Table talk: 60 conversation starters for wedding tables

Strangers at a table cover work and the drive, then stall. A card on the table fixes it: nobody is being nosy, the card asked.

How to put the cards out

1. 1Two to four per tableTwo for a round of eight, four for a long table of sixteen.
2. 2Face down in the middleA card in a holder reads as a sign; face down reads as a game.
3. 3Reception onlyOut with the place cards.
4. 4One MC mentionWhen the conversation dies, flip one over and make someone answer it.
5. 5Mix light and deepThree earnest questions in a row and the table stops drawing.
6. 6Skip the head tableYou will be interrupted anyway.

60 conversation starters

About the couple

1. What did you first think when you met the bride or groom?
2. Who here has known them longest, and what is the proof?
3. What story about them would you not tell in a speech?
4. What did you think when you heard they were engaged?
5. What is the most them thing about this wedding?
6. Which of them is more likely to be late, and how do you know?
7. Best meal you have eaten at their place?
8. What advice would you have given them five years ago?
9. What will they still be arguing about in thirty years?
10. If they were a song, which song?

About the people at the table

11. Best wedding you have ever been to, and what made it good?
12. What are you proud of that has nothing to do with work?
13. What is the furthest you have travelled for someone else's event?
14. What did you want to be when you were ten?
15. Best thing you have eaten this year?
16. Who taught you something you still use every week?
17. What is coming up next month that you are excited about?
18. Where did you grow up, and what does that place do best?
19. What skill do you have that nobody here would guess?
20. What last made you laugh out loud?

Light and silly

21. One song to dance to for the rest of your life. Which?
22. Worst haircut you have ever had?
23. What is your most irrational food opinion?
24. Which fictional character would ruin a wedding fastest?
25. What useless thing do you own and refuse to throw out?
26. What is your karaoke song, honestly?
27. Name the best cure for a hangover.
28. Strangest job you have ever had?
29. What would your reality show be called?
30. Which of the wedding party would last longest in the woods?

A little deeper

31. Best advice you were given about love, and did you take it?
32. What does a good marriage look like from the outside?
33. What have you changed your mind about in the last five years?
34. Who should you call more often?
35. What small kindness do you still remember?
36. What tradition from your childhood do you want to keep?
37. What is the hardest thing you have said yes to?
38. What are you better at now than you were at twenty-five?
39. Which person here should you have befriended years ago?
40. What is worth being stubborn about?

For the kids' table

41. Most disgusting thing you have ever eaten?
42. One dinner forever: what is it?
43. Best hiding place you have ever found?
44. What animal would you be, and why?
45. Funniest thing an adult has done today?
46. Fly or be invisible, and what would you do first?
47. Tell your best joke, right now.
48. If you ran this wedding, what would you add?
49. What is the hardest word to say?
50. Which superpower would be the most annoying?

For the parents' table

51. What was your own wedding day actually like?
52. What went wrong at your wedding that is funny now?
53. What did your parents say about the person you married?
54. What was your child first stubborn about?
55. What did they insist on wearing at six?
56. What have you learned from your child?
57. What did the first ten years of marriage teach you?
58. Best thing about the family you are gaining today?
59. What do you hope they keep from how they were raised?
60. What will you say if someone hands you a microphone?

Questions to leave off

Guests cannot walk away from a bad question.

Pairing table talk with other games

One talking game and one written game per table, no more:

• Bride or Groom sheet: tick who is more likely to cry first, then argue about it.
• Wedding bingo: runs quietly across the whole reception.

Building your seating chart in Paper&Seal shows which tables are mostly strangers: those need cards most.

Any party works. For New Year's Eve, ask about the year; invitations are in New Year's Eve party invitation wording.

Printing the cards

Card stock, 200gsm or heavier, four or eight cards per sheet, set out the day before. The free table talk cards let you edit the questions and print from your browser.