I need your creative minds!

mekiakoo

We are having escort cards at the reception and guests will pick them up before going to their table.

We need to some how have the servers identify which meal goes with which guest. At first we were planning on putting rhinestones on the corner of the cards (red ones for fish, green ones for chicken, etc).

Spoke with the manager at the reception on Saturday and she said that it'd be too difficult to see the rhinestones in the dim light. She said it'd be better if we actually put down the actual "FISH" "CHICKEN" next to people's names on the escort cards. I immediately thought "ew that looks ugly, like for me, it'll say "Katherine Fish".

Give me some good ideas please. Maybe I'll just type out "chicken" under their names. I don't want to put it on the back and make the servers search for it (or would that work?). I do not want to spend more money (like buying different stuff to have the escort cards put on).

Help please! This is the only thing I'm not really looking forward to doing.

k8888

I would rather my guests get the correct meal than worry about how aesthetically pleasing the card is.  I don't think it'll ruin the look if you type/write out their preferred meal under their name.  Play around with it and see how it comes out.

mbody

One of my friends used two different sized flowers. The smaller one for chicken and a larger one for beef. She placed them in the top corners.

Maybe you can use two different sized rhinestones and designate them. That should be fine for the servers.

bells24412

what about putting a colored sticker for each inside the card or othe the opposite side where no writing is. I am sure they could flip the card over or up.

mbody

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_i-need-your-creative-minds?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:17a133ee-3d32-46bb-bdc6-2dab286fe9c2Post:847c3b56-24f6-4c61-bda2-d4e5efab4566">Re: I need your creative minds!</a>:
[QUOTE]what about putting a colored sticker for each inside the card or othe the opposite side where no writing is. I am sure they could flip the card over or up.
Posted by bells24412[/QUOTE]
From what I understood, color is what's the problem. Like it might be too dark in the room for a server to walk by and see the differences in color. Which, I understand, I'd be all leaning over people and squinting to figure out what color is what.

However, two different sizes is a different story. And I think that would look good on the cards too.

Nati05

What about those cute little outline drawings of the animal under their name? It's still obvious without looking like a funny extra last name haha. Katherine Fish hahahaha

beth34608

How about a stamp in the animal shape? Good Luck!

mekiakoo

You've given me good ideas so far. Keep them coming!!!

I agree, k8888- maybe I'm overthinking this. But if I like an idea, I might as well use it too!

ETA: that's right, the color is the problem so we need to find different ideas other than using color to code the meals.

Nancy00714

I never understand this.  If a table has 5 chickens and 3 beefs why can't the waiter just ask, who ordered the beef and who ordered the chicken?

In NY, all the weddings I've ever been to you order your meal when you get there. 

Sorry, just wondering. 

mekiakoo

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_i-need-your-creative-minds?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:17a133ee-3d32-46bb-bdc6-2dab286fe9c2Post:f3d76b56-7347-4137-88bf-364fde9e7c5c">Re: I need your creative minds!</a>:
[QUOTE]I never understand this.  If a table has 5 chickens and 3 beefs why can't the waiter just ask, who ordered the beef and who ordered the chicken? In NY, all the weddings I've ever been to you order your meal when you get there.  Sorry, just wondering. 
Posted by Nancy00714[/QUOTE]

I know, I wish it was this easy, but you won't believe how many people don't even remember what meal they chose when sending back the RSVPs!!

Nancy00714

Oh, I see.   I think Mbody's flower idea sounds good.  Different sized flowers.

dramaqueen91087

In Response to Re:I need your creative minds!:[QUOTE]I never understand this.nbsp; If a table has 5 chickens and 3 beefs why can't the waiter just ask, who ordered the beef and who ordered the chicken?.nbsp; Posted by Nancy00714[/QUOTE]
This is how we're doing it. But my venue also makes like 10 extra of each thing in case people change their mind. This is also why we get vendor meals for free. As for your question, I like the little drawings idea. Definitely dont like writing out the name, I think it looks weird.

bridetobe71412

mekiakoo - I totally understand you not wanting to write the selection under people's names. I had this same exact issue with my caterer. She suggested different sized stamps. We're actually not doing this anymore because I was a huge bridezilla b*tch and made her do something else after having a hissy fit, but that's what she said she typically does.

If you REALLY end up needing to do writing, could you maybe do different font for the entree selection - like have people's names in block text but then have their entree in cursive? That would make it less noticeable too.

kidlets2

What if you get stickers in the scrapbook section and put those in a corner somewhere? C for Chicken, F for fish, etc.

Or a friend of mine had little like key chain things with the letters printed for their meal. Not really a key chain but like a pendant. I wish I had a picture of it. So as we took our escort cards, all of our rings for our family were in a bundle and we were to set them in front of our settings.

I'm trying really hard to explain it but basically they were small thin metal circles with ribbon at the top to create a loop. Inside the circle a C or B was printed in pretty font. That way you're not messing with your escort cards.

LandB2012

What about putting code words for the entrees and notifying the venue of what they are? 

I found this picture online, which gives an idea
Love = Fish
Cherish = Chicken
Honor = Beef

or whatever....  still has an extra word but sounds classier than "Katherine Fish"  hahaha- that's so funny

ETA: I forgot the pic, duh!  The story of my life is forgetting attachments!

mekiakoo

LandB- that is actually a cute idea!!! I'll have to see if I am able to fit it on the escort cards without it being too crowded.

butterflyjumper1

LandB - that is one of the cutest ideas I have seen so far!!!

We are planning to color coordinate ribbons - they will have to be REALLY obvious, because now I am worried about the color situation that you mentioned, mekiakoo....

if ribbons doesn't work out we will probably try to do a variation of this new idea!

colleenm18

I have been having this issue as well.

At first I was going to do the colored ribbons like Butterfly said but then I decided I am sick of tying ribbon (i had to do it for my invitations and my programs)  So I think we are just going to put the name of the meals on the inside of the folded tent card and have the DJ make an announcement to let everyone know they need to folder over the place cards so that the server can see the meal choice. 

I know this is not the best way but it is the easiest and that is what I am all about at this point

littlemoments324

we're putting pictures on their escort cards: http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/place-cards-and-how-to-include-guests-entree-choice

you'll have to scroll down a few before you get to the animal pics