HOW-TO: Make Menu Cards for a Vintage Wedding Table

Are you envisioning a romantic vintage style for your wedding reception, complete with lace, flowers, candles, and thrift shop finds? What a gorgeous setting that should be! In fact, this series of posts we’ve prepared on a vintage travel-themed wedding is all about capturing that dreamy nostalgic look—from centerpieces to place settings to favors. And, yes, including the menu cards! We wanted every detail on the tables to reflect the vintage vibe. So, we crafted a menu card treatment to match. Come take a look at how super-simple these are to make!

Plan the Menu Cards to Suit the Scene

The basic approach we applied in preparing these menu cards was: 1) using a muted color palette and 2) assembling charming vintage-style elements.

So, we incorporated both of these in each of the “menu card packets” we created. Each packet consisted of:

– a base sheet of brown kraft paper
– a next layer of powder pink card stock
– a vintage post card (that would make a sweet wedding memento)
– a “handwritten” love note or romantic poem
– the menu itself written or printed out on parchment paper

Add Nostalgic Finishing Touches

Now, for the fun part: assembly and finishing touches!

To capture that distinct nostalgic feel, we used a candle to singe the edges of the kraft paper and pink card stock layers. Then, to soften the look of the main menu card, we created a watercolor effect along the border with sky blue paint. (You could also just print the menu on light blue paper.) We layered the different pieces as shown, and tied them all together in a quaint little bundle with raw twine. And for the final placement on the guests’ plates, we positioned them on top of sky blue fabric napkins—still in keeping with the muted palette we chose.