Table Numbers, Revisited

Remember my first trial for our tablescape?  Yeah, don't feel bad if you don't because I consider it a big, fat fail! So I changed gears and decided to go in another direction.  I realized I wanted some type of holder for the table numbers in lieu of going with the paper tent but couldn't quite visualize what I was looking for.

So I turned to the master of all things crafty, the bane of my existence as well as my savior: Etsy.  And good ol' Etsy did not disappoint.  I was a bit skeptical to see what would come up when I searched "Table Number Holders" but what I found was exactly what I never knew I was looking for.

Tory at The Cherry Grove make these rustic table number holders in the form of birch trees, as well as a lot of other stuff.  I wish I could tell you that I was all resourceful-like a la Miss Fro Yo and made my own version but alas, I caved to my internal desires of wanting something RIGHT THIS INSTANT and bought 24 of them immediately, at the bargain price of $2.00 each. Take a look-see:

(Personal Photo)

They arrived within a week and I'm very, very pleased with my decision.  I would highly recommend The Cherry Grove for lots of great , rustic wedding decor.

Alrighty then, excellent, now that I had table number holders (that is such an awkward name for this object but I can't come up with anything better) I had to figure out what to do for the actual table numbers.  I ran through a bunch of ideas in my head before giving several a try.

I thought I wanted to incorporate my Save The Date image and was also inspired by some beautiful scraps of decorative paper I saw in a colleague's (an art teacher) classroom.

Here's my first draft:

(Personal Photo)

Eh, right? That's how I felt too. And this is probably the 4th or 5th version I came up with (I'm not going to torture your eyes with the first couple!)  Something was just not working. So I kept playing around with things.  I got the idea to order a bunch of different patterned papers and use the same paper for the escort cards.  I also nixed the STD image.  I love it but it was it was bothering my aesthetic, making things too busy.  I initially thought of maybe gluing it to the side of the birch number holder but finally decided that was just too much.

Ultimately, simplicity ruled supreme and this is what I've come up with so far:

(Personal Photo)

(Personal Photo)

These are just rough drafts, for the real things, I'll have to get a number stencil or something since my rendition of that "3" is pretty poor.  But I'm really happy with what I'm envisioning the final product to be.  Each number will be a different type of patterned paper and all the escort cards will have the paper that corresponds with their table number on them!

I think they're simple, sweet and will go well with my Mason Jar centerpieces.

Alright, last thing, you wanna see something funny? When I first tried to cut a number out of this one piece of beautiful scrap paper I found, I turned it over so I wouldn't get pencil marks on the pattern.  And guess how that number turned out?

(Personal Photo)

Yeah, bass-ackwards....Whoooopsies! Lesson learned.  Next time, either remember to trace a mirror image on the back of the paper or just make life easy and trace it on the front side.  HA!

Anyways, overall I'm pleased with the look of these and I'll be sure to show you the final product, once I have all my patterned papers in hand and can actually learn to cut out a decent number!

Table numbers seem like such an inconsequential detail but they're a big part of the tablescape and truth be told, have been one of the harder decisions for me to make.  What's your table number vision? Anyone using pictures or something else significant to you guys as a couple, a la Mrs Stiletto?