How to Make Your Own Wedding Place Mats
Reception tables are an important part of the main event because guests spend much of the reception at them, both during the actual meal and when resting between other activities, such as dances, that they may not be participating in. You want your table to be interesting, engaging and attractive. Catch your guests' attention with some fun, whimsical place mats you make yourself. Not only will your guests enjoy these, by creating them on your own, you'll save money.
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Instructions
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Pop-Up Placemats
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Decide on the design you would like as the pop-up for your place mat. Butterflies and hearts are popular choices; you could also select a design that relates to your wedding's overall theme. You can draw the design yourself or find one in a book, magazine, or online.
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Draw the outline of your design in pencil on a piece of tracing paper, either freehand or by tracing over an image you found. Leave the bottom edge of the image open or draw a straight line across the bottom edge--this will be your "fold line."
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Cut out the image from the tracing paper with your craft knife.
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Place the cut-out design over a piece of card stock and trace around its edges, then cut it out with your craft knife. This will become your template.
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Trace around the template onto the paper you have chosen to use for your place mats. Repeat, creating one place mat for each guest.
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Cut along the lines on the place mat paper with your craft knife, making sure not to cut through the fold line along the bottom edge.
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Pull gently on the images you just cut out, lifting them toward you. Carefully bend the paper along the fold line to make the design stand up vertically.
Interactive Paper Place Mats
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Open a word processing document on your computer and set the page dimensions to the size of the place mats you want to create. If you plan on printing them at home, make sure to set dimensions your personal printer can accommodate.
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Visit the puzzle-making site listed in the resources section. Create a crossword puzzle, word search or other game. Consider adding details to them about you and your future spouse that guests may not know or "secrets" you would like revealed as guests complete each puzzle. Depending on the size of your place mat, you may be able to fit more than one game on it.
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Copy and paste these games into your word processing document.
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Add a descriptive title to the top of the page.
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Print the number of place mats you will need for your reception. If you are expecting a large number of people, it may be easier, faster, and less expensive to have the copies printed at a local copy shop.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit wedding image by NorthShoreSurfPhotos from Fotolia.com
