One of my earlier purchases was an antique typewriter from the 1940s that I bought from my local Goodwill Seattle on their eBay site for $38.00. I had originally thought we could have our guests write us notes on the day using it but it’s actually not the easiest thing to type on! You have to push each key in a determined and specific way to make sure it appears. I used it to type up the place settings and menus that were on each table. To get the type writer going, I purchased some new ink ribbon on Amazon for $7.
For paper, I used seed paper, which is this wonderful concept where you can plant the paper after use and flowers will grow! I bought 200 sheets on Amazon for $28. About two days before the wedding, Paul sat at the desk in my childhood bedroom and typed up the seating plans. We used the license plates numbers as the table numbers and purposely let the names align differently.
We displayed the seating plan on an antique spinning wheel that I had purchased for $100 on a second hand site in Ireland. My father-in-law collected it when he got off the ferry from France! We simply used a hole punch and some twine to attach the sheets to the wheel. We displayed it on a table by the picnic area so everyone could find their seat easily and there wouldn’t be a bottle neck when it came to sitting down.
I also typed up the menus using the typewriter and seed paper and placed them inside cheap picture frames I purchased at a dollar store. We took the glass out of the frames so you could see the texture of both the paper and the typed words.
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