Does everyone get their own escort card?

The one wedding I went to with escort cards... it was one per person.

It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that each person (even kids) should have their own escort card.

ETA: This is actually necessary if you are having a selection of plated meals, so that the servers know who gets what dish.

I believe etiquette says they each get their own...but I don't have time for that so I'm doing couples on each card. I haven't decided on families yet. I think the kids might like having their own, so I might do them on their own since we only have about 10 kids.

I'd always heard that if you were doing place cards it was one per person, but escort cards were one per couple/family. I could be wrong.

I think the general rule is if you need to put the food choices on the cards, then you should do per person. Otherwise per family/couple is fine, we are doing per family/couple.

My DH and I have different last names, at the opposite ends of the alphabet, so when we're on the same escort card we have to do a bit of scrambling to find ourselves. So I'd tweak the "per couple" rule for that situation.

With escort cards you can do it either way. Unless they are doubling as place cards then you need to do one per person. To save money I would do one escort card per family and couple if they are not doubling as place cards. If they will use the escort cards as place cards at their seats then it's one per person.

I didn't know there was a difference between place cards and escort cards. I am having a buffet so no food selection. It was supposed to just say their name and table and then they take the card to their table with them. I may just do one for everyone it seems easier for some reason

Place cards tell each person at the table where they sit. Each person would have one.

However, an escort card gets a couple to a table. They should be by couple/family.

So if the smith family gets their escort card it would tell them what table they are at. Then when they got to the table each seat would be marked john smith, Beth smith, Susie smith... To tell where they sit.

If you are not assigning seats, just tables you only need escort cards per family/couple.

Mine will be everyone gets their own because I have selected meals that they will have to select ahead of time and it will be noted on their card so the servers know what they get.