Wedding Program Fan and Menu

My son was married over Veteran's Day weekend last year in Arizona.  For the wedding program we decided to make them fans to serve a dual purpose, first to inform the guests of the sequence of events and the listing of the wedding party, and second to help keep guests cool in the hot Arizona sun.

The wedding had somewhat of a rustic theme and was being held at a popular dude ranch, so I made the programs and the menus out of brown and cream paper to give them that rustic look.

Supplies I needed to make both the programs and the menus were as follows.

• brown card stock
• cream card stock
• wood fan handles
• tan paper twist ribbon
• fancy cream ribbon
• leaf paper punches
• corner paper punch
• double sided tape
• hot glue and gun

My daughter in-law (I love saying that)  found a template she liked for the program and filled in all the information she wanted listed on both sides. She emailed the final draft to me. I then printed the template onto the 8 1/2 by 11 cream card stock. After all 80 were printed, using the paper cutter, I cut each side to the dimensions I thought looked best on the 5 x 7 brown card stock background. Deciding on the dimensions you want the information pieces to be, and cutting them all the same size is the hardest part.

I forgot to take a picture of the front before the stick was added, but you get the idea.

Once all the pieces were cut, I punched all the corners to round them and then used the double sided tape and put the front piece of the program onto the brown background paper. When the front sides were in place I used the hot glue by putting a strip of glue on the stick and gluing the handle to the back of the brown background paper that is behind the front side of the program.

I put tape all around the edges of the back cream information piece. When all the handles were glued into place on the backside of the front fan piece, and with the front of the program fan laying face down with the handle side up, I put hot glue on the back side of the handle. Next, I put the back side of the program onto the handle, pressing it into place on the handle and all around the edges.

I used some small leaf paper punches and punched some leafs from the extra brown background paper.  I punched leafs in 3 or 4 different sizes and applied them to the front, and the back of the program.

Names were blacked out to protect the innocent 

Now it was time for the bows. I took the cream ribbon and cut two strips in different sizes. One was about 8 inches and the other was about 9 inches. I tied a knot on each end and then tied the two strips at the top of the handle just under the paper.

For the bow at the top I first cut a 6 inch piece of tan paper twist. I then untwisted the paper and folded it in half long ways and cut it into two pieces. I then tied each piece into a knot in the middle and pulled the ends out to make a bow.  I flattened the knot in the middle and hot glued the bow to the top of the front of the fan.

Sorry for the crusty scissors. 

Next, I needed to make 80 menus. I used Microsoft Word and by using the columns function and fonts that matched the invitations and programs, I made three menus per page and printed them on one piece of 8 1/2 by 11 cream card stock.

Then measuring each page to make sure that when I cut them they were all the same size (this is the hardest part) using the paper cutter I cut the front pieces first.  I cut the plain brown backing pieces so that there was a 1/2 inch, or so trim showing on the sides and bottom, but a bit larger trim showing on the top so I could add a bow. I punched each corner to round them out.

With the double sided tape I taped the menu information piece to the brown backing. Using the paper twist I made the same kind of bows for the menu that I made for the program and hot glued them to the top of the menu.

Both projects turned out so cute and the fans really came in handy for a warm November Arizona Dessert Wedding.