Origami Place Cards
April 20th, 2008 @ 10:29 am by Mrs. Gingerbread
It seems like there is a lot of origami paper folding happening in the hive! Miss Donut made a post a couple of months ago about the significance of 1001 cranes.
When I was 8 years old, I was a flower girl in my aunt’s wedding, and she folded paper cranes for her wedding. Five years ago, she folded paper cranes for my grandparents’ 60 anniversary. I decided that I’d like to continue this tradition for my wedding. On a recent visit home, my aunt showed me how to fold the cranes.
Even my brother got into it. Not only that, he caught on much faster than I did.
I have to admit that upon returning to Vancouver, I have grossly neglected my crane folding duties. Part of my block was not knowing what the heck to do with all of these cranes once we were done. Then my sister emailed me last week to tell me that my 10-year old niece has been folding paper cranes and wanted to know if we’d like to use them for our wedding. Aww, so sweet! Yes, now I had to find a way to incorporate the cranes.
So, here’s what I’ve come up with. I think we’ll use them as place cards, similar to this idea from Style Me Pretty.
Instead of plain cards, we’ll have cranes.
I’ll probably add some beads to the string though.
If you want some else to fold cranes for you, Thousand Fold Origami has all kinds of cool stuff.
If you want to fold cranes or frogs, bunnies, elephants, watermelons or a fried egg and want to learn how, head over to Origami Club. Click on whatever you are interested in and you can see an animated, step-by-step example of how to fold the paper.
My placecards are not going to even put a dent in the 1001 cranes. Any ideas of what to do with the rest?
…assuming that we actually keep folding.
Related Posts
11 Responses to “Origami Place Cards”
I really like the crane but it looks very tedious and time consuming.
Hang one on each chair and string them together garland style to drape on yours and ms gb 2.0’s chairs. For the ceremony you could make crane garlands to drape from an arch/canopy type thing, or use them as aisle runners.
They are gorgeous! We are not doing origami anything for the wedding, unless I just get crazy enough to need a seriously zen-type DYI project, but I have often thought about doing a Christmas tree with origami decorations. Your website link has me inspired - maybe I can get there this year (or next…)
i like the above poster’s idea of placing on branches, for the centerpieces, at the guest book table, etc. are you having any kind of archway/ ceremony backdrop at Capilano? Maybe string them along the arch? You can also incorporate into the favors and/or out of town bags (if you’re having those, that is)…. 1,001 cranes is a huge number!
what about allowing guests to sign their names or write wishes for you and GB2.0 on them and hang them to a tree branch as your “guest book”… ?
Those are actually my placecard trees!! They were such a labor of love but I know you will be so happy with the results. I love the additions of the cranes!!
Maybe you can also do a wish bowl sort of thing with them. People can write on them and you can display them in a glass bowl or cylinder in your home. Of course that isn’t a thousand either…
@JustChicEvents: Wow, they are gorgeous! Thanks for being my inspiration 
@Thea T.: Yeah, I don’t think 1001 cranes will be making an appearance at the wedding. I don’t want it to look over run by cranes!
One of my e-friends is a compulsive origami folder, and I asked her to fold me animals for table decorations. a swap discussion went back and for a few volleys before she suddenly sent me a hilariously brief telegram like email that said something like, “road trip tomorrow. need fiddly bits for car. will fold.” except in all caps.
anyway, she was quite imaginative and our families really liked them. my favourites were the bats and the penguins, but there were rabbits, lizards, frogs , etc, too.
[...] in cake toppers, but I insisted that her birdies were what we were after. I told her about our origami cranes and said that something origami-esque for the pattern would be awesome. She immediately showed me [...]
Mrs. Gingerbread, Vancouver
Age and Occupation: 32, Psychologist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Software Engineer
Engagement Date: Sometime in the fall of 2004
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: March 24, 2008
Venue: Rainforest wedding, beachfront restaurant reception
About Me: I recently moved to Canada from Southern California. Trying to plan a wedding in a new city, not to mention a new country, is tough, but the fact that we can get legally married here more than makes up for it! The wedding will be an opportunity for most of our family and friends to see our new city for the first time so it will be both a wedding and a reunion. Besides my future wife, I am also madly in love with a good bargain, Swedish pastries, Tivo, and my two dogs and calico cat (in no particular order).
Stick them to manzanita branches and use as centerpieces. People do that with orchids and it looks amazing! Attach to favors so each guest will take home a special crane. Thread onto ribbon to make a crane curtain and use as an amazing photo backdrop.