Tabletop trials and tribulations

I'm really pretty chill about most of our wedding details and decor. I mean, it just does not matter that much. We knew we didn't want it to look like a banquet hall or have everything really matchy matchy. Since the entire event is outside on a patio and deck, there's nothing to decorate except the tables anyway. Initially we thought we'd rent green tablecloths and have white antique tea cloths as overlays, with potted herbs as centerpieces. Then we learned that 1) the green tablecloths that the rental company had were a really yucky color and 2) our venue would provide us with white tablecloths and napkins FOR FREE!

So we changed our minds, and decided to use the free linens since that would save us approximately $120. But I still felt like there should be a splash of color on the tables, either in the form of a runner or an overlay or something. So I did some online research and dragged Dave to fabric and craft stores. I learned a lot:

• store bought table runners start at about $20.
• fabric starts at about $8 a yard, and eco-friendly (bamboo, organic cotton, hemp) is around $15 a yard.
• paper is LOVELY; it comes in a lot of patterns, colors, textures, and eco-friendly options; it does not require ironing or sewing, it can be reused and repurposed, and above all it's CHEAP!

I really wanted to use either a tree-free or recycled paper. There area lot of options out there. I found lokta paper, which is handmade in the mountains of Nepal from the inner bark of the lokta bush. Lokta is one of the strongest paper fibers, and since new growth regenerates quickly it provides a renewable resource. Works for me!

If you're thinking of going this route, I've listed some resources below for ideas:

Paper Source - Papers from Japan, Nepal, India, Europe and others. Chain of retail stores too.
The Paper Studio - a huge selection, and you can search by color!
Paper Mojo - A nice selection organized by type of print, and a great sale section
LCI paper - carries Japanese chiyogami paper in several sizes and a lot of solid colors
Hollander's - over 1,600 styles of paper including a wide selection of natural fibers

However, because the weight and color of paper varies so much, especially with handmade paper, I highly suggest seeing these in person before making a purchase. Also, you'll save shipping costs and minimize your carbon footprint if you patronize a local paper or art shop.

Birthday Calendar Guestbook

I really love the idea of guests being able to write greetings and well-wishes to us at our wedding. Its kind of like having your friends sign your yearbook and pouring over all of the notes at the end of the school year.

I was inspired today by Foy and Jeff's (of A Low Impact Wedding) fantastic calendar guestbook. Their guests left comments and wishes for them in a calendar on their birthday or anniversary. Because what are you going to do with a guestbook after the wedding anyway? In their words, "Put it in a box where it can clutter up the place." But the same problem ensues with a normal calendar for that year once the year is over.

Another problem is that the squares for each date greatly limit how much the guests can write. I want people to be encouraged to fill up a whole page if they want to, or draw a sketch, write a poem or whatever they want. Enter the perpetual birthday calendar. My idea is to use a 200 page spiral bound sketchbook, and use both sides of each page label each one page for each day of the year. You could use rubber stamps to decorate and do the lettering. Then guests would have a lot of space to write, and you could use the calendar perpetually, flipping the page each day.
These are kind of boring but I'm sure there are other sets out there. I haven't put this idea into practice yet, but am definitely considering it!

Photo Holders

Right off the bat we knew we couldn't do everything ourselves, because we both have very busy and demanding jobs and didn't want the wedding planning to completely take over our lives. But we wanted to retain creative control over the wedding, so we're doing all of the decor ourselves.Our first project was really designed and executed by Dave. We wanted to have photos of us and our families at the tables for people to look at and talk about, but we didn't want them to be just scattered around. So Dave made these clever photo holders from nothing more than wood and wire for just a few cents each.

Ingredients:

• Wood - either use a 4 by 4 or a square post, usually comes in 3 by 3


• Thick Wire -we found straight 12" lengths of wire about the same gauge as hangers in our local hardware store for. 20 each. You could also use wire hangers though.
  

Tools:

• Saw for cutting wood into cubes


• sander and sandpaper (or just sandpaper if you're paitent!)


• Drill


• Pliers

• measuring tape


• straight edge


• pencil

Instructions:

With the pliers, bend one end of the wire into a spiral.

This will take some muscle! You can do circles, squares, triangles, etc:

Alternative - use an aligator clip (arguably not as elegant).
Using the measuring tape and pencil, mark four inch intervals on the wood, then cut into cubes.

Source

On the cut end, use a straight edge to find the center by drawing diagonally from corner to corner:

Using a drill bit the same gague as your wire, drill a hole about an inch and a half or two inches deep, being careful to make sure its as straight as possible. (we used a drill press) Sand the cube until its nice and smooth. Insert the non-coiled end of the wire into the hole you've drilled. Stain or paint the wooden base.