How I Tied the Knot: Napkin Folding 101

Previously in the post Tying the Knot: Reception Details, you saw our lovely centerpieces and details infused into our beautiful reception. However, there was one little detail regarding our reception that I wasn't yet ready to share...our dinner napkins. Hear me out on this one.

I'll be the first to admit it. I was one of those brides that obsessed over how the napkins would be folded at our wedding reception. I asked our venue coordinator if they could do a tuxedo fold so that we could stick our dinner menus inside the napkins {as posted about here}. When it came down to it, I couldn't justify spending $50+ on 150 dinner menus and I scratched the idea. I touched base again with our venue coordinator and told her that I just wanted a fun folded napkin on each of the guests plates. This is what I saw when we got a sneak peek into our reception just minutes before guests were seated:

You guessed it, I went into shock. These napkins were far from being folded and laying on the plates of our guests!!! I suppose the overall effect wasn't horrible {below}, but it wasn't what I had envisioned. It was literally minutes before the doors to the ballroom would open to guests and I just knew that there wasn't enough time for the pointy cloth towers to be struck down and refolded into something else. It was one of those details that I just had to let go. After all, as Chris reminded me, "They are just napkins."

But they don't have to be "just napkins" to you on your special day. I came across this lovely little illustration/how-to on adorable and unique napkin folds. Pick one out and send it over to your venue/reception coordinator today!

illustration found at: keg design on this post.

Lesson learned #32: Don't drop the ball with your reception coordinator, even on the smallest of details, if you have a vision you are attempting to achieve. Pointy towers of cloth napkins aren't for everyone and could have been avoided with sending the coordinator a picture of an ideal napkin fold. Avoid the shock and heartbreak I endured by letting your DOC/friend in on how you want the reception area to look. She can do the damage control when she sees something isn't how you wanted it.

previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres, socks and shoes, bubbles and getting away, the cake, thank you cards, blurb guest book, outside the mansion, the dress, the invitations, cocktail napkins, the centerpiece vases, the programs, sexy little bride

all professional pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.

How I Tied the Knot: Centerpiece Vases

Previously in the post Tying the Knot: Reception Details, you saw our lovely centerpieces. Since then, a lot of you have been asking for me to let you in on how I tied the ribbon around our centerpiece vases. Well, today is the day my little bloggity blog friends. I put together a little 3 minute video tutorial {on youtube} that you can watch here!

If you have any questions after watching, please just leave a comment or send me an e-mail!

Below are two pictures of the finished products in action at our reception. I hope yours turn out just as beautiful!

p.s. I am not a professional DIY advice giver/video tutorial expert. This video was filmed at about 2am while my husband and I were attempting to move out of our house by noon the next day. It was now or never for this little tutorial and all I could muster was one take. So it's not perfect, by any means, but I hope that you find it helpful!

Tying the Knot: Reception Details

I had 10 months to plan our wedding. 10 months were spent buying ribbon in juuuust the perfect hue of raspberry, agonizing on the dilemma of escort cards v. a seating chart display, and how to bypass the white card box with the tacky tassels that every venue provides. Before I knew it, ten months was gone and there we were standing in our reception hall on our wedding day. It was at that moment that I saw all of my hard work presented before me...and I loved what I saw.

We had two variations of centerpieces. One was reminiscent of the bridesmaids bouquets and featured a small gathered arrangement of plum dahlias and raspberry asters. The taller centerpieces were vases from Ikea filled with four floating candles. The candlelight reflected the light coming from the two beautiful chandeliers in our ballroom, it was perfect. I hand-tied each of the vases with raspberry ribbon and was ecstatic about the results. Plum table runners graced each table and brought our colors into the room.

(for some reason, blogger has distorted the true colors of these pictures. our colors were a rich plum and a bold raspberry.)

I loved our engagement pictures so much that I incorporated them into our table numbers. An engagement picture was mounted to one side of a plum cardstock. The table number, along with a variation of our monogram, was displayed on a piece of white cardstock which was mounted to the other side of the plum cardstock. The guests loved seeing our engagement pictures and wandered around to other tables to see some of our other pictures!

This, was my pride and joy....our Blurb guestbook. Every "left" page had one of (or four of) our engagement pictures. The right side of the book was blank, for guests to sign. The guests loved the concept and we now have a book to put on our coffee table!

I threw out the idea of the traditional card box early in the process. I was going to attempt to make something, but then I saw this beautiful vase at Ikea and I knew it would be a gorgeous holder for our cards. Our bar was adorned with 150 white cocktail napkins, with our monogram in plum, from etsy seller Designs By Tine. It was just another personal touch that brought in our monogram. I loved them. The seating chart was displayed in the hallway leading to the ballroom (right before the guest book). The concept of our monogram flowed through to the designs of the cards. Each card displayed a table number and listed all those seated at each table number. It couldnt have turned out more beautiful. Stay tuned for my posts on lessons learned where I'll share things like...diy tips, where I bought my shoes, lessons I learned and things I wish I knew while planning my wedding! previously in the series "tying the knot": we did it, a preview, our honeymoon, our candy bar, lifesaver, getting ready, our first look, the bride and groom, bouquets and boutonnieres, the shoes, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the bridal party, the sock shot, favorites, the ceremony, the bubbles and the get away, rawry, toasts and dancing, the cake all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.