Wedding Napkins and Serviettes

Almost any amount of ingenuity can be displayed in folding wedding napkins. Serviettes folded in alternate patterns down a table look well, such as mitres and shells, and there may be flowers placed in the shells. The mitre, the cornucopia, the pocket, and the shell are perhaps the best of folded wedding napkins designs. To produce an elegant display and succeed in the more elaborate styles of folding, napkins or serviettes are required to be very fine, exactly square, not too large, to be starched, and folded quite damp, every fold creased in place with a clean hot iron.

Unless very hot, the napkins will not be stiff enough. The very simplest folds look extremely pretty if carefully done. Serviettes should be spotlessly clean and glossy. If at any time the folding of a serviette is unsatisfactory, do not attempt to refold the napkin since it is impossible to succeed if already creased. Throw it aside to be re-damped or re-starched, which will take but a few moments, and meanwhile proceed with fresh ones.

Serviettes - Proper Use at a Wedding

The wedding napkin should be laid in the lap, never tucked under the chin, or spread across the chest. A gentleman usually lays it across his right knee. When he has finished, he lays it, without folding, beside his plate. As soon as a guest is seated at the table, he unfolds the table napkin partially, and without any awkward flourishing, and spreads it on his knee. Nothing else is touched until the soup is served, or the fruit, if the repast begins with a fruit course, as it frequently does. Never use the table napkin to wipe off the face. It is intended for the lips and fingertips, and is not expected to serve as a towel or handkerchief.

How to Fold Wedding Napkins