Did you know the etiquette for place card change depending upon how many guests you have invited to your wedding? Do you know you options for how to use place cards for seating your guests? We cover all that and more, and then talk about other printed accessories like personalized napkins or matches.
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Place cards are always used in formal, traditional weddings. They identify where your guests will be sitting. There is usually a table at the entrance to the reception room that has the place cards upon which your guests’ name is written with their table number. These place cards are placed on the table in alphabetical order so it is easy for your guests to find their card. Sometimes, place card holders are attached to the wedding favours that you have for your guests.
Usually place cards are used at receptions that have a seated dinner or formal buffets with more than 20 guests. In smaller weddings, the place cards can be put at each guest’s place at the reception tables. At larger weddings the tables are numbered, and the table number put onto the place card with the guest’s name.
Informal or casual weddings do not need place cards, or they can be used for the bridal party and the parents’ tables, and other guests can take any seat they wish. Usually when guests are free to take their own seats, more tables are required because not all tables are completely filled. Because of this, you may want to consider the number of guests you have invited to your wedding, and the number of people that can be seated in your reception room.
The key elements are that they should all be hand-written by the same person so they have a uniform look. Traditionally, they will be calligraphied, but you can print them on a computer as long as the font looks like handwriting, and the edges are clean and uniform.
If you have a cocktail reception where your guests are mingling and there is limited seating, it is appropriate to use place cards to assign your more elderly guests a seat at a table. You can have seats for your parents, grandparents, and other elderly relatives. It is a considerate thing to do for them, and also honours them with a formal place to sit.
PRINTED ACCESSORIES include paper napkins, and matches with your names and your wedding date on them. You can also order a little scroll with a personal thank you message or an appropriate poem. The scrolls also have your names and wedding date on them.