Today I am answering everything you need to know about personalized wedding napkins.  

• Do you need to purchase napkins for the food buffet?
  If you hire a professional caterer for your wedding reception they will provide napkins for the food buffet.  So the short answer is no, unless you prefer personalized napkins for the food buffet. If you are having a seated dinner you will need to find out from your caterer if cloth napkins are provided or if you need to rent those since you will definitely want a cloth napkin for a seated dinner.

• Do you need to purchase napkins for the cake tables?
  A lot of couples love the idea of having personalized napkins for the cake tables.  If you do want personalized napkins on the cake tables the style you will need is called a cocktail or beverage napkin and usually measures 5″ square.  If you don’t really care about personalized napkins for the cake tables your caterer will more than likely provide plain white paper napkins for the cake tables.  You will need to confirm this with your caterer.

• How many napkins do you need for the cake tables?
  For the cake tables it’s appropriate to have one napkin per guest since most guests will only eat one piece of cake.  If your wedding cake feeds 250 guests and the grooms cake feeds 100 guests you will need a total of 350 napkins for the cake tables.  You can go with one design for both cake tables or you can go with something different and more masculine for the groom’s cake table.  I love these napkins for the groom’s cake table from a wedding we did at Northwood Country Club.  They matched the groom’s cake and included the groom’s monogram.  I loved this so much!
    Or these from a MSU Groom’s Cake Table: 
• Do you need to purchase personalized napkins for the bar?
  The bar is another great place to include your personalized wedding napkins.  If your caterer or a bar service is providing your bar they should provide plain white paper napkins for the bar, but if you prefer something a little nicer I would suggest ordering personalized napkins for the bar as well.  If you are providing your own bar you would be responsible for providing napkins for the bar; whether they are plain napkins or personalized napkins.

• How many napkins do you need for the bar?
  For the bar you will need to plan for 2-3 cocktail/beverage napkins per guest.

• Should I plan for personalized napkins anywhere else at my wedding reception?
  If you are having butler passed hors d’oeuvres you may want to provide a personalized napkin for the trays.  Again, if you hired a professional caterer they will provide a plain white paper napkin here, but if you prefer something a little nicer a personalized napkin for the butler pass trays is another great place to include them.

• Do most couples purchase personalized napkins?
  Most of our couples do provide personalized napkins to use on the cake tables at the least, but not all of them.  This is totally a personal preference and not something that’s a must for every wedding.   If you need to save a little, cutting out personalized napkins is something I would suggest since your cater will provide plain napkins anyway.
   
  

If you have any questions about wedding napkins don’t hesitate to reach out to me at info@southernproductions.net. 

xo, Terrica