Escort cards: name and table
Set out alphabetically near the entrance, each shows a guest’s name and table. Guests pick theirs up and carry it to the table. A seating chart sign does the same job on one board — quicker to produce, and there is nothing to lose — while escort cards double as a display and a keepsake.
Couples can share one escort card (“Mr and Mrs Okafor — Table 5”), but if you also use place cards, each person needs their own.
Place cards: name at the seat
Folded tent cards set at each place on the table, showing just the name. You only need them if you assign exact seats. That is worth doing when:
- dinner is plated with a choice of mains — servers use the card to know who ordered what;
- the order matters (head table, family tables, formal dinners);
- you want to steer who sits next to whom.
Showing meal choices
The common trick is a small mark on the place card — a coloured dot, a tiny icon, or the meal written discreetly at the bottom — with a key given to the caterer. The print studio can add the meal to escort or place cards, and the caterer sheet lists every guest, seat and allergy table by table.
Sizes
| Card | Common size | Printing |
|---|---|---|
| Flat escort card | 3.5 × 2 in (business-card size) or 85 × 55 mm | 10 per Letter sheet on business-card stock, or cut along crop marks |
| Tent card (escort or place) | 3.5 × 2 in folded (3.5 × 4 in flat) | 4 per sheet on card stock; score along the dashed fold |
| Table number | 5 × 7 in or A5 | One per sheet, fits standard frames |
Print on card stock of around 250–300 gsm (roughly 90–110 lb cover) so tents stand up. Test one sheet first — printers vary in how they handle heavy card.
How many to print
- Escort cards: one per guest or one per household, plus a few blanks.
- Place cards: one per seated guest — including the wedding party and you two — plus blanks.
- After late RSVPs: reprint only what changed. The planner records each print and lists the cards that no longer match.
Plan it, then print itPaste your guest list, seat everyone on a to-scale floor plan, and print the sign and cards — free, no account.
Open the planner