Weddingbee Blog

It started out innocently enough. I wanted to bring some color to our somewhat vanilla reception space:

You bore me, plain room. (personal photo)

We will have white chairs, white tablecloths, and a room full of people half asleep due to the monochromatic nature of our reception. Clearly something had to be done. Enter the napkin debate. And by debate, I mean an internal struggle between enjoying wedding planning and taking on masochistic projects.

(BTW—our venue does offer napkin rentals at 50 cents per white napkin. This did not appease me in the slightest, hence the ensuing debate.)

Armed with the power of the internet and a resolve to find a colorful solution to my boring-table conundrum, I began my napkin search.

First, I looked at purchasing napkins from an online retailer:

Image via eFavorMart

I liked that these napkins were reasonably priced and that I could further defray their cost by selling them after the wedding. But, I couldn’t find the shade of red I was looking for. Damn.

Moving on, I started considering other alternative sources for napkins.

On one blog I found this idea and was very intrigued:

Photo by Cameron Ingalls via Style Me Pretty

Can you guess what these napkins are intended to be used for? Give up? They are automotive-shop rags. Yep. The very kind you use to wipe off your car after birds have their way with it. Certainly not the finest fabric around, but you use them to wipe your face. And, this wedding made them look so chic and pretty!

So, I bought some. For a whopping $1.50 I got 12 red automotive rags. Let’s do the math, shall we? That is 12.5 cents per napkin. Holy awesome deal, Batman!

My great deal (personal photo)

So I brought my newest, super-cheap napkin idea home, washed them…and was undecided. I loved the fact that they were OMGSOCHEAP, but I was worried someone at the wedding would be all, “WTF, is this a shop towel?!” and make me feel guilty about not getting real napkins.

Next, I considered buying plain red bandannas.

Image via Chico Trading

Reasonably priced at around 30 cents each, these could possibly be resold after the wedding to recoup some of the cost. But, it was difficult to tell what the colors would look like in person, and I couldn’t find any shop that sold samples in the color I was going for. Not wanting to order dozens of bandannas only to dislike the color and deal with sending them back, I decided to keep looking.

Instead, I started considering punishing myself with the worst idea I have ever come across on wedding blogs: DIY napkins. Many brides consider this feat, but few actually pull it off and live to tell the tale. (I assume most collapse in on themselves like dying stars from the stress.) But I saw lots of awesome brides pulling it off, so it didn’t seem like such a stretch.

I came across these DIY beauties:

Image via Purl Bee

I had visions of solid napkins bordered by fun, patterned fabric in our wedding colors. Then I remembered that our wedding colors are red and green. Finding patterned fabric with the shades of red and green I am hoping to use is kind of impossible. Plus, I would have to make the bias tape (the border thing) myself. Although it didn’t look too difficult with the bias-tape maker, I’ve never done it before and it had the potential to be costly. So I kept looking.

After a few innocent searches, I found the cutest DIY napkins EVER.

Wait for it…

…the close-up

{Above two images via Purl Bee}

I LOVE these. The ric-rac trim, the variegated colors, the GREEN. They are almost too cute for words. (Yes, I know how lame/ridiculous I sound talking about napkins, but I really do love them.) The problem? They would take an eternity to complete since I would need make about 140. Plus, they far and away would be the most expensive option. They require two pieces of fabric and ric-rac around the entire napkin. Not exactly the budget-friendly option I was hoping for.

Plus, I did a mock-up of one…and it sucked. I did it in a hurry, but it’s still not an excuse for how bad it looked. Proof:

See how the ric-rac disappears in the corner of the big one? Yeah, not supposed to happen. (personal photo)

Finally, I could make the project simpler on myself (as simple as can DIY napkins can be) by skipping the frills and sticking to a basic, beautiful napkin a la Mrs. Cardigan:

Image via Mrs. Cardigan

Since I don’t own a serger to make this project easier, I would need to fold the edge of the napkin twice to create a nice, smooth edge. This would take more work but would be important for finishing the napkins.

Who knew there would be so many napkins options?

So, I discussed my options with my girls, and they convinced me to make a decision and I ran with it.

What did I choose? I’ll tell you next time.

Would you use an unconventional product as a napkin? Would you be crazy enough to consider DIY-ing your napkins?