Unique Place Card and Seating Chart Ideas
Tired of the same white, hand-lettered tents with boring table numbers laid on a table for guests to find their seat? Infuse your seating charts and place cards with personality and beauty. We found the best unique ideas for seat assignments, including mini spirit bottles, luggage tags and jars of candy. When it comes to unique escort cards, we won’t steer you wrong.
Put a tag on the bottom of a lollipop with the guest’s name and table number, put the lollipops on a wall display for a moment of respite from adulthood as guests find their seats.
Instead of having a large, solid seating chart, go for an acrylic panel or mesh wire in a frame, or against a greenery wall or floral backdrop to direct your guests without displaying a billboard in your reception area.
Create a photo wall with place cards splitting up photos of guests. Or, if you have photos with each guest, use a photo and put their seat assignment on the back with an elegant swirl or some fancy hand-lettering.
Vintage bike spokes and metal rings mimic the circular form of reception tables and direct guests to their seats with an inventive seating chart that doubles as an interesting display behind the guest book table. Each metal ring hanging on the wheel represents a table and the people seated at that table are listed on a card attached to the wheel.
Message in a Bottle
Tie ribbons and place cards onto mini bottles for a favor and place card combo. Fill the bottles with whatever you want – spices like cinnamon or sage for some fall flavor, lavender for a spring fling, confetti to toss during the exit, or even a shot of your favorite alcohol to get the party started.
Float a flower in a small bowl of water with the guests’ name on the outside. It makes for a unique centerpiece that doubles as a seating assignment. Or, stand a stem in a vase and tie a ribbon with an escort card around the neck of the vase. Collect a variety of vases and bottles for an elegant mix-and-match look.
Print mock airlines tickets to direct guests to their seats. Bonus points if the ticket also tells them the schedule for the day. For a useful favor, insert place cards into leather or colored luggage tags to aid guests in traveling to their tables.
Using paper tags and straws or wooden sticks, create drink flags that identify guests’ drinks and seats. Better yet, use customized glasses or mugs to guide guests to their tables, like these copper Moscow Mules mugs that have the couple’s monogram and the date, with a placecard inside or next to the mug.
Use shaped cardstock –hearts, stars, Xs and Os – and write guests’ names and tables on them. Try painting them or marbling them with watercolors for a unique take on traditional escort cards.
Want to add more flowers to your ceremony without paying another arm or leg? Use floral cutouts as place cards, they will add color to the tables all night and make for a fun decoration and memento if guests want to take them home.
Add a geometric background or colored mount paper to standard tents, or print a floral vine pattern on the corners to embellish Plain Jane place cards.
You can stand escort cards up in almost anything. Try wine corks, metallic figurines, chocolates or votives filled with candy. For a base that does double duty, place escort cards onto soap bars. It’s a scented seat assignment and a nice favor for guests to take home. Along similar pungent lines, stand your place cards up in whole citrus fruit by slicing into the top of the fruit and sliding the escort card in.
Use a slice of wood as place card bases. No, we’re not suggesting your guests lug around two-by-fours all night, but use a small birch branch to create disks and slice into the flat side to create a space for the cards to stand up. Use any tree variety you like, and trying painting them or sprinkling them with glitter for a little extra pizzazz.
Attach cards to vintage keys for seat assignments. For an added vintage touch, use hand lettering on off-white paper or old-style tags.
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