Stationery
Escort cards vs place cards
They sound interchangeable, they're sold side by side, and they do completely different jobs. Most weddings only need one of them.
The distinction is simple once someone says it plainly, and almost nobody does. An escort card gets a guest from the door to their table. A place card gets a guest from their table to their chair. One is wayfinding, the other is seat assignment.
Everything else — the calligraphy, the ribbon, the little brass stands, the olive branch tucked under the string — is decoration on top of those two jobs.
Side by side
| Escort card | Place card | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | On a table at the reception entrance | At a specific setting on a guest table |
| What it says | Guest name + table number | Guest name (and often meal choice) |
| Its job | Which table am I at? | Which chair is mine? |
| Guest takes it? | Yes — carries it to the table | No — stays at the setting |
| How many | One per guest (or one per couple) | One per guest, always |
| Optional? | No — you need this or a seating sign | Yes — genuinely optional |
The one rule: you must have something that gets guests to the right table. That can be escort cards or a printed entrance sign, but it cannot be nothing. Place cards, by contrast, are a preference — plenty of good weddings assign tables and let people pick their own chair.
Escort cards in practice
A table near the entrance, cards laid out alphabetically by last name, each with a guest's name and their table number. Guests find theirs, take it, and carry it in.
When they work well
- Under about 100 guests. Beyond that, the display gets physically large and the crowd around it gets slow.
- When you want the tactile thing. A card in the hand is nicer than reading a poster, and guests keep them.
- When you like the display as decor. Cards on a moss table, clipped to a frame, tied to sprigs of rosemary — this is where the Pinterest energy goes.
What goes wrong
- They fall over. Outdoor weddings especially — one gust and your alphabetised display is a pile. Weight them, or use a format that clips.
- They get disordered. Guests hunting for their own card shuffle everyone else's. By guest fifty the alphabet is a suggestion.
- Late changes are fiddly. A new card has to be printed to match, then inserted in the right place.
- Someone has to own the table. Assign a person to set it up, keep it tidy during arrivals, and remove leftover cards at the end so no-shows aren't advertised.
What to print on them
Guest's name as they'd be addressed — first and last, no titles unless your wedding is formal — and the table number, large enough to read at a glance. If your tables have names rather than numbers, print the name exactly as it appears on the table sign. Willow on the card and The Willow Table on the centrepiece is enough to confuse people who've had two drinks.
One card per couple or one per person? Either. One per couple halves your count and is fine when a couple arrives together. One per person is safer when they may arrive separately, and looks less presumptuous for newer relationships.
Place cards in practice
Small folded or flat cards at each setting with a single name. They only make sense if you're assigning specific seats — otherwise they're decoration that guests will move.
When they're worth it
- You're doing a plated meal with pre-selected entrées. Print the meal choice on the back or use a discreet symbol. Servers can then deliver without asking each guest, which noticeably speeds up dinner service.
- You need control within a table. Two people at the same table who need someone between them; a guest who needs an aisle seat; a grandparent who should be next to the person who'll help them.
- Formal weddings where guests expect them.
When to skip them
If you've grouped tables well, the seat within the table doesn't matter much — people sort themselves out. Skipping place cards saves money, saves the evening of writing them, and removes an entire category of last-minute panic. Plenty of couples assign tables only and nobody notices anything missing.
If you use place cards, still mark accessibility seats deliberately. A guest who needs the aisle, or to be away from the speakers, should have that seat chosen rather than left to chance. This is the main practical argument for place cards over free seating within a table.
How many to order
- Escort cards: one per attending guest — or per couple if you're doing it that way — plus roughly 10% extra.
- Place cards: one per attending guest, including children with their own seat, plus 10%.
- Buy the blanks with the batch. Card stock and colour vary between print runs. A late addition on slightly different paper is visible on the table.
That 10% covers three predictable things: a name spelled wrong, a card damaged in transit, and a guest whose plus-one is confirmed nine days out.
The alternative that beats both
A single large printed sign at the entrance, alphabetical by last name with table numbers, replaces escort cards entirely — and handles 200 guests without a queue. It's the most common setup at larger weddings for a reason: one object, one print job, nothing to blow over. Formats and sizes are covered in seating chart display ideas.
Many couples land on an entrance sign plus place cards: the sign does the wayfinding at scale, the place cards handle meals and specific seats. That combination costs less than escort cards plus place cards and works better at volume.
When to finalise
Whatever you print, the timeline is the same problem: your guest list is not final until it is, and printing early means reprinting.
- 3 weeks out: RSVPs closed, follow up with stragglers by phone.
- 2 weeks out: seating chart drafted and reviewed by someone who knows your guests.
- 10 days out: send to print. Late enough to be accurate, early enough to reprint once.
- 48 hours out: final check. Handwrite or reprint the handful that changed.
If your names and table assignments live in one spreadsheet, this stops being stressful — you export the current state whenever you're ready rather than maintaining a separate "print list" that drifts out of date. Our guest list template is set up with the columns a printer will ask for.