Place cards, what did you do?

FrenchHouseCat

So here is something I JUST thought of. I have this wonderful calligrapher I am working with on my invitations, she is literally the best both personality wise and also very talented. So it was a no-brainer to me that she would do our place cards as well. But, I have in my calendar "finish seating chart" the weekend before my wedding, so my question(s) are:

Is that too late to do the seating chart? I just assumed that's the proper timeline since you are waiting for RSVPs etc. ( I will obviously start it earlier, but am anticipating last minute changes)

But if so, there is no way to have place cards made professionally if you are finalizing a week out. Especially not with  a calligrapher in Idaho.  So what did everyone do for the place cards? Hand write? Print yourself? Do your seating chart earlier? 

Maggie0829

I created a seating chart on Microsoft Publisher and then printed each individual table out and created a pretty poster which I then stuck inside of a picture frame.

Of course you could always find a pretty template via etsy or some other site and fill in the blanks and have it printed out at Kinko's.

But if you don't want to do a large seating chart, but rather individual escort cards then I would look around for place card sets which should also include a template for you to use and then just print them yourself.

[Deleted User]

We're doing escort cards and I'm planning to print them at home.  The tent cards I ordered are arriving today or tomorrow according to my tracking notice.

We're having a Sunday brunch wedding, so a bit more casual, so I don't think anyone will bat an eye at them not being hand written.  The ONLY place I might make a funny face on that is for a true black tie wedding- but that's just me; I'm not overly stuffy about victimless crimes like that.

frenchiekin

I am 99% sure I will be handwriting them myself.  We ordered french bulldog-shaped cards on Etsy in a few different colors (could be one of my favorite details at the wedding, not gonna lie) and they are impossible to put through a printer, so my only other option would be printing clear labels and sticking them on.  We'll see what happens time-wise when it's crunch time!

I am sure there are people who've had their place cards professionally done by a calligrapher in that short time frame, but it sounds like yours is not local so that could be an issue.  Maybe just reach out to the person you are using and ask her how that usually works?  Maybe Next Day shipping both ways?

julieanne912

I plan on handwriting my escort cards, I already have them ready, just waiting til I have RSVPs all in.  I also hand addressed my envelopes though.   I figure I can start writing names on the cards earlier, then add the table number once the seating chart is complete.  We are just doing assigned tables, not actual seats.

I will do my seating chart probably the weekend before the wedding, and since I'm a very visual person, I plan on using those little colored tags and writing names on each one, so I can move them around.  Or I'll use a spreadsheet but I like the idea of the tags on a big foam board in front of me.  

CMGragain

From Vistaprint:

AddieCake

Ours were on river rocks, so I wrote them myself.

arrrghmatey

I purchased a print-at-home escort card set from Jo-Ann Fabrics which has a template. That way if I need to make any last-minute changes, all I need to do is type/print a new one in two minutes. Boom.