Weddingbee

I discovered this unique menu card idea from Philly Knottie Just_JRM’s wedding. The menu cards were designed by Robin K Designs and she was my inspiration for my pocketfold invites and other reception ideas. I had several ideas for creating our circular menu cards, but nothing seemed to work well. I first thought about adding a gold doily and then I thought about stamping/embossing a design. The ideas just didn’t work and now with our wedding day coming soon, I had to create something…FAST!

Circular Menu Cards

Materials:

• Champagne pearlescent paper from www.paperandmore.com
• Scalloped Scissors

Sofware I used:

• Microsoft Word
• Adobe Illustrator

I primarily used Adobe Illustrator for designing the menu card. I first typed out the menu and played around with different fonts to see what worked best. To create the dotted and solid circular design, I used Microsoft Word and used their Draw tool to create a circle with about a 5 point dotted outline. I also created a solid circular with a 1.5 point thickness. I copied and pasted each circle into Illustrator using the Arrange function. I pasted both towards the back so that the menu could be visible. I then scaled each to match the size of the menu. For the solid circle I wanted it to sit inside of the dotted circle, so I scaled it down 3% smaller than the dotted. I arranged both circles so that the menu was centered. For a final touch, I added a flourish watermark design in the center.

Image of my attempt arranging the circles around the menu.

Final draft of my menu using Adobe Illustrator.

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Here’s the final product!

Close-up shot of Menu Card #1:

I printed this design on pearlescent paper using my laser printer.

Menu Card #2:

I thought the black and white was kind of dull, so I added a little color to this menu card. I added some purple to the dotted circle border and the heart between our names, the watermark has a mint green hue which is not very visible in the photo. I also went kind of crazy with the scalloped scissors so excuse me for any uneven bumps you might see.

So which menu card looks better? #1 or #2?

I think I like the 2nd menu card more because of the lavender and the mint green colors. I like using the pearlescent paper but it tends to bleed when I print with my inkjet. Laser printers work best with pearlescent paper from my experience, and I wish I had a color laser so that I could add more color and work less to be creative with black & white.

Let’s continue to back to the instructions again:

I printed each menu on champagne pearlescent paper and trimmed each using scalloped scissors. I initially wanted to use this circular cutter device but it was just too difficult to control and I didn’t like seeing the menu slightly off center.. This was so frustrating and I hate wasting paper! I have to admit that I’m kind of a control freak so trimming the circles with scalloped scissors worked best for me. I love these scissors, they are so easy to work with and they add a lovely scalloped trim!

Next week I will check with my caterer if these menu cards will fit our dinner place settings. As you can see in the Robin K Design, the menu doesn’t have to exactly fit the dinner plate. As long as it is smaller in circumference, it should look okay!

• Let There Be Rehearsal!
• Many Thanks