Ideas for Wedding Menu Cards

Choose a fun and creative menu card style that fits in with your wedding

By Cynthia Myers

Photo by Bold American Catering

Menu cards take the mystery out of your reception dinner and give your guests something to read while they're waiting for dinner to be served. In addition to reading material, menu cards can double as favors or even as fans. And they also function as part of your table decorations.

Circular Menus

Round wedding menu cards are sized to fit in the center of the plates used for the reception meal. You can have a stationary store design and create these or design them yourself and commission a print shop to print them for you. Make your circular menu card more formal with a decorative edge, such as a scallop.

Fortune Tellers

These menus are based on the paper fortune tellers popular with schoolchildren. Also known as a "Cootie Catcher," this menu is folded origami style. Depending on which way it's opened, information about a different course appears. This menu is interesting and very entertaining, as guests won't be able to resist playing with it.

Recipe Cards

Postcard-sized recipe card menus feature the dining choices on one side and a recipe on the other. Choose a recipe in keeping with your wedding theme or the main course of your meal. These can be produced in almost any type style, color or design to coordinate with your wedding colors and theme, and they double as a wedding favor.

Vintage

Pattern your menu cards after the bill of fare on the Titanic or on old steam train dining car menus. For a '40s-themed wedding, design your menu to resemble old movie credits or a Western Union telegram. Use old-fashioned typesets and antique-looking papers to capture the look and feel you want.

Fan

Fold a rectangular menu into a simple paper fan that rests atop each plate. Or attach a wooden handle to the bottom of a menu printed on heavy cardstock, and the menu doubles at a fan. Guests will appreciate these at an outdoor wedding.