Weddingbee Blog

When I chose my dress, I chose it mainly for one reason. Oh, I love the Alencon lace, the sweetheart neckline, and the A-line silhouette. But most of all, I love one little detail: the little silk ribbon that runs up each side and under my bum. It is so simple, yet gorgeous:

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I started thinking of many ways to incorporate this little detail into the wedding.

I considered ribbon on oru centerpieces, ribbon somewhere on the bridesmaids’ dresses, ribbon on my bouquet somewhere, or ribbon as aisle runners. I didn’t want the ribbon to ever take center stage; I just want to play it up in little places in the wedding.

Then, I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s weddings this summer and I saw it. We were at her venue for the rehearsal, and another wedding was being set up at the same time. And I saw this:

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Pink ribbon double-stick-taped-to black linens, in different patterns across the tables. It was pretty foreign to me, this idea of attaching ribbon to something. One of my fellow bridesmaids made the comment that it looked “busy” but I think it has just the right amount of color and pop, as well as a cool modern element for a rustic environment—exactly what I am going for!

A design scheme I am planning for our reception is the combination of modern lines with natural elements. Square vases filled with river rocks. Brown linens with green ribbons against a backdrop of a converted barn… can you visualize it?

I was on a quest to find the perfect ribbon. Initially I had imagined 1.5 inch satin ribbon. I dragged Mr. Pencils to our local Michaels and proceeded to fill our cart with every green and yellow ribbon in the store. We anticipated that each round table (seats is about 8 feet across. Allowing for a few extra feet of drop space, we anticipated 10 feet of each ribbon and 9 different ribbons at each table. That’s 90 feet of ribbon at each table, or 30 yards. With about 20 tables (overestimating just in case!), we would need 500 yards of ribbon. At the rate we were going at Michaels, we were going to buy them out of green and yellow ribbon and still need more. We also were on our way to paying 3 dollars for 3 yards. 500 bucks for all 500 yards! We also still needed ribbon for various other projects, which would have put us way out budget range for something so small for our big day.

And then a ribbon angel appeared in the form of a crafty gal. She saw me filling my basket with ribbon spool after ribbon spool, and told me about the Offray outlet just 45 minutes away, in Hagerstown, Maryland. This wholesale outlet would have hundreds of yards of ribbon for a fifth of what I would pay normally. I promptly (well, the next weekend) whisked Mr. Pencils and myself to Hagerstown to this amazing mecca of ribbon. What did we find? Not the perfect ribbon, but gorgeous, well priced stuff none the less! I ended up choosing grosgrain ribbon in 3 shades of green and 2 shades of yellow. I bought 700 yards (just in case!) of 1 inch grosgrain ribbon for our reception tables and 300 yards of grosgrain .5 inch ribbon for our other projects for $106.00! That is 1000 yards of ribbon for 100 bucks plus tax!

Here is what I ended up purchasing for the tables:

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There are other places I have found to use ribbons. In our favors/seating placement, which are luggage tags and have ribbon tied to them (more on that soon!) and in my jewelry, which is a string of pearls that is tied together with an ivory ribbon that matches my dress’ ribbon perfectly.

Is there a small detail that inspired you for your wedding? Do you have any suggestions for our reception table idea?