Seating plan display

Hi Tracie! We put a small V in the corner of each name card for vegetarian. We only had two meal choices, so indicating the vegetarian was much easier. I had 104 guests so I did need the table names and such, but with 5 tables of 10, I think you could get away with individual name cards at each seat. If you’re having an outdoor reception, just remember a small piece of tape so they don’t blow away ❤️

View Quoted Comment Yes, it is an outdoor reception. Omg thank you so much for that tip of using tape, that hadn't even occurred to me!

View Quoted Comment Sure thing!! Always looking out for fellow brides 👍😉

I would do escort cards, were I you. Then you can denote on the back of the card what the meal choice is and on the front of the card you put the table number (and the guest's name, obviously). If you then do a display table for your escort cards people won't have to go look at every table for their seat, which will be easier on them. Your waitstaff then look at the escort cards to determine who gets which plate (and you could maybe even note to the servers/caterer that table 1 gets 3 vegetarian, 5 meat, 2 fish or whatever the options are)

View Quoted Comment That's a great idea.


But, how do the waiters see the meal choice if its on the back of the card?

I'm doing exactly what Becky suggested. I'm ordering placecards from Etsy with the name, table number, and a sticker (fish, chicken, vegetarian, etc) denoting which meal they want based on their RSVP. I plan to put them all at the reception entrance and the guests can grab their placecard and sit wherever they want at their table.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/807572552/custom-tented-or-flat-place-cards-or?ref=cart

View Quoted Comment

The cards are usually tented, so it's reasonably easy to see. The other option is to put something colored on the front of the card - e.g. green crystal for veggie, red for meat, blue for fish.

Have color coded (usually solid color cardstock already tented you purchase on Etsy) cards with names listed alphabetically and table assignments inside. Give the catering staff a cheat sheet with the color correspondence for each choice (navy= steak, burgundy=chicken, silver=vegan as an example) and how many of each at each table

We also had tables of 10, and guests pre-selected their entree choice when RSVP-ing. We used escort cards, and we indicated the guests' choices on the back of the cards with letter symbols. The caterer/servers were easily able to see the symbols on the backs of the escort cards and it worked out really well!

I saw some one got stickers to put on their escort cards they had like a chicken or cow to denote the choice. You could also use a color code and let your caterer know. I would put meal choice on the front so it can be easily seen. On the back it might be difficult for the servers.

View Quoted Comment That’s exactly what I did. I bought Avery gold lined place cards and dots from Dollar General in the school supply section. I printed the place cards myself, placed the corresponding dot on the front of each card, and gave my day of coordinator the legend of what the dots meant.
It went off without a hitch!!

I think escort cards is your best option here.

Hey! I’m doing plated and although the color is a good idea the wait staff could get confused remembering which color is which meal. I bought these stickers from Amazon and will be putting them on my escort cards. So there’s no room for confusion you see that gold chicken it’s chicken, gold fish that person wants a fish. https://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Bride-Wedding-Meal-Stickers/dp/B07NBW64TB