While I've been saying over and over that we're doing everything that we can to keep our wedding plans simple, I do believe quite strongly that when we decide to include an element, we should do it in a way that we love. Case in point, placecards. We need them for the small family/close friends dinner that we're having after our ceremony and since the restaurant has a very strong sense of self in terms of decor, I knew that they couldn't be too much of one thing or another. And, I didn't want them to seem out of place since my personal style and the general style of the wedding is a little softer than the style of the restaurant (which I am otherwise entirely fine with!).
So after seeing this template from Martha Stewart for escort cards, and batting around a few ideas with my friends at Ephemera, I decided to make them a little subtle, a little pretty, and filled with elements I love—stitching and lovely fabric.
I picked up basic white placecards from Michael's and a 3/4 inch circle punch. I punched out circles on the left side of the front of the card, then used embroidery floss (left over from my sister's dress) to stitch on a square of fabric to the card. The back side of the cards definitely says "handmade" but I sort of love that. There are two colorways—the one shown here is for guests having the fish, and there's a rosier pink version for guests having the beef, which I hope will be helpful to the wait staff. I'm hoping that my good friend Katherine, who has the loveliest handwriting, will take care of writing the names when she gets here during the week before our wedding.
They were incredibly easy to put together in just a few hours on the porch over the weekend and I just love the way that they turned out. Plus, it's a small way to carry the theme of hand stitching through to another aspect of the wedding.