Please take your seat

Escort cards are a common way to let your guests know where they are seated. Whether they're designed as flat or tent fold cards, lined up neatly on your registration table or hanging from manzanita branches with pretty organza ribbon, escort cards are something tangible that your guests can pick up and carry to their assigned tables.

Another option is a large seating chart that you can set up on an easel next to your registration table. Here's a recent piece that we created for a bride and groom that incorporated one of their engagement photos, with alphabetized guest names and assigned table numbers.

 

And here's some food for thought...

FOR ESCORT CARDS:

• Instead of printing the table number directly on the escort card, just leave a blank space where you can fill this in by hand 1-2 days before the wedding.This option provides you with the highest level of flexibility and you can move guests around to your heart's content...until you put pen to paper.
• Always produce extra blank cards...you just never know if you'll need them.
• Think about how you will be displaying your cards. Will they be protected by the elements (i.e. rain, wind)? Find a way to secure your cards if you're at an outdoor venue. There are lots of creative options to consider...think outside the box!
• If you make changes to your table assignments, it MAY be easier (and cheaper!) to reprint a few escort cards than to reprint a large seating chart.

FOR SEATING CHARTS:

• The size of your seating chart should ultimately be determined by the number of names you're printing. The chart pictured above measured 24" x 18" and included just under 100 names.
• If your headcount is substantial, consider printing two seating charts to avoid congestion with lots of guests crowding around a single chart.
• Proof your seating chart. Have someone else proof your seating chart. Ask a third person to proof your seating chart. It's worth it to have a thorough review process if it'll prevent you from having to reprint it.

And because it bears repeating, YOU WILL HAVE UNEXPECTED CHANGES TO YOUR TABLE ASSIGNMENTS. Unfortunately, this is an inevitable part of the planning process so you'll be better off just coming to terms with that now so you're not blindsided with it in the busy weeks leading up to your wedding. I can't even count how many times I've had clients send me frantic emails asking if it was too late to make revisions to their printed pieces just a few days before the wedding. It's stressful, it's inconvenient, it just downright sucks...but it's ok, it happens to everyone, and it's not uncommon. Daily affirmation...done.