Escort cards vs place cards: which ones you need and how many to print

The short answer: table versus seat

An escort card sends a guest to a table, and a place card tells them which chair at that table is theirs.

Guests meet the escort card first, usually at the entrance to the reception or at the end of the cocktail hour. It carries a name and a table number (or a table name). Once they find the table, they either choose any open chair or look for a place card at one of the settings. That second card is the place card: a name at a plate, nothing more.

So the two cards answer two different questions. Escort card: where do I go? Place card: where do I sit once I get there? That is why a couple can have one without the other, and why the right choice depends on how much you want to control the seating.

Choose by seating style, not by habit

Your seating style decides what you print: assigned table only, assigned seats, or assigned seats with meal choices to show.

The table below lists the common setups with what each one needs. Read it row by row and find the one that sounds like your reception. Treat the combinations as options: nothing here is a rule of etiquette, and plenty of weddings mix and match.

Table numbers appear in every row except open seating. Guests cannot find a table that has no number or name, so even a very simple reception needs them.

Assigned tables, free choice of chair

If you assign tables only, you need a way to send each guest to their table and a number on every table, but no place cards.

This is the lightest option, and it suits most receptions. Guests find their table, sit where they like, and the people who arrive together tend to sit together anyway. You skip the work of choosing a chair for every person, and nobody is stuck with a seat they dislike.

The cost is that you cannot control who ends up next to whom at a table. If that matters to you, for example because of a family tension or a plus-one who does not know anyone, assigned seats are the better answer. For those situations, see where to seat plus-ones.

Assigned seats: when you need place cards

Print place cards when you want each guest in a specific chair, and put an escort card or a chart sign in front of them so they reach the right table first.

Assigned seats make sense for a smaller wedding, a formal dinner, or any table where the order matters: a head table, a table with divorced parents, a table of guests who need to be near the door or the restroom. They also help the servers, because a name at every setting makes it clear who gets what.

The extra work is real. Every change to the guest list now moves a person and not just a table count. If you go this route, wait until the RSVPs are in before you write a single card, and keep a master list so you can find a name quickly when someone drops out. The sections on counting and timing below cover that.

The app has a printable for place cards and another for table numbers, so you can print them alongside the seating chart.

When a seating chart sign replaces escort cards

A seating chart sign can replace escort cards completely: one large board at the entrance that lists every guest and their table.

The sign is one object instead of a hundred small ones, so there is nothing to hand out, nothing to lose, and nothing to match to a name on the day. Its weakness is traffic. If everyone arrives at once, guests crowd around a single board and read tiny type. A larger wedding can solve this with two signs, or with escort cards, which let each person walk away with their own answer.

For a small wedding the sign is usually enough. See a seating chart for 50 guests for a room where one board does everything. For a large room, the opposite holds: a longer list is harder to read, and escort cards or two signs make the entrance flow better.

An alphabetical list at the entrance

An alphabetical list of guests with their table number does the same job as escort cards, with one sheet instead of one card per guest.

Guests look for their last name, read the number beside it, and go. That is much faster than scanning a chart arranged by table, where you have to read every table to find your own name. If your board is arranged by table, it is worth adding an alphabetical version next to it.

In the app, when you print the seating chart you can add an alphabetical list of the guests who have been placed, with their table, and a sheet for each table with its guests. The app does not print escort cards under that name. The alphabetical list with table numbers serves the same purpose, and you can display it at the entrance or give it to the venue.

The seating chart itself prints to scale, on A4 or on Letter, so you can print the page that suits your printer or your frame.

Place cards and meal choices

A place card can carry the entrée a guest chose, so servers know who gets what without asking, but it is optional and works only with assigned seats.

The usual ways to mark it are a small symbol, a color, or a word in the corner of the card. Keep the code simple and write the key down for the caterer. A guest should not have to decode it, and a server should be able to read it from arm’s length. Dietary needs and allergies deserve more care: do not rely on a tiny symbol alone. Tell the caterer the names and tables too.

In the app, the meal section holds menus, a meal choice for each guest, dietary needs, and allergies, and it has a caterer view. Exporting that list as a CSV for the caterer, by guest or by table, is part of the one-time payment and is not available during the free trial. To collect the choices in the first place, read how to collect meal choices with RSVPs, and for sending the plan together with the meals, see a seating chart for your caterer.

If the choice is not on the card, the caterer’s list by table does the same job. Many couples skip meal symbols entirely for that reason.

How many to print

Print one place card for every guest who will sit down, and one escort card per guest, couple, or household depending on how you want them handed out.

Start from your confirmed headcount, not your invitation list. Count the people who said yes, add the plus-ones who have a name, and add children who take a seat. Then decide how to hand out escort cards. One per person is simplest to organize. One per couple or household means fewer cards and a quicker table, but the card must show every name that belongs to it.

Add a few spares of each kind. Late replies, a misspelled name, a card that gets smudged: those are the usual reasons, and a handful is enough. Blank cards are useful at the event too, for a guest who turns up unexpectedly. For the table numbers, print one per table and keep one extra in case of a change in the room.

The headcount you give the caterer and the number of cards should match. If they do not, one of the two is wrong. For that count, see the final headcount for your caterer.

When to print

Print the cards after your final RSVPs are in and your seating is settled, and not before.

Printing early means reprinting. Someone cancels, a plus-one appears, two guests need to be moved apart, and each change means a new card. Pick a date after your RSVP deadline, leave time for the stragglers you will have to chase yourself (the app does not send reminders to guests), and ask your printer how long they need. If you print at home, leave a day for cutting and folding.

In the app, each guest shows their reply in the placement lists (attending, not attending, pending), so you can see who is still unconfirmed before you print. Guests who have not answered are the ones who will make you reprint.

Do a final check against the master list the morning before. Names spelled wrong on a card are noticed by the person whose name it is.