Elegant Seating Cards for a Fall Wedding

It has been a while since the Paper Princess has posted to her blog.  Let’s just say life has taken over my ability to sit down and write for fun during the last year.  I know I’ve been extremely lazy remiss. 

For those of you who are still following me, I’m pleased to let you know, that I have made it my goal to try and write at least once a month, to get my creative juices flowing again, and also to share some of my more recent paper creations for both work and pleasure. 

To kick off my Fall goal, I would like to share my latest work project.  As many of you know, part of my event planning business entails working with clients on their event invitations, personal stationery and other printed accessories for their special occasions.  This summer, I was fortunate enough to work with a wonderful client on her wedding invitations – a beautifully embossed invitation on ivory stock with mocha ink. *

Regal Touch Invitation

 

The client loved them and was thrilled with the response she received from her guests.  She wrote “I have gotten such great feedback on my invitations.   My guests love the wording.   You did a GREAT job!!  Thank you for all your help.”

As a result, I received a follow up communication from her, asking if I had any place cards that might match her invitation.  She had purchased basic place cards from somewhere and didn’t think that they were “elegant” enough for what she was looking for.  Music to a small business owners ears – we love repeat clients!

I sent her some options from the same company that she ordered the invitations, but she just wasn’t feeling that “crazy” over any of them and was looking for “a[n] ivory colored card, something simple, but elegant.” And then she thanked me for trying.  But I wasn’t ready to give up on helping her. 

I had a flash of creativity and what I thought was a pretty good idea to solve her problem, I could custom design/make them for her.  Here is what I wrote: “M[a]y I make a suggestion?  We could get ivory card stock, print your guests name in mocha ink, in a font you like, and cut them into a 2x2" square. Then we can take those squares and put them in gold or silver place card holders that will stand up elegantly on a table. The guests can then take the holders home and use them to hold either notes or small pictures.  Also, if we make them a little bigger, we might be able to blind embossed the side of the card to make it look similar to the invitation.”

She was game.  I did my homework on what it would cost to make them and prepared a quote for her, submitted it to her and she was on board.

As part of the process, I prepared a few samples for her so she could select which embossed border and location of the border she like most.  Below is the final product. *

I have to say, it was a fairly easy project and of course I only had to make a total of 35 for this very small and intimate wedding.  It just took a little time, thought and creativity to create these wonderful seating cards for my very happy client.

Congratulations to them on their wedding!  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your special day. 

*Client name used with permission from the client.

"Comic"al Decor

I found a really great way to transform old paper into special event decor.  This past weekend I had the pleasure of working on a client's Bat Mitzvah where we incorporated the Sunday Comics into the theme.  It took a little vision and creativity to make it work, but once I had it figured out, executing it was pretty easy.

The Goal:

Incorporate the client’s love of the Sunday Comics into her décor.

The Challenge:

Doing it without violating copyrights.

The Solution:

Order a licensed poster for the sign-in board and mount it to poster board.  Add a title and the date with assistance of coordinating paper and my Cricut machine.

Place cards made of recycled Sunday Comics from the past year.  Friends and family of the young lady being Bat Mitzvahed collected the comics from October through March which I cut into 4x6 sizes, laminated , folded and then labeled with clear labels with seating assignments.

It was a great way to bring a "green" aspect into the event planning process as well as incorporate one of her favorite things.  Who knew old Sunday funnies could have such a great second life?

Table Numbers made of recycled Sunday Comics.  In keeping with the place cards, I laminated 16 additional comic clips and numbered them.  I then attached them to Lucite sticks which we were able to plant in the centerpieces.

The Result:

A really cool and colorful way to do place cards, table numbers and a sign-in board while recycling the Sunday Comics.

It was pretty easy to do, it just took time.  You can do this with any old paper - wrapping paper, old coloring books, cardstock, patterned paper, journal paper and other type of paper you can think of. Check out the Ideas section for instructions on how to make the place cards and table numbers.