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Question about escort and place cards: I am stupid!

Okay I have been to more weddings that were buffet style and now I can see why! I am having a sit down dinner and I know I am making the escort cards and now I just realized I have to have place cards. I thought that I was to somehow distinguish the escort cards with the meal choices. Ugh! but now I have to do placecards. Did you use the same escort cards for your placecards and how did you distinguish the place cards for the meals.? So far I have couples for both steak, both chicken, couples with one chicken and one steak, and two vegetarians. Do I have to make a place card for each person or the couple? I don't even know some of the people's guest names. I think I am making this more complicated than I have to becuase I don't see many posts about this. I just left Michaels and bought two packets of place cards or escort cards. I tried to come up with all these neat crafty ideas but the truth is I am not crafty! Wedding in less than two weeks... any suggestions?? Sorry for the rambling! Ohioval

Re: Question about escort and place cards: I am stupid!

  • edited December 2011
    No worries.don't feel like you HAVE to do placecards.  Escort cards are typically fine and you can put the menu choices on the escort card.  Placecards are really only for if you want people to sit in a particular seat at the table (ie: Uncle Bob next to Cousin Billy next to Friend Sally, and around the table).You can do either one escort card per couple and put two stickers on the back (2 blue stars for 2 fish, a blue star and a red star for 1 fish and one beef, etc) or you can do one per person.  Depends how much info you have.  If you don't know a guest's name, etiquette asks you to make every attempt to find out before putting Cousin Billy & Guest.HTH!
  • edited December 2011
    I went to a wedding in June that was sit down and we just had an escort card "frognjessi's FI & frognjessi" and on the back there was a blue dot sticker and a red dot sticker (I had steak, he had chicken). HTH
  • edited December 2011
    I like the sticker idea, but we did individual escort cards for each person, color coded for the meal choice.
  • edited December 2011
    You are definitely making it more complicated than need be. I don't think anyone really does separate placecards anymore. I certainly wouldn't want to be told what seat to sit in. I know etiquette says to find out guest names, but honestly, I just wrote "and guest" on the same card (1 per couple/family unit) if I did not already know the name. HTH- don't stress!
  • McBridetobeMcBridetobe member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    If you do one per couple, the server will just ask who gets the chicken and who gets the beef, etc.  They deal with it all the time!Don't stress!  :)
  • edited December 2011
    Hmmm Okay, so I will do escort cards to I guess escort them to their table. I will have to decide whether or not I decorate the back of the escort table with gemstones on food choices or do place cards with gemstones. I don't think I can do individual cards because the RSVP's don't specify who wants what. If I do both escort and place cards should they be the same? I should check with the venue too. How do you feel about mixing up formal names with informal names? For example, Jen and Jody Mr. and Mrs Smith or should I stick with either formal or informal. This is so dumb. Can I hire a wedding planner now for this specific project :) ??
  • edited December 2011
    Honestly, don't stress out on this. It's such a little thing. Don't worry about the placecards, just put the stickers on the back of the escort cards. People will pick out their own seats anyways. We had several people even switch tables on us! I put the same name on the escort card that I did on the invites, just to make it easy.
  • edited December 2011
    If I do both escort and place cards should they be the same? Do you mean like the same style? I suppose so. But I honestly don't think you need place cards.How do you feel about mixing up formal names with informal names? I did all formal names- ex. "Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Smith". I think you should stick with one or the other, and I personally think formal names are more appropriate. HTH!
  • McBridetobeMcBridetobe member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I don't think I can do individual cards because the RSVP's don't specify who wants what.Then how could you do place cards?  They would need to be at each individual place.  Just do the escort cards with the names you used on the invitation with a sticker/gem stone on the front or the back.  I wouldn't go through the hassle of printing two sets of cards. 
  • edited December 2011
    Okay, true true, if I don't have everyone's name I can't do indivudual place cards. I will just do escort cards and decorate them with the food gemstones. Okay thanks for all your help. I know I am making it complicated, I don't know why. It's sooo dumb, I know. I will probably have more questions soon. Thanks!!
  • edited December 2011
    We are having a sit down dinner too, and are just putting stickers on the back of the escort cards.  Just go to Wal-mart and for 2 dollars you can get 300 mini stickers or the foil stars in 5 different colors.  I use them for school all the time and that's what we're doing...simple!
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  • britac11britac11 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I am late on this one, but we did individual place cards (we needed to ask a few guests who their dates were, which I think is nice!).  I got the cutest little hole punches of a cow and a chicken to represent each guests' meal.  From working at a country club for a few years and catering manyyyy weddings, I found that having a clear way to designate the meals is definitely important.  I do not think that telling people where to sit at each table is necessary. I hope that helps a little - good luck!
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