At the Bar, Part 1: Coasters
October 2nd, 2008 @ 11:30 am by Miss Fondue
We’ll be stocking our bar with a few different favors that guests can take, if they’d like. If not, we’ll be more than happy to take and use the extras after the wedding, so they don’t go to waste.
For the first of these items, I’m stamping and embossing two different styles of coasters, both featuring our monogram.
The design on the left is based on our invitations (and programs and menu cards), but I wanted to offer some variety, so some of the coasters have the second design (on the right). There’s a 2:1 ratio, with the invitation design being more common because I like it better.
To create the coasters, I bought blank ones from Blockheads. The stamps are all from Impress Rubber Stamps, with our monogram being a custom stamp. I just stamped the blank coasters with black ink. I didn’t want to worry about the ink running, so I also embossed the ink with clear powder. I’ll have more on embossing in a future post, including a tutorial.
I haven’t quite decided what to do with all of them though. I’ll have some at the bar, obviously, but since I’m making about 150-160 of them, should I have them at each place setting as well? Or have some scattered on the cocktail tables during the cocktail hour?
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16 Responses to “At the Bar, Part 1: Coasters”
I presume they are intended for use during the wedding, as they have your initials on them, so why not give them to the bartender and have them serve the drinks on the coasters, instead of on a cocktail napkin? Otherwise, I think scattering them on the tables during cocktail hour would be your best bet.
Our reception is at a brewery, I plan on using coasters as the place cards!
These are gorgeous and you just totally inspired me to do these for my own reception. I like julieulie’s idea of giving them to the bartender and having him/her hand them out with the drinks!
I love these! Wait — how is it that you are getting married 2 months after me and you already have your coasters done? Sigh. We haven’t even gotten our save the dates out yet!
I can’t wait for the tutorial in these!
I think you should definitely keep them on the bar… have the bartender stack them in place of the bar napkins and use those instead. i wouldn’t put them at each place setting because people will probably have more than one drink and it just wouldn’t look right with only one on a coaster.
I did something similar for my engagement party and everyone loved them!
Cute idea! I would say don’t put them on the dinner tables, there will probably be so many other things there too. Your best bet would be at the bar and on the tables during cocktail hour!
The coasters look fantastic. I have two questions though: How do you keep the ink from running with condensation from drinks? and what font did you use for the monogram?
You guys have such great ideas! I love the idea of the bartender using them instead of napkins. I wonder if I’ll need more then, or if people will reuse them….
@Sarah: The embossing keeps the ink from running, since the ink is virtually protected underneath the embossed layer. The font for our monogram is Feel Script.
Miss Fondue-
Are you referring to people reusing them as in taking them home with them at the end of the night to use them again?
Well, please don’t take this the wrong way, because I LOVE the coasters. I think they look AMAZING, and I think they will be great at the wedding, and you will get great pictures of the bartender serving up drinks on the coasters. BUT, that said, the way I see it…. people come in two varieties… coaster people, or non-coaster people. As in, the people who care about their end tables and want coasters down, and the people who don’t. And people who are coaster people probably have nice coasters already, and probably wouldn’t display coasters with your initials on them, you know? I just feel like I wind up with lots of wedding favors with someone else’s initials on them, and I never really know what to do with them… am I supposed to have things with someone another person’s monogram out in my home? It always just seemed funny to me… so I always wind up either throwing them away, or tossing it in a drawer and forgetting about it.
But actually using the coasters during the wedding, I think, would be totally brilliant. It’s a great touch of personalization, and I love that it’s a coaster and not just a cocktail napkin because I hate how if your drink sweats, it always tears through the cocktail napkin, especially if you’re picking up your drink a lot, which you tend to do at a wedding when you move from place to place. I, at least, would be SUPER impressed with monogrammed coasters in lieu of the standard little napkin.
@julieulie: Oh, I totally don’t expect people to use them after the wedding. These aren’t our “real” favors; just one of a few little personalized items for people to use at the wedding. What I meant by reusing them was, if the bartender handed them a drink and a coaster, would I need to have one coaster per drink or do you think people would reuse them after they were handed first coaster with the first drink?
@Miss Fondue: Oooooh, I see. Hmm, well, are you having separate bars for cocktail hour and for the reception? I’ve been to wedding set up both ways — at my wedding, we had our cocktail hour upstairs on the top floor of the building, and then everyone went down 34 flights… but I’ve been to weddings where it was all in one room. If they are in separate rooms/locations, I’d estimate using one per person for the bar in each location, because I think if there is any kind of movement, even if it’s just down a hallway, people will be more likely to leave them behind, if you want them to use them throughout the evening (if you are having an open bar all evening… not sure if you are… but if you are having mixed drinks, why not?! they would also be equally fabulous on your dinner table under a highball glass), plus if moving from cocktail hour to dinner, people will need a hand to pick up escort cards, etc. But if you are only using them during cocktail hour, then I would think that at least the females would hang on to them, because they are cute, and memorable, and they won’t disintegrate the way a cocktail napkin would, whereas men are oblivious, so the way I work would be to make estimate making 150% the number of your guest list, if that makes sense. I really, really love the idea of giving them to your bartender… I wish I could have thought of this for MY wedding, because I have a bazillion blank coasters that I was going to Gocco with our logo or something but I didn’t know what to do with them, since I didn’t want to give them as favors. Argh! The bartender! Obviously!
These look great! One suggestion though - how about use dark coloured blank coasters? I for one would be utterly devastated if I see these beautiful coasters with my monograms on it, with alcohol or drinks stains covering it (unless the coasters can be washed?) 
And yes, give it to the bartender! 
Very nice! I will definitely wait for the “tutorial” part… =)
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Miss Fondue, Nashville
Age and Occupation: 27, Technical Analyst
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Network Admin Student/Senior Game Advisor
Engagement Date: December 25, 2007
Wedding Date: May 2009
Blogging Since: September 14, 2008
Venue: Ravenwood Golf Club
About Me: I’m your average computer geek marrying a gaming geek and trying to find a good balance of elegance and geek chic in our wedding. I adore The Sims, Nintendo, cosplay, (good) music, TiVo, theme parks, and our two crazy felines.
Your coasters are so cute and classy, definitely put them at each place setting if you can. If not the cocktail tables. Really, I would put them all over girl they are hella cute!