18 Fall Wedding Décor Ideas for Your Head Table

Autumn inspiration for a standout setup!

Updated 12/08/20

Typically placed at the prime spot of your reception venue, the head table is a major focal point of your celebration. With a curated list of unique individuals near and dear to you, the head table includes some of the most important members of your big day, including you and your new spouse! From immediate family members to your wedding party and closest friends, it’s entirely up to you how you fill the seats of this VIP area.

For couples hosting their wedding during the fall months, there’s no better opportunity to design a principal table that fully embraces autumnal charm. A backdrop of crisp fall florals, seasonal elements like pomegranates as escort cards, and striking gold accents turn a simple table display into a striking, standout setup.

Warm reds, earthy greens, and amber yellows are all tones that can easily be integrated into elements of your fall wedding table décor. Bold blooms and branches create a tablescape that exudes the feeling of fall without looking tacky or overdone.

For ideas that go beyond the traditional design route, we sought advice from some of the industry’s top experts to compile a list of head table options for your fall wedding décor inspiration.

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Use Lush Greenery

Reception setup with greenery — Erin Mccall Photography

Ample use of greenery throughout your fall wedding decor is a great way to highlight some of the season’s most natural features. Whether that's by booking a venue that is outdoor, carpeting a place with grass, or incorporating foliage in your design elements, nothing says fall quite like leafy evergreen statements. “The fall season is all about texture,” says, Ashley Culicchia Cash, owner of The Graceful Host. “Hanging installations with greenery are a great way to bring about a more powerful visual impact in your event space."

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Lean on Neutral Tones

A wedding reception table setup — Justin DeMutiis Photography

Complement the rich tones of a traditional fall palette—burgundy, evergreen, orange—with hints of various neutral shades. “I love the pairing of the neutral table linen with the gold decor pieces,” says Tracie Domino, founder and creative director of Tracie Domino Events. “It added warmth and elegance to the space without being too over-the-top."

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Don’t Shy Away From Black

Wedding reception table with black elements — Sarah Kate

An ideal accent color for a modern fall table, black can easily transform your display from classic to contemporary. Emily Clarke, creative director and founder of Emily Clarke Events, considers black when making a bold statement with a dramatic table setting. “Combined with florals in more traditional shades of autumn, adding black as an accent color to the finished product of this outdoor reception made for a perfect design for this chic celebration,” she says.

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Incorporate Blush Tones

Pink napkin on a table setup — Daniel Kim Photography

Blush—though it isn’t traditionally thought of for a fall color palette—is a great way to soften the season's other darker colors. Jennifer Thye, owner of Imoni Events, says, “Pairing blush with darker elements like green, fruitwood, and gold can tend to make your dinner reception look more like a wedding without making it look out of place.”

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Play With Texture

place setting — Photo by Jordan Weiland Photography

When working with a fall tablescape, Sonia Hopkins, owner and principal event designer at XOXO Bride Events, relies on different materials to create texture within levels of a table display. “Incorporating crystal glassware, a gold-trimmed charger, and gold flatware helped to represent softness, while a patterned dinner plate brought in texture and elevated the entire look,” Hopkins says.

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Mix-and-Match Seating

Table setup with different chairs — Ashley Kelemen Photography

Another way to vary texture is through furniture. The use of chairs in various colors, styles, and shapes makes for a standout head table that goes beyond your tablescape. For this outdoor affair, Heather Balliet, owner of Amorology, used this concept to create a unique setup when she mixed chairs of different materials like wood and metal. She also played with colors by including chairs in black, gold, and white as well as adding accents of black on the tabletop itself.

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Opt for Moody Floral Arrangements

A floral arrangement with magnolias — Almond Leaf Studios

“Fall weddings make for the perfect time of year to utilize those beautiful moody and saturated color hues in your wedding centerpieces,” says Stacie Shea, owner of Stacie Shea Events. Pair an arrangement of burnt orange, cobalt blue, and magenta florals with a gold vase for a striking addition to your display. 'Tis the season to go bold, dramatic, and rustic with your florals.

