes (Lagrange multiplier, Poisson distribution, etc).  The only one I use on a regular basis is Fourier Transform and I'm not really a fan.
    Posted by LauraT25[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>Just curious, which ones of my list are you unfamiliar with?  It's probably just because we studied different areas of math.

    </div>
  • Again, it probably doesn't matter since your non-math guests probably won't recognize the ones that I think are recognizable, but I didn't know:

    Cayley
    Turing
    Gödel
    Hilbert
    Leibniz

    I'm sure it's because you have studied more math, I only got up to Calc III.  I later took linear algebra and differential equations, but they were for chemists.  Plus, as a non-major, we didn't focus on the history (and therefore famous people) much in college.
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  • But seriously, you and your FI should go with whichever ones are important to you.  Most people aren't going to know either way!
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  • filawfilaw member
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Comments 5 Love Its
    I love those names.

    My caterer suggested the map idea for helping guests find their way to the table.  According to her that was preferable to alphabetical, since guests don't always catch on to alphabetical.  Although optimal would be map + names and numbers
  • Just want to suggest that on the back of the "number" it would be fun to put the punctuation and what they are famous for. Great idea!
  • BTW, have you seen this clock?

    http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?itemId=18145

    The numbers 1-12 are represented by different mathematical expressions, maybe you could do that as well!  You'd have to come up with 13-15 on your own though.  Maybe have the name on one side, then the expression, with the normal number, on the other?
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  • tldhtldh member
    2500 Comments
    Not at all tacky - now if you were going to be asking guests to solve an equation to find their table number there would probably be some like me in an embarrassed sobbing heap. Sealed
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  • Nope, I love it, and think it's cool. I would, however, do a little thing like 

    TABLE NAME
    and then here, in small print, tell us about the person
     you've named the table after


  • its cute.

    maybe add a little bio on each mathmetician?  it will be a conversation starter..
    HAHAH geek wedding!!!  I love it.
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