7 Easy and Pretty Napkin Folding Designs For Your Big Day

When it comes to tablescape presentation, nothing adds the finishing touch quite like a beautifully folded napkin. Below are 7 of the most popular (and some of the easiest) napkin-folding designs for your big day. Read on to master the art of napkin folding.

The Pyramid

The pyramid is a classic and holds up well with any of our polyester, cotton-blend, and 100% cotton napkins. Here’s how to fold your napkins into the pyramid.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat with a side facing you (square not diamond)
Pull the right bottom corner to the left top corner. Leave ¼ inch of room at the top.
Rotate the triangle you’ve created so the long base faces you.
Fold the right bottom corner to the top peak corner. Do the same to the left corner.
Keeping the folds, flip the whole thing over. It should look like a diamond with a point towards you and a point away.
Pull the bottom point up to the top point. You should now have 2 right triangles.
Picking up the napkin, bend the napkin at the crease towards you, angling the right and left points to you. Let it stand like a low, squat tripod.

The Rose

The rose is a beautiful and super easy design. Place them on plates, or if you prefer, put them in empty wine glasses or goblets at each table.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat in front of you so that it looks like a diamond with a point towards you and away from you.
Pull the bottom point up to the top point, leaving ¼ inch room at the top. You should now have a triangle where the long base faces you.
Begin rolling the base up to the point but leave about 5 inches of triangle. The rolls should be fairly tight, around 1 inch or less.
Take the right side of the rolled napkin and roll it all the way towards the left side.
Tuck the end piece into the rolled envelope layer created by the roll.
Then take the 2 corner peaks and pull them to opposite sides of the roll.
Flip it over and voila! Rose with leaves.

Fancy Silverware Pouch

You can also delight your guests by using your napkin as a pouch for the silverware. Here are the directions for the fancy pouch.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat with a side facing you (square not diamond).
Fold it in half by bringing the left side to the right side to make a rectangle.
Fold it again, bringing the bottom edge to the top edge.
Take the topmost layer of the top right corner and roll it tightly from its corner diagonally into the center. Smooth it to keep it there. Then take the next top layer at the top right corner and roll that in to meet the first roll.
Repeat a third time (leave the last layer unrolled).
Flip the napkin over.
Fold the entire right side into the midpoint and crease it flat.
Then fold the left side, bringing it over the right side.
Flip it back over.
You should have three strips and a pouch for your silverware.

French Fold

The French fold is an easy way to make your reception tables look fancy. If you don’t have tons of time but want to do something different than a rectangle, this is it! It’s also great with smaller napkins. The French fold can be quite sprawling on larger napkins.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat with a side facing you (square not diamond)
Bring top left corner down to the bottom right corner, making a triangle. Leave ¼ inch of room from the edge.
Bring the top corner to middle of the bottom edge and surpass it by 3 inches (the left edge of the piece you’re holding should not be straight up and down but slanted
Move the right corner piece (which won’t look like an exact corner) and fold it so that the top peak is neat and pointed.
That’s it. Quick and easy and formal.

Fan Fold

The fan fold works best with napkin rings to hold the accordion folds in place. Here are 3 variations.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat with a side facing you (square not diamond)
Begin accordion folding the bottom up to the top. Do the whole thing.
Fold the strip in half. Put the napkin ring over the folded side, let the top fan out.
Variation 2 – Fold in half first before you start the accordion. Then accordion fold the short side. Last, put the napkin ring in the middle for a fan bow.
Variation 3 – Fold in half first, then accordion fold the short side. Afterwards, fold the strip in half and add a napkin ring over the fold for a mini bow. You can also put the mini bow coming out of an empty goblet or wine glass.

Water Lily

The water lily is often placed underneath favors, wine bottles, or bowls to highlight them.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat and front of you so that it looks like a diamond with a point towards you and away from you.
Move all 4 corners into the center so you now have a square
Rotate the whole napkin so it’s a diamond again.
Pull the points into the center again.
Flip the whole napkin over and rotate it so it looks like a diamond again.
Pull the points into the center again.
Hold the center points with one hand. With the other, pull the flaps underneath each corner to act as a counter that keeps the points in the center in place.
Put favors in the middle of the lily to keep the points from coming undone.

Bishop’s Hat (Advanced)

The Bishop’s Hat is a classic for corporate events and is an advanced-level napkin fold.

Start by laying the square napkin open and flat and in front of you so that it looks like a square with the edge facing you.
Fold in half by bringing the top edge to meet the bottom edge.
Bring right top corner to the middle of the bottom edge (in effect, making a square shape and a right triangle)
Bring bottom left corner to top point of the triangle.
Flip the napkin over. You’re looking at a parallelogram (thought you wouldn’t use geometry again, didn’t you?), where one of the edges is closest to you.
Bring the bottom edge up to meet the top edge (leave the bottom flaps where they are).
On the right side of the shape, pull the flap from underneath the right side piece you just moved. It should look like you’ve brought the point of the triangle out from underneath the right side.
Lift the same triangle flap up and fold the left side triangle in half by bringing the left corner in towards the center. Then bring the flap you lifted down over the material.
Flip over the napkin where the bottom corners now become the top corners.
Pull the right corner and tuck into the pouch right behind the triangle.
Make sure the corner tucks all the way in.
Gently pull the napkin open at the bottom to give it some rounding and stand it up.

Now that you’ve mastered these easy and fancy napkin-folding designs, you’ve got one more detail set for your big day. Happy folding!