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Incorporate a Table Runner

Lace-covered table with a runner — Eric Kelley

To add softness and texture to your head table, Rebekah Sams, Wedding and Event Specialist at Gillespie’s Flowers & Productions suggests adding a table runner to your decor. Integrating a runner adorned with lace is another way to showcase softness throughout your display.

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Use Hanging Florals

a hanging floral centerpiece — Alicia White Photography

Hanging floral centerpieces are another fall favorite and are a great option if you want to avoid crowding your table with large floral arrangements. “Bronzes and golds mimic the harvest of autumn, but we didn’t want to overwhelm the eye with too much, so we just added touches of metallic with hanging geometric shapes,” says Eatherley Schultz, founder of Floressence Flowers, who created this striking floral canopy.

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Try a Lighting Installation

Leaning on the concept of a hanging installation, Graham Ervin, director of sales at The Cedar Room, recalls an event where the bride worked with planner Ooh! Events to use lanterns to embellish a wooden beam that hung above the head table of their autumn fête. “Adding light is such a fun way to take a traditional green installation and turn it into a playful yet elegant focal point,” she says.

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Go for a Garland

Hanging garlands at a reception — Aaron Delesie

One way to create subtle drama is to use lines of garlands as the focal point of décor. For this reception, held in a stunning sailcloth tent, Lynn Easton, co-founder of Easton Events, incorporated lush floral and foliage garlands into the design of this autumn celebration. “Crisscrossing the garlands down the center of the tent created a lower ceiling and added life and color above the head table,” she says.

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Use Similar Florals Throughout

Consistent blooms thread décor together seamlessly. “The use of similar white blooms in both the hanging installation and the floral table runner made for a clean and crisp display that paired beautifully with the rest of the reception’s white decor,” says Alicia Fritz, founder of A Day in May Event Planning & Design. “The use of white is also such a fresh and unexpected color to use for a fall celebration."

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Decorate With Seasonal Items

table setup with pinecones and apples — Michelle Beller Photography

Integrate traditional fall elements like pinecones and apples into the display of your tablescape, for your guests to feel an immediate sense of pull towards the season. “Pairing these objects with tall candlesticks makes for a magical setting that’s sure to evoke the essence of fall,” suggests Bree and Freddie, owners of Rockrose Floral.

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Stock up on Stone Fruits

figs and fruits on a table — Henry + Mac

Another seasonal harvest option to capitalize on are stone fruits. Francie Dorman and Britt Cole, co-founders of 42 North, opt for seasonal stone fruits when embellishing a lush fall table. “Persimmon, pomegranates, and pears look beautiful and bold when you let them organically spill out over a rustic wood table, accented by rich florals and antique accouterments like heirloom copper dinnerware,” they advise. They not only speak to the season but inject color as well.

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Boost Your Place Cards

A Christmas ball ornament as placeholder — Josh Gruetzmacher

One of the table’s most customizable features, place cards present an optimal way to showcase creativity and have fun with your event’s theme or particular season. Jacin Fitzgerald, founder of Jacin Fitzgerald Events, loves to think outside of the box with seasonal elements like pumpkins, gourds, pomegranates, and even colorful fallen leaves for a fall place setting.

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Incorporate Wood

Wooden decor elements on a reception table — Perry Vaile Photography

Lindsay Merhege, event planner at Fox Events, considers wood a fundamental decorative element for a fall wedding table display. “Table numbers, florals, and candles are standard for a head table, but using wood along with bright yet subdued fall colors—and decor pieces like antlers—make your head table stand out from the rest," she says.

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Consider the Venue's Unique Features

A reception venue with fall leaf arches — Jessica Claire

Utilizing the architectural features of your venue when developing your final design concept can translate into a display that’s both effortless and opulent. Thomas Bui, founder of Thomas Bui Lifestyle, worked with the arches of this unique space to craft a head table worthy of a festive fall affair.

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Subtle Is Supreme

A simple table setup with greens in the middle — Amy Campbell Photography

“There are beautiful ways for an event to center around the autumn season without operating around orange flowers,” says Lauren Chitwood, president of Lauren Chitwood Events. Use subtle decor elements to evoke the sense of fall without being so obvious.