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One of the more debatable parts of wedding stationery is the wedding escort cards versus the wedding place cards, the question of which is which and if I need both? More often than not, the two are often confused as being one and the same, but they each have their own purpose. Super confused? Don’t worry! We’re here to explain the pros and cons of these special little cards that are one of the many wedding stationery pieces that help put your love story on display.
Escort Cards
If you recall, the escort cards are used to inform guests where they will be sitting during the dinner. Typically, your guests will pick up their cards before they enter the reception and these cards contain the guests’ names (as a couple) and their assigned table number. *Note: If your guests are choosing a meal selection on the RSVP, you’ll need to create the escort cards per person instead of per couple so their individual meal selection can be identified in some way for the catering staff. (More on this later!)
When it comes time to decide on the look of your escort cards, this is where your artistic self-expression can run wild. Our favorite part of planning! This is where the modern-day brides can cease the opportunity to let their personalities and love story sparkle. And who doesn’t love that?
Pros of ESCORT Cards
- The chance to express your creativity and personality through the individual cards.
- Fun and unique opportunities in how they are displayed.
- An easy way to tie your theme (what we like to call “wedding brand”) together.
- Your guests are going to love them! Especially if they are off-beat and unique.
- Guests can have a little personalized keepsake to remember your big day.
- You have control over where your guests sit, making sure they are with friends & family.
Cons of ESCORT Cards
- Sometimes guests can have difficulty finding their name.
- It requires some time commitment and organization on your end.
- The process can be stressful, but there are ways to minimize that! (We’ll share more on that, too!)
- If you are choosing not to hire a wedding planner, who will be setting the escort cards up on the big day? (It definitely can’t be you!) PRO TIP: Put your escort cards in ALPHABETICAL order BEFORE the big day and it will be MUCH easier & quicker to set up the display.
Place Cards
The place cards are used at the actual tables to determine the seats of your guests. Typically, it’s not advised to have place cards without escort cards, or your guests will be spending the entire reception searching for their seat. (The only exception would be if you are having a smaller wedding and there only a few tables, preferably 1 or 2, then it would be okay to opt for just place cards.)
The place cards make it easier for any catering or wait staff to deliver food, as well as let your guests know where they need to sit. (Like we mentioned above, the escort cards can help with the food selection, too, if necessary.) Once again, you can let your creativity soar when it comes to the design of the place cards.
Pros of PLACE Cards
- The pros of place cards coincide with the pros of escort cards.
Cons of PLACE Cards
- The same as listed above under the escort cards.
PLUS
- The place cards require even MORE time & organization as it’s an extra step to assign each person to their specific seat outside of first assigning them to a table.
- An additional expense for stationery that isn’t always necessary. Instead, put the investment towards a festive wedding menu to add more punch to each place setting.
- Additionally, your guests might have a hard time finding their own place card. That’s when you’ll start to see people wandering around in circles at each table searching for their designated seats. Who wants that?!
- Outside of escort cards that still require someone to set them up, it’s more time consuming to set up place cards as you have to go seat by seat and make sure they all coincide with your diagram.
If you prefer, wedding couples sometimes opt to have place cards for the head table ONLY to assign the wedding party to a specific seat. This is easily manageable and doable.
When it comes down to it, you should choose to use whatever system will work for YOU and your guests in helping them find their seat. And now that you know the pros and cons of each, you can guide your guests in the right direction with your own know how. SCORE!
Did you learn something new today? How are you designing your wedding escort cards or place cards? Are you using one or the other, or even both? Let us know below!
