There are two ways to direct your guests to their seats for your wedding breakfast; either a table plan or placement cards (sometimes referred to as escort cards). Whilst this is a functional element of your wedding day, it is also something you can have fun with and incorporate into your theme or colour scheme. Here are some ideas for both…
Table Plan Ideas
A table plan which matches your wedding stationery looks elegant, and most stationers can produce this for you. Typically they are A2 or A1 size, depending on the number of tables and size of your wedding. For a larger number (more than 140 guests) you may opt to have two on display so that guests are not all huddled around one, trying to figure out where they are sitting.
The best time to display them is during the drinks reception so guests have time to look before the meal. I suggest your table plan is mounted, as card will not sit easily and securely on an easel.
Some couples frame their table plans, some have them drawn or written onto canvas, a mirror or even windows. I have also seen them projected onto blank walls during the drinks reception for a very different look.
Placement/Escort Card Ideas
Placement/Escort cards are cards with the table name or number, placed into a small envelope with the guest’s name on. They pick this up on their way into the drinks reception and hold on to it so they have no chance of forgetting which table they are at!
A twist I devised on this was having table signs instead of names. The couple thought of 10 things they enjoyed doing, and Paul Antonio drew them onto table cards. He then reproduced these as a smaller version to fit on the placement cards that went inside an envelope with the guest’s name on it.
It caused much baffled amusement as guests opened their envelopes to see drawings, but it all became clear once we called dinner. The string quartet struck up ‘My Favourite Things’, and guests matched their card with the signs on the 10 tables. At each table we had a scroll describing the activity that the drawing represented and explaining why it was one of the couple’s ‘favourite things’.
I have also displayed placement cards as tags in trees, perspex branch arrangements and large decorated lattice works. As the guests are called to dinner we greet them and ask their name, and then hand them their card with the table name or number on. This makes the placement cards an intrinsic part of the room décor.
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Although a required piece of stationery, the seating of your guests by either method is something you can be creative with.
Guest post by Siobhan Craven-Robins
Images from…
Window Table Plan: Captured by Aimee
Escort Cards: Martha Stewart Weddings
