Wedding Wednesday: Place Card Holders

So, as I’m sure you know by now, we are in full wedding planning mode over here (or as I like to call it Wedding Madness!!!).  The venue has been booked, the theme (flowers) has been decided, the colors (purple and yellow) have been chosen, the bride has said yes to the dress, and the wedding website has been set up.  Now we’re in the midst of figuring out some of the details, including bouquets, centerpieces, and other decor.  I’m making most of it so you’re likely going to see a lot of options being posted here on the blog over the next year as I try them out.  This is one of the place card holders we’re test driving.

To make these you will need:

A spool for the base of each one (luckily I have a big box of vintage ones!)

A dowel or stick of some sort that will fit into the hole of the spool (I’m using skinny coffee stir sticks – sometimes bamboo skewers will work and so will golf tees)

A good white glue like Aleene’s Tacky Glue

Paper for the petals of the flowers – I’m using purple (they look somewhat blue in the pictures) napkins and pale yellow tissue paper as well as some green tissue paper to cover the stick and for the leaves)

A bamboo skewer or toothpick to apply the glue (I find you really need something with a very fine point to get it on precisely without globbing glue everywhere….or is that just me?)

I ended up trying it with a button added to the center of the flower as well.  You might want something similar.

I also used some purple and yellow ribbon to tie around the spool.  I love the look of plain wooden spools but felt the bride and groom would want some more color there.

The names of your guests – I stamped this on plain white paper

Cut out petal shapes from your papers as shown in the pictures above.  I used the ribbing of the napkin to add a little more texture.  For each petal, put a dab of glue at the base and then scrunch or fold it together. I can’t tell you exactly how many petals you need as it will depend on what size you make them and how big a flower you’re trying to make.  I started with a few and then added more as necessary.  I covered the stick with the green paper and made two more petal shapes out of the green for leaves.

I glued the yellow petals into a flower shape on the front of the stick and the purple ones on the back.  You can also just start with your biggest petals and add the smaller ones right on top of them.  This is the flower without the button added and I just feel like there’s something missing.

I printed a name onto a slip of white paper using alphabet rubber stamps and wrapped that around the stick, securing it with glue.  And ta da!  That’s it!

So, what do you think?  Personally, I’m loving the basic idea BUT I feel like it’s a bit too informal for the wedding (it would work perfectly with other weddings but given the other decorations etc that we’re looking at and the venue, this just might not work).  It would be great for the shower or even maybe the engagement party.  I’m not discarding this possibility for the wedding though.  I’m thinking of using the same idea but creating a fabric flower or perhaps a different type of paper flower.  I’m also toying with the idea of printing the name right on one of the flower petals rather than having it as a flag sticking out.

What about you?  Do you have any suggestions about how I could use the basic idea but change it to be a bit more formal? Please leave them in the comments – I’d love to hear them!

I’m taking part in DIY Wedding Week with some of my favorite creative bloggers. Check out the other great posts by clicking on the image below: