Escort Cards? Place Cards? Seating Charts? What is best for my wedding?
Sholeh Events is a premium wedding coordinator in Chicago providing comprehensive wedding management, timeline development, and elegant reception floor plan logistics.
These are all great questions! All three are different ways to assign seating, either generally, by table, or specifically, by seat at a formal elegant wedding. Few, if any, caterers and venues today allow large formal events to opt for open seating, nor, do any professionals I know recommend it: Open Seating typically requires increasing place settings by approximately 30%, which means increasing the number of centerpieces, table cloths, napkins, dinner plates, utensils, and stemware, which can be quite cost prohibitive.
Today, most contemporary professional caterers and venues require assigned seating in some shape or form. Escort Cards, Seating Charts, and Place Cards not only reduce unnecessary rentals and conserve your rentals expenses, they also elevate the elegance of your event, ensuring that every guest feels included and considered. But how do you know what is best for you and your guests? Here are some key differences:
Photo Credit: Melissa Ferrara Photography
Escort Cards
Most people are accustomed to seeing a table of tent cards at the entrance to the event space. These are called Escort Cards and they often have the name of the guest, table number, and meal choice (if the meal is plated). They’re lined up alphabetical by last name, then first name if multiple people have the same last name. This is a task that can take around 20-30 minutes to set up depending on the number of guests and if the cards are pre-folded and organized in order. Plan ahead!
Seating Charts
Seating Charts, similarly, are often placed at the entrance to the reception room, so that guests may visually locate their name from an alphabetical list to see the table number their name has been assigned to. These are great to use alone when all of your tables are round, or in conjunction with place card at each place setting.
Photo Credit: Jay V Photography
Place Cards
Place cards, however, are placed on each table, at each seat, assigning guests to a specific seat at a specific table. As the most formal option, this strategy is often considered to help to mitigate potentially challenging family or interpersonal dynamics. It is also vital when having rectangular tables. Even if you only have a head table for your wedding party, you need to assign the seats!
Escort Cards and Place cards usually include the guests name and corresponding table number or name, and often, the guests’ meal choice indicator, for communications with catering/venue staff.
Most couples choose just one system to communicate seating assignments to guests, however, some couples use both escort cards or a seating arrangement in conjunction with place cards.
Whatever you choose, be sure to alphabetize by last name, and print large enough that everyone can read the text in the lighting that you envision in that area of your celebration.
Photo Credit: Maloos Photography
Some Tips & Tricks from the Sholeh Events Team:
Start Early: Start your designs early if you’re doing this yourself - it can take some trial & error.
The Canva Approach: You can make your seating chart in Canva, and then have it printed on foam core (24x36 is our recommended size), which is cost-effective and looks great!
Printing Cardstock: Order or pick up Avery tent cards from your local office supply store or online, create a PDF of all of your tent cards using the Avery Print Tool online, and take it into the print shop to have them print it for you. Cardstock can be tricky on some home printers.
Still mapping out your reception layout or rental budget? As an experienced Chicagoland wedding planner, our team can help you streamline your floor plan design, vendor communication, and timeline management from start to finish.
Contact Sholeh Events today to talk through your details or to explore our comprehensive wedding day coordinator Chicago services.
