Want to know what one of my all-time biggest wedding pet peeves is? Wrinkled wedding reception table linens!! They’re messy, distracting, and make others think you’re lazy. I don’t care how annoying it is, you must steam your table linens.

But more annoying than all of those combined is how much time it takes to edit out every single table linen wrinkle. I kid you not, I calculated how much time it took me to edit out the linen wrinkles from two images and the amount of time I spent was 30 minutes!! That’s 15 minutes per image.

Let’s do the math: If I want to deliver 5 reception detail photos (1 photo of the head table, 1 photo of a guest table, 1 photo of the cake on its cake table, 1 photo of your gift + card table, and 1 photo of your escort card table) and it takes 15 minutes per image to edit out the wrinkles on each of those table linens, how long will it take be to edit those 5 photos? The answer: 1 hour and 15 minutes! And I deliver a lot more than 5 reception detail photos.

If you take 20-60 minutes to steam your table linens, you will literally save me hours of editing. Why is that worth it to you? Because it means you’ll get your final wedding gallery sooner. Again, the math is simple: The more time spent editing means the longer it’ll be before I’m able to send you your wedding gallery.

Why does it matter if I have steamed table linens?

Here is photographic evidence that proves how much of a difference there is between steamed vs wrinkled linens.

The image on the left is steamed while the one on the right isn’t. See how much nicer the image on the left is? Not only is your eye put but your eye also knows that the florals and table setting are the intended subject. Whereas, your eye is too distracted by the wrinkles in the image on the right to really notice how spectacular the flowers are.

Here are more examples:

How many table linens will I have to steam?

The actual number of linens you’ll need to steam will vary greatly. Below is a list of tables that most people will have at their wedding. Please note – this is not an exhaustive list:

• Head table
• Sweetheart table
• Guest tables
• Card + gift table
• Cake table
• Dessert table
• Escort card table
• Cocktail tables
• Cocktail bar table
• Buffet table
• Memorial/Remembrance table
• Guestbook table

If you have any of the above tables and plan to use table linens on any of them, please allow enough time to steam each and every linen. Your photographer and videographer thank you in advance.

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