Spicing up the Tables

When FI and I went for our tasting back in April, we talked with our representative from the catering company about rentals.  We are renting tables and chairs from them for both the cocktail hour and the reception.

As part of our catering package, standard china and linens are complimentary. We are able to choose from a basic selection that they have, unless you want to upgrade to one of the absolutely amazing sets of china they had on display for us in the tasting room.

I know you've already seen this one, but wow! / Personal Picture

Gold and Copper textured plates / Personal Picture

Silver trimmed plate - Sorry for the bad angle / Personal Picture

Now, as gorgeous and sophisticated as these plates are, we really couldn't justify spending more money on plates, so we decided to go with the standard white china plates.

In terms of linens, we were able to choose complimentary linens from a set that were hanging on the wall (and I can't find where the picture went!) that ranged from solid colors to black and white damask to stripes and starbursts, and everything. Some of the linens matched what we were looking for color wise, but we felt that it would be too much color in our reception space, so we ultimately decided on what was on our tasting table - an Imperial stripe in White.  

When I was originally planning our wedding, and deciding what linens to use, I came across a website appropriately named Wedding Linens.   One of the coolest part of their websites is that they have an interactive linen design center, where you can select your linens to see what they would look like when matched together.  

Knowing that we were likely to go with white linens, I picked that option and put it on our table using their design center.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center / That's supposed to be white, not sure why it looks ivory.

After selecting the tablecloth, I decided that I wanted to spruce up the table a little bit by using colored napkins instead of white ones.  I thought this may help it look a little brighter since we won't be having huge floral arrangements as centerpieces.

Since our wedding colors are yellow, green, orange, gray, and white, I figured it would be best to go with one of those. The gray color seemed too light, but also kind of darkened the overall look, so we eliminated that.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Light Gray Solid Napkins

The next color that I tried was green. The green looked nice, but with all of the green around the reception space because of the plants, I figured that this may be overkill.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Kelly Green Solid Napkins

The yellow napkins looked nice, and we both really liked the way that it looked.  We were concerned, though, that if we used the Lemon Jello, as we have planned for the centerpieces, that it may also be overkill with the amount of yellow at the table.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Yellow Solid Napkins

The last color that I tried was orange, and FI and I both agreed that this one looked the best.  It would help to spruce up the color just a bit, and it was bright enough that it stood out nicely against the white tablecloth.

Screen Shot from Wedding Linens Design Center with Orange Solid Napkins

So when we were meeting with our representative from the catering company, I asked about colored napkins, and she brought over her swatch books of what was available to rent.  Being as frugal as I am, I asked about which fabrics were the least expensive, and she immediately responded by handing me the solid cotton swatch book. I flipped through each swatch until I got to the orange ones, and what do you know, but they had the most perfect shade of orange!!!

Solid Orange Cotton Napkin Swatch / Personal Picture

SOLD!!!!

So there you have it.  How did you decide on your table linens. Did you do anything special and make your own, or find a really neat or ornate pattern for your tables?