Making a Burlap Table Card Display for a Rustic Wedding

This summer, I had the joy and honor of helping my friend and culinary goddess with a few crafty tasks for her daughter’s wedding. She kept my glass of rosé full and my baby occupied while I crafted away. Little did she know, this is the stuff I love doing, especially when it is for people I love.

Her daughter, Julia, celebrated her union with her fiancé Stephen at a lake house summer wedding in Georgia, so they embraced a rustic theme. Creamy lace and burlap skipped hand-in-hand on the private dock while distressed white-washed birch and natural brown kraft paper glowed in the warm sunset. We chose a faux distressed whitewashed birch frame and burlap for the base of the card display and natural brown kraft paper and jute twine for the cards.

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

All the details about the supplies and process of making a burlap table card display for a rustic wedding are here for you. This would be nice not just for a wedding.

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

Supplies

Process

1. I removed the plastic cover of the frame since we were using it as a display and did not need to protect the contents.

2. I cut the burlap to be 1/2-inch longer on each side than the frame to wrap slightly around the back’s edge. Working with the composite wood backing of the frame and making sure the hanging element is facing in the right direction to use later, I focused on glueing the burlap in three horizontal “stripes”. I used the dry-on-dry Rubber Cement technique for this. This means, I spread a light but not too thin layer of rubber cement on the back of each section of burlap as well as the entire composite back. Once both elements were dry, I carefully put them together and smoothed it out. Watch for ripples, bubbles, and wrinkles. This is when I used the preview paper from the frame to keep the gluey sides from adhering to each other until I was at the right point.

Once all three stripes of burlap were in place, I used the burlap tape to put over the seams. This made it feel a bit more modern and polished, but also kept the edges from fraying in transit and use. I used a normal kitchen baking roller to smooth and help them stick fully.

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

4. We had four rows of table cards so we used the plastic cover to decide on the layout. Once we knew how we wanted them, we lined up where the jute twine needed to be and glued one side plus secured it with shipping tape. This was not seen at all once the frame was back in place, so it did not really matter what kind of tape I used for this part.

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

5. The table cards were printed already and we trimmed them to be narrow to fit in an uncrowded way across the frame, so we punched holes in the top two corners then strung them into their places on the jute twine in each row. Once all cards were on their twine, we attached the other side to string across fairly tightly.

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

6. Once everything was done, it was time to replace the frame. We bent the metal bits at the back into place. After a night to air dry, we wrapped the entire thing in bubble wrap to go to the wedding.

Burlap Table Card Display for Rustic Wedding

Rustic burlap wedding table card display | evinok.com

Though we did not document the process, we also used a cut down volunteer tree from my parents’ garden to custom cut table card holders, like these but for free. And money aside, the homemade ones had the sentiment that it was a tree from the bride’s family home block and was cut by a neighbour, so it was like we were all cheering for her as she embarked on this new phase with Stephen.

Project Summary:

Materials: Large wood poster frame. Burlap for the backingRubber CementBurlap tapeShipping tapeJute twineKraft cardstockPaper trimmer. Computer and Printer for creating table cards.

This project took two hours to make. Most of that was waiting for glue to dry. What do you think?

2 comments

  1. Kim says:

    Beautiful!! Very simple and elegant, and also a lot easier for guests to read. Searching through those little cards on a table is frustrating sometimes.

    • Evin says:

      Agreed, it is a nice eye-level display that also expresses a theme from arrival. And instead of 150 little folded paper cards, it was just 8 pieces of kraft paper cut in half and trimmed to fit.

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