The humble napkin. So necessary. So practical. So under-appreciated.

Not only is the lowly napkin utilitarian, it’s provides an easy (and often economical) way to add style to your table decor.

Since Easter is just around the corner, I’ve rounded up a bunch of DIY napkin tutorials and ideas that would be be perfect for your Easter table – or your wedding.

If you know how to sew, check out Purl Bee’s tutorial for lovely rick rack spring napkins.

Skip to My Lou has a tutorial on how to make two kinds of cloth napkins.

Don’t like to sew? Stephanie from Creative Reveries made these cloth napkins for her wedding using vintage bed sheets and pinking shears.

Katie from A Backyard Wedding also made her wedding napkins from vintage bed sheets. Hurray for pinking shears!

These napkins were made from vintage tablecloths. Get the tutorial at projectwedding.com.

Get your Martha On used her sewing machine to make this marvelous napkins out of vintage bedsheets. Here’s how.

This napkin was also made from a vintage bed sheet.  Photo: Tec Petaja via Weddingbee.

One of the best things about all of these cloth napkins is that they’re green – and you’ll have them to enjoy long after your wedding!

Want to learn how to make paper flowers in a snap? I saw this paper flower tutorial over at Folding Trees and gave it a whirl. After creating a couple of paper flowers I realized that I didn’t have the patience to make an entire bouquet. Although the flowers are pretty, they’re not for impatient types like me.  I couldn’t imagine cutting circle after tissue paper circle to make a bouquet.

Then I made the flowers using cupcake liners.  What a cinch! I was pretty darn tickled with how they turned out.

If you’re aiming to add some whimsy to your wedding, these would be a perfect DIY project for you and your maids. They’d also be pretty sweet for a wedding shower – displayed right next to the cupcakes!

What you need:

Cupcake Liners
(in color of your choice) I used eight small cupcake liners per flower.

Pipe Cleaners

Straight Pin

Floral Tape

How to Make Paper Flowers

Take cupcake liners out of their packaging.

Flatten eight cupcake liners (enough for one flower) with your hands.

Using a straight pin, poke two holes on the inside of the cupcake liners about a half an inch apart.

Insert pipe cleaner into the holes through the inside of the cupcake liners. You will probably only be able to do a couple at a time. Keep repeating until you have all eight cupcake liners threaded onto the pipe cleaner.

Bring the end of pipe cleaner through the second hole.

Starting as close as you can to the edge of the cupcake liners, wrap your pipe cleaner with floral tape. It takes a bit of practice to get good at it.

After all eight of the cupcake liners have been placed onto the pipe cleaner, begin pinching the cupcake liners with your thumb and index finger one at a time, beginning with the top one. Repeat until all cupcake liners have been shaped.

Voila! A lovely paper flower to admire!

Now that you’ve learned how to make paper flowers, why not learn how to make tissue paper pom poms?

I love the look of mismatched vintage plates and other tableware at weddings. It’s charming, whimsical – and fun.

You can get a sweet deal on an assortment of vintage crockery at yard sales, rummage sales and second hand stores (I purchase several vintage plates at Value Village for $1 each.) Because you are having a small wedding, it won’t be as costly or difficult to outfit your wedding. (Don’t forget to check out these vintage napkins made from bedsheets!)

Keep the plates to use after the wedding, or sell them to other vintage brides. Another option, let your guests take their plates home!

Here are some images to inspire to get out there and start junkin’:

First Photo: Onada Photography; Second Photo: Country Living; Third Photo: Foxielicious; Fourth Photo: Samantha Luck; Fifth Photo: Martha Stewart; Sixth Photo: Ruffled Blog;  Seventh Photo: Once Wed: Eighth Photo: We Met at Tumbler: Ninth Photo: The Crockery Cupboard

Amie-Michele & Justin had only 35 guests at their ceremony. They had no wedding party and no aisle. I love the artistic eye of wedding photographer, Eunice Montenegro.

Amie-Michele, 33 &  Justin, 30

Victoria, B.C.

Wedding Date: August 29, 2009

Number of Guests: 35 at the wedding ceremony. (The couple had 100 people at their reception.)

Wedding Cost: $14,000.00. Before we got engaged we agreed on two things. One was that we would get married right away and the other is that we would only get engaged if we could figure out away to afford to get married financially by ourselves. We knew that family would help us out but we did not want expect it. Our parents were very generous and it all worked out perfectly.

Wedding Ceremony Location: Canadian Yachting Association

Why did you have an intimate wedding?

To us, the act of getting married was not that important to share with others. We would have gotten married alone but you need two witnesses and who would we have picked. Most of the family expressed that they would be upset so we cut the guest list down to blood relatives only. The choice to do no wedding party was partially because who do you ask, and I always did not like being a bridesmaid. I would rather enjoy the day and have fun so I wanted all my guests to experience that with me.

Was it difficult to pare down the guest list?

For the ceremony, choosing blood relatives only worked perfect. We both have people in our lives that are like family to us but we had to draw the line somewhere.

What were the highlights of the ceremony?

For me it was my husband. He was so nervous that I thought he was going to pass out. I held on tight and kept telling him to breath. For him, he says that all he remembers was me and how quick it was. We also had a jazz trio play outside during the ceremony and they moved around before and after playing great tunes.

What advice do you have for couples who are considering an intimate wedding?

Do it. Just draw the line somewhere and make sure it’s what you want. I had to say no to certain things but I kept my vision. Now, everyone says it was perfect!

Vendors:

Flowers: Bella Flora

Photography: Eunice Montenegro

Venue: Canadian Yachting Association

This ended up in my inbox yesterday.

Sam, a Toronto animator, made this movie for his sweetie as a surprise for their wedding reception last September. Sam enlisted his wife’s little brother and niece to be the narrators.

Hope you enjoy this sweet, unpretentious little flick as much as I did! Happy Friday!