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Cory
Just Said Yes July 2016

How to handle place/escort cards?

Cory, on April 4, 2017 at 4:00 AM Posted in Planning 0 21

Hello,

This post might be a bit unconventional. I got married last July - I am the groom. Smiley smile

One thing that caused a fair amount of last minute scrambling for my wife and I was making our seating / place cards. We didn't finalize the seating chart until the last week and so we had to figure out how to get them made pretty last minute.

I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem - or what you did to make your place/escort cards? Did you do it by hand? Did the planner take care of it? Was it painful or stressful?

The reason I'm asking is that I thought maybe making some service that made this easy and hassle-free might be a good idea and wanted to check what others' experiences were.

thanks for your inputs!

Cory

21 Comments

Latest activity by MrsA2B, on April 6, 2017 at 1:55 PM
  • Natalie
    VIP March 2017
    Natalie ·
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    Our planner handled it. We made the seating chart and when we told her it was final, she took care of it. Well worth the money.

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  • Amanda
    Master January 2017
    Amanda ·
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    I made them by hand the night before we left. It took a few hours but it was free!

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  • FitzwilliamDarcy
    Devoted July 2017
    FitzwilliamDarcy ·
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    It is a service I would pay for, but I think it would be a high risk service (I'd have great anxiety about whether or not a service would be able to get them to me as I like them and on time). You'd potentially be dealing with a lot of high stress couples, but it's something for which I'd pay.

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  • APZ
    VIP March 2017
    APZ ·
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    I did my own calligraphy place cards.. wrote them as the rsvps came in (meaning I had a stack of the cards and pen out on my table for months!) then just added the table numbers in the corner the week before the wedding when I finished s seating chart... however-if I didn't do calligraphy this is totally something I'd pay for..on your end would require a fast turn around...and would you have the clients provide cards that matched their stationary? Would you keep options on hand?

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  • M
    Expert July 2017
    MissGtoMrsG ·
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    Once you have a seating chart it's not hard. Just give each table a number... then write the names and numbers on the cards or sign...

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  • ENG
    Super April 2017
    ENG ·
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    We had assigned seats and I did the calligraphy myself. I didn't want to wait until the last minute so each time an rsvp came back I made the assigned seating place card, which spaced then it nicely and made them more manageable. Since I didn't need to put the number on the place card this worked really well for me. Then about a week or so before the wedding we only had to make the large seating chart.

    Had we needed escort cards I would have just still done them as they came in and just added a number on them last minute.

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  • Mrs. Knolle
    Master July 2016
    Mrs. Knolle ·
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    We assigned tables and had a sign.

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  • soontobeRTR
    Expert February 2017
    soontobeRTR ·
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    FIL has amazing handwriting so we asked him to do it. We just gave him a list of table assignments and names. He was happy to help out. I wouldn't have paid someone to do it.

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  • M
    VIP March 2017
    Miss S. ·
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    We made the seating chart 2 weeks before and printed the escort cards on the $5 set from Michaels. It took an hour to print them, tops. For the seating chart itself, I asked each parental unit who they wanted a their table and just filled in the rest from there, not too difficult.

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  • Athena
    Devoted October 2017
    Athena ·
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    I bought Avery business cards and printed them at home, they have a pretty good selection of templates.

    ETA: to direct them to a specific table, I am using vellum paper with a heavier stock behind it. It was a nice little project for me.

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  • VC
    Master May 2017
    VC ·
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    I am making them by hand. They are "Boarding Passes" like the airline and I already have the template complete and all made up. I just need to finalize the table assignments and then print them out. We already have card stock paper.

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  • Cory
    Just Said Yes July 2016
    Cory ·
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    Hi everyone,

    Thanks so much for all the inputs - it is really useful to hear about your experiences and gives me a lot to think about on the idea.

    Natalie - absolutely no pressure but I'm wondering if you might be able to put me in touch with your planner? I'd be curious to learn what they used and ask whether they might be interested in this idea.

    FitzwilliamDarcy - great point about the high-stress couples and the anxiety. Seems like I'd need to be prepared for that.

    APZ - I'm still just fleshing out the idea, but I was thinking that it could include designs or you could upload your own to match your stationary / theme.

    VC - super fun idea about the boarding passes!

    Thanks again to everyone who responded.

    • Reply
  • EarlieCat
    Super December 2016
    EarlieCat ·
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    We had a small destination wedding but my place cards were agate stones that were made by a calligrapher 3 weeks in advance. I gave my venue DOC the seating chart and she placed them. Stress free.

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  • Erin Wood
    Master July 2017
    Erin Wood ·
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    I think I will just be printing mine. You can also order them pre printed online already. I know Minted does it and I'm sure there are Etsy shops.

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  • Caitlyn
    Savvy December 2017
    Caitlyn ·
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    I know a lot of people would pay for that! You could get tall creative with it. But I agree the turn around and stress would be high. We are doing something like this!


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  • Erica
    Dedicated December 2016
    Erica ·
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    Most reception halls in my area (NYC and long island) provide really nice blank cards. Mine had gold trim- they matched the menu cards and the direction cards that the hall also provided. I just bought a good pen and handed the stack to my mom to write out.

    What was more stressful was addressing the invitations. We couldn't print directly on the card because it was metallic finish, so we had to hire someone with a laser printer or calligraphy.

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  • LB
    Champion November 2016
    LB ·
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    If you buy place cards from Minted they print them for free and shipping is pretty fast. We also made our own display for our cards. I dunno, to me, a business like this sounds superfluous.



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  • TamraTexas
    Expert July 2017
    TamraTexas ·
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    We are doing this.


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  • Samantha
    VIP June 2017
    Samantha ·
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    @TamtaTexas- That is what we are doing too!! The only difference is that we are using a chalkboard that I painted and stringing them across that. Smiley smile

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  • W
    Expert August 2017
    Whitney ·
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    There's a difference between place cards and escort cards. Place cards are for assigned seating and are placed at each table setting with the guest's name. You don't need those. Escort cards are placed at the entry of the venue with the guests name (one per couple) and table number to denote which table they are to be seated at. We will be writing out our own escort cards that we bought at Party City.

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