In the right hands and with the right focus of creative efforts, there is one simple piece of material that can be wielded into some pretty terrific pieces of decor. What material am I talking about….. well paper of course! This amazing piece of material that we take for granted on a daily bases can really be turned into some pretty amazing things and I am not speaking just of origami either! While one could run wild listing all the super cool things to do with paper, right now I want to focus on the raise of something that I am completely down with, the paper placemat!
The beauty of paper is two fold, pun intended I suppose. Since I already went there, yes one of the great benefits to paper is how easily it can be altered by folding, cutting, staining, burning, you name it. Secondly, now a days paper is produced in such an awe-inspiring array of textures, colors, patterns and crafted with such unique materials that there is almost an infinite number of possibilities to toy with. All this means is that no matter your color palette, no matter your wedding’s theme, there is the perfect paper out there to match it!
Unless your familiar with the new take on paper placemats, the idea of a paper place setting might conjure up dinner style memories. To be fair, for the longest time, this was our only true introduction & experience with them: made of paper, scalloped edges, always soaked up the coffee stains and typically by the end of the meal we were folding the corners of them while chatting. The idea of a paper placemat certainly never had any chic attachments to it, at least not for me. Recently, event designers, in their continued quest for wedding cool, have brought about a resurgence to this old gem, but have found gorgeous ways to make them sophisticated, stylish, and crave worthy.
{Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty}
There is something about playing with paper that evokes a sense of whimsy, an automatic link to a more youthful time like the days of back in school, passing notes and making childhood paper fortune tellers! Now a days, re-purposed for the art of the table setting, paper placemats can have as equally a whimsical touch as it can that of high sophistication, it simply is all in the details. Paper choice plays a heavy part in establishing & fueling the vibe one is trying to create, working with kraft paper vs scrapbook paper serves too very different purposes for example. What you do with the paper adds an entirely new dimension as well. I adore the fun peekaboo escort card element to Martha Stewart’s scrapbook paper place setting, while on the other end of things, there is a regal rustic chicness about the choice of round kraft paper with hand written menu in white to Style Me Pretty’s. Going yet again in a completely different direction all together, the top setting from Sitting In A Tree features a hand sketched place setting, complete with plate & utensils, with a vintage Victorian vibe. The end result of each of these however is the same, their uniqueness as well as their playful undertone confronts us with something we do not see day in and day out, and as such, have a whole new appreciation for it!
{PaperSource via Better, Homes & Gardens, Style Me Pretty}
Something also wonderfully terrific about the prospect of working with paper place settings is that if you choose to work with a material like a chalkboard paper or butcher paper, there is an immediate cost saving element to it. Each of these types of papers {and I am sure a few others} are sold by the roll, simply cut to size, decorate and style as desired et voilà! As I noted in the start of this post, there truly is an almost infinite number of possibilities to explore when creating a paper placemat. The beauty is that this leaves the door wide open to find exactly the one that is perfectly you! Sure they are paper, sure they can crease, and soak up liquids and so on, but isnt that the unique beauty to them as well??