Since we held our reception at a restaurant that truly serves up an ethereal culinary experience, we wanted to keep our tables simple to let the amazing dishes themselves shine – they were, after all, the star of our wedding! We had small arrangements of off-white roses and calla lilies and all-white linens and tableware. Even our menus were all white save for the tiny bit of silver engraved letters that read “Per Se.” To keep the look clean and in line with our event being focused on great wine and food, we choose small corkscrew place card holders for our table cards. We highlighted our NYC theme by naming our tables after cross streets of places that held sentimental value to us as a couple (our seating cards were simple tented cards that had a message inside asking our guests to “meet us on the corner of…” each table name). Looking back, settling on a font style and going laser versus hand-calligraphy were hard choices for me when I worked on my seating cards and table signs. Personally, I am drawn to delicate and feminine swirly calligraphy designs but deep inside, I knew it was not right for the look I wanted. Instead, we chose a very clean, Old NY font and used classic Crane’s paper. The whole look was very understated.

To bring a more personal and warm touch to the tables, I added a few DIY touches. I placed a “kissing bell” (to use in lieu of clinking stemware) on each table that had a handmade tag attached to it which read, “kissing makes you beautiful,” and some Deco looking NYC history trivia cards that really went well with our whole “cross-streets” idea. Lastly, atop each menu sat a silver card with a ticket for admission to our Self Portrait Photo Studio. These cards are actually my favorite DIY project of all because my then-fiancé and I pulled an all-nighter together making them! I punched the holes in both the tickets and stock cards and my groom rounded the corners of each card using a corner-punching tool. We then attached the tickets to each card with tiny silver brads. Doesn’t sound like hard work, but it took us hours! To this day, I’m not sure if it was really torture for him or not but, for me, it was a great pre-marital bonding moment ha!

What did I learn from all of this? Self-control is key; I really had to discipline myself when it came to picking out the tiniest of details like font style. If you want to keep a coherent look, whether it be shabby chic or mod, stay focused and disregard the pretty stuff that just don’t work – save it for another party (it’s a great excuse to keep on partying!). I also learned that “clean” doesn’t mean boring – the smallest touch like rounding corners of paper items are big on charm. I had friends who noticed how the rounded corners of the Portrait Studio cards mimicked the rounded corners of our menus! Believe me, the most fulfilling compliment is one on the minutest detail. ~Wanwisa     Photography by {David Willems}