While obsessively reading Weddingbee.com, I saw the blog entry from Miss Bubblegum where she was making origami lilies escort cards. I fell in love with the idea---(1) it's a blue flower! (2) it's asian, (3) it's not too expensive, (4) I can use my Yuzen paper and coordinate them with the wedding invite, and (5) it saves me from buying another floral arrangement for the card table. Here are the links to Miss Bubblegum's origami lilies and how she is putting them on stems.
The blue example is from Thryn+Gabe's flickr site. Miss Bubblegum's lilies are on the right already on stems . Video instructions here.
Although I bought 4" paper for 50 flowers from Origami Paper Store, I decided not to use it. Miss Bubblegum used 5.5X5.5 squares, and I decided 6X6 looked best in my prototypes. Also, I thought there would be too many competing patterns between the flowers and the table runner. Also, cutting up the Yuzen paper was cheaper than buying the pre-cut origami sheets.
My Origami Lily Escort Cards
After attaching the lilies to a piece of cloth covered floral wire, I folded the wire in half and twisted it around itself. This makes the stem stronger and shorter. I hope people put the flower at the top of their plate (near where the dessert fork goes), the flower stem couldn't be so long that it bumped into the neighbor's flower.
Escort Cards Attached to Lilies
To turn the lily into an escort card, I made color-coded leaves with the guest's name and table assignment. Dark green leaves were filet mignon, medium green were crabcake and light green were vegetarian.
To make the leaves, I printed the names and tables on cardstock. I sandwiched a piece of floral wire about 18" long (doubled in half) between a second layer of cardstock and used sheets of doublestick adhesive to hold everything together. I wound the wire from the leave around the stem, and then covered everything with green floral tape.
To display the lilies, I bought 5 short rectangular vases from Michaels and filled them w/24 oz of colored green marbles. The marbles are necessary to hold the stems apart so when guests pull one stem, all the stems don't come out in a tangled jumble.
Card Table Mock-Up With Candles
This is what all 60 lilies look like in the vases. There's about 12 flowers in each vase. I bought the silver candelbras from TJ Maxx. There's about 2 cups of rose petals scattered across the table.
Production Tips
1. Follow these video instructions. It really is much easier watching someone fold these than trying to follow written instructions.
2. Use a bone folder. My sister used a bone folder when she made 24 of them for me, and her flowers look better than mine. The creases are more crisp, and the flower base holds it's shape better.
3. Unless you are a robot that can cut perfect squares, buy pre-cut origami paper. It was a pain to use the "squares" we had cut from the 28*38" Yuzen paper. The edges were uneven.
4. Despite what the marketing description said, Yuzen paper is too soft for origami. We had better results with crisp paper like laser jets. This paper doesn't hold the curl of the petals so don't assemble them too early.
5. The "wrong" side of the origami paper will show in the center of the lily. It would be best if you used two-sided origami paper or chose a paper that was not as stark of a contrast between the sides as my royal blue and white.
6. The floral tape will leave the stem sticky. I hope it will dry out in the 5 days before my wedding, but you might want to find a different way to make the stems look better.
Final Thoughts: This is an ungodly long project to undertake, and I'm not sure it is worth it. I estimate each flower took 30-40 minutes total to fold the flower, post on a stem, make leaf with name & table assignment, wire leaf onto stem, cover stem with floral tape and the label the vases. My sister and I made 60 of them (yes, that's 15 hours of work!!). I love the idea because it worked so well with my Asian blue floral theme, but I'm not sure they were worth the stress. My heart will break if I see these cards on the floor/in the trash at the end of the night.