Place cards for guests on table

I bought the cards on Amazon for fairly cheap! I am doing one card per person.

View Quoted Comment Ok thank you!! How are u having them printed?

You have them displayed alphabetically on a banquet table near the entrance. They are one per person. Table assignments are listed on the inside with names on the outside.

View Quoted Comment Ok thank you!! Where did u purchase?

View Quoted Comment I'm planning on just writing the names myself! Otherwise, I might print the names onto clear sticker paper and put those on the cards, but I'll probably end up just writing them. I don't want to spend a lot of money on something that'll be used for 2 minutes to find a table, and then not looked at again.

You can have them printed by a local print shop (home printers often don't work for individual cards due to their size) or someone with fancy handwriting can do them for you. Etsy offers them that you can get printed or write on yourself or have them do for you for an extra fee.

One card per person. Very often one comes and one declines, and it is easier to be clear swapping placecards to redo seating if you have 1 card per person. Also, you usually code meals on your placecard if you have a plated meal. Like putting a stripe of colored foil tape, or marker line, across the top edge of a card to indicate the beef or scallops or lasagne meal, or special kosher or diabetic or allergy diet.
This makes it easier for good service, as the waitstaff can see from 8-10 feet away what meal and side dishes to bring. And some code for those underage, another subtle stripe, so when servers walk place to place with wine or champagne or sparkling apple juice, they know. This kind of coding is easier 1 person per card, with the card holder right in front of each person.

We considered buying them from the person who designed our invitations, but we didn't feel like spending another $350+ so we decided to go the DIY route. We bought a digital template on Etsy for around $15, some fancy cardstock, some kind of special glue for the double layer portion, and had them printed at Staples. Probably cost less than $50 to do the whole thing. Our DOC arranged them alphabetically on a special table near the entrance of our venue. We did one card per person because guests pre-selected their meals (the selections were noted with symbols on the back of the cards).

I handwrote mine, and except for a work or conference dinner, I cannot ever remember a printed placecard. Always handwritten every wedding or dinner party I have ever been to. You find out who is coming for sure 2-3 weeks out. If you are going through every card to code it, and put table # or table and seat on it, writing the name is 5 seconds more.
....Though you didn't ask, if you do not know: When you send out RSVP cards, you have a place for each name, Accept or decline, and meal choice. Simple. But many people, every wedding, put in 3 accept 2 fish 1 beef and no names. So you either write each name yourself on the RSVP card, or simply number each invitation on your name and address list. And when you stuff envelopes, put that number on the back of the RSVP card. Then you know who accepted or declined. And if they wanted different meals, you can call Jane or Jon and ask, who is having fish and who is having beef? Then put it on the placecard. It you do not put numbers or names on you will be going through envelopes for postmarks if 3-4 people forget names.
Proper RSVP card #, good placecard.

If you need color coding for meals, most of shops on Etsy that sell placecards make them solid colors. So beef might a solid red card, chicken might be solid rose gold and veggie might be cream colored card.

I haven't ordered ours yet but I'll most likely order from Amazon, Etsy, or vista print and will do one per guests

Like other brides who have posted, we also ordered from Amazon. After many failed attempts to print the names, we hand wrote them for each individual (ex: Mrs. Jane Smith). We had a seaside theme, so each of our tables were named after an island (ex: Lobster Cay). We found place cards with a seashell design at the top. As pictured, we placed in sand covered containers to give that “beach theme”. The sailboat came from our mantle at home! Lol Hope this helps!!! ❤️

We purchased a template for our escort cards from Etsy. Ours looked like tickets to a hockey game. It was a fun way to include something my husband enjoys. We had them printed at Office Depot. They were displayed in alphabetical order in the room that cocktail hour was held in. We had one per person.

I used minted bc I didn't want to handwrite the place cards.

For couples, I put both names on the same card - because I have a lot of repeating female names in our family. It would have caused more confusing having 3x people with the same names (multiple times, I have like 3x aunts with the same name, 4x cousins who share their names with their moms, etc).

I typed each name myself (in minted) to ensure that the format was properly centered, and made corrections as needed, and also selected a place card that had a lot of room.

It was a seated dinner, and there weren't any problems.

Question!

I am having a plated dinner. I am going to put an * on the ones for chicken (vs. steak). However, how do you ensure the guest take them to their table?

My concern is the person will see it, and just go to the table without taking their place card.

View Quoted Comment You can have an attendant to let them know

View Quoted Comment We got married in January! We r so happy! We used stickers!