I’ve had a slew of comments and emails recently asking all sorts of questions and advice. Whew! It really does go against my instincts to basically give away secrets for nothing, but I figure, I’m feeling magnanimous. What the heck!

Joy from North Carolina recently wrote me:

I am interested in getting into wedding decorating. While doing research on the internet I came across your wedding decorator blog site.

I was hoping that you would be willing to provide tips and/or techniques you have learned. My biggest fear as it relates to wedding decorating is TABLE DRAPING. No matter how much I practice, I never seem to get it just right. Do you have any tips on this? Which is better to use: safety pins, corsage pins…something completely different…

I will be highly appreciative and most grateful for any and all information you are willing to share with a newbie.

Thank you so much!

P.S. Your blog site is GREAT!

While I didn’t really share any techniques with Joy, I did tell her about how I attach fabric to tables to drape them.

Table draping is very easy, actually. When I did it, I used a combination of pipe cleaners and corsage pins (the type with the
elongated pearl at the end). My trouble was always getting the fabric to lay and hang evenly.

Simone left this comment on my post about organza:

I am doing a completely DIY wedding and I’ve searched all over the net and can’t find anyone that will show you how to hang this fabric from the tables? What do I need to use? I found an excellent cheap vendor for organza..but have no idea how to secure around the tops of the columns? or how to secure the swags on the tables? I’m using the two tall and two short column design like you have above..for my “arch” at the ceremony. I figured it could be secured in a certain way if you had pop up top columns? But how…I’m pulling my hair out..and on know what supplies to buy besides the fabric? Help?

That’s a lot of questions, Simone! First, how you hang draping from tables depends on the table. With a guest table, I wouldn’t recommend it at all. With a buffet table, I used to just lay the draping across the top and cover the top with crinkled table cloth. With a head table, you can use pins and pipe wire, as I advised Joy. To drape a column, I used heavy duty white duct tape.

Bertha asked this question recently about table settings in my post about renting a house for your wedding:

I am coordinating a wedding and the colors are black & white ( toile pattern) with yellow accent. What would be the best table setting to use and keep it simple and elegant. I am thinking of using white linen with the runner in black & white with Yellow topiary, the base wrapped in black tulle with crystal on the tulle itself and place crystal through out the yellow roses as center pieces on the table.

It sounds like Bertha has everything planned out? I don’t know much about table settings unfortunately. But It seems like white china with black napkins, with a yellow napkin ring might be all you need.

Tamira recently left two comments, essentially asking the same question, about hanging fabric from a chandelier:

I want to have 4 separate pieces of fabric (30ft long each) hanging from the center of the chandelier in the middle of the room out to the four corners of the room. Which fabric will hang and flow the best for the best affect ? I was thinking about organza fabric that is 60″ by 30ft long. What do you think? Please advise. Thanks.

In this case, I wouldn’t recommend organza, but either chiffon or English netting. Chiffon and English netting are both more pliant and hang nicer. Organza is perfect for when you want fabric to fluff, but won’t necessarily hang from a chandelier the way you’ve seen in pictures. However, if you’re planning to hang organza flat — like sheets of paper across a ceiling — that might look nice, especially under lights.