Wedding escort cards, from final replies to the table at the door

Escort cards and place cards get mixed up, and the difference decides how many you need and when you can make them. Settle that first, then the rest is a short list of steps.

Escort cards, place cards or a seating sign

Three ways to get guests to their seats, and a rule for choosing:

An escort card carries a name and a table, and waits at the entrance. A place card carries a name and sits on the plate, marking the exact chair. A seating sign does the escort card's job on one large board.

Between escort cards and a sign, our seating chart guide has the rule of thumb: an alphabetical list is fastest to scan for a large wedding. Escort cards are that list, one name at a time, and guests can take theirs to the table. A board is quicker to update if something changes on the day.

How many escort cards you need

The count most people start from is the number of guests. The count that matters is the number of parties that sit together: a couple at the same table shares one card ("Maya and Jordan Ellis"), and so does a family. Give someone their own card only when they sit apart from the people they came with, such as children at a children's table.

Here is the count for a wedding with 112 guests who said yes:

The families with a children's table need two cards each: one for the parents and one for the brothers and sisters together. Add five or six blank cards for a late change, which you can fill in by hand.

Sixty-two cards is about half the writing, folding and arranging. If you are paying a calligrapher or a stationer per card, it is also about half the cost.

What to write on an escort card

Keep it to what the guest needs, the name on the first line and the table on the second:

Maya and Jordan Ellis, Table 4

A few choices to make once, then apply to every card:

• Names as guests know them. "Grandma Rose" works on a family card. For everyone else, first name and surname.
• Numbers over names for tables. "Table 4" is found faster in a full room than "Juniper", unless your table signs are large.
• Plus-ones by name. "Priya Nair and guest" is fine, but the name is warmer. If a plus-one's name is missing when the replies come in, ask for it then, not the week of printing.
• Meal markers go on place cards. For a plated dinner, the servers need each guest's meal, and a card shared by a couple or a family cannot say who ordered the fish. Put the symbol or colour on each guest's place card, and agree the code with the caterer before you print. If you skip place cards, give each guest their own escort card with their marker.

When to make them

Escort cards come after the seating plan, and the seating plan comes after the replies. So they are among the last things you make. For a wedding on Saturday 12 June 2027:

The dates for the replies, the seating plan and the headcount follow our free checklist by date, which counts each task back from your wedding day. Your caterer's contract wins if its headcount deadline is earlier. The order matters more than the dates: every name that moves table after printing is a card to redo.

If your invitations are not out yet, start further back. Our guide to when to send invitations works the reply date back from the caterer's deadline, which is the date everything here hangs on.

Free toolWedding checklist by dateEnter your date and what you have booked. Get a dated checklist and your next three things to do.Build my checklist

Making them, step by step

1. Finish the seating plan. Every guest who said yes is at a table, and every table is within its seats. Our guide to the seating chart walks through it.
2. Get the list out as a spreadsheet. One row per party: the name as it will appear on the card, and the table.
3. Add a surname column and sort by it. Guests look for their surname, so the cards go out in that order. A sorted list also makes the cards easy to check against the plan.
4. Check it against the plan. Count the people on the list and compare with the seats taken at each table. Look for a plus-one on the wrong line and two cards with the same name.
5. Print or hand it over. To print at home, Word's mail merge for labels turns each row into a card on a sheet of label or card stock: Microsoft's help page "Print labels for your mailing list" shows how. To use a stationer or a calligrapher, send them the sorted spreadsheet.
6. Lay them out in the same order. In rows by surname, on a table near the entrance with good light, so guests can find their name without asking.

If the cards are a favor too, a tag on a small jar or a card tucked into a napkin, keep the same order. The display can be anything. The order is what lets 112 people find their table in a few minutes.

Where the list comes from

Steps 2 and 3 are where most of the evening goes when the guest list lives in one place and the seating plan in another.

In Yes, I Do, seating uses the guests who said yes, and plus-ones take their own seats, so a table never looks emptier than it is. Auto seat keeps guests from the same side and group together where a table has room, and moving someone to another table is one tap. When the plan is settled, the guest packet on the Guests tab shares a CSV of everyone attending, in name order, with the seats each takes and their table. Open it in a spreadsheet, put a couple you entered as two guests onto one line, add the surname column, and you have the list for step 3. Your partner can make changes from their own phone, so a late move does not wait for one of you.

If you are still collecting replies, our free guest list template has a table column from the start, so the same file becomes your escort card list.

Questions

Sources

• Timing follows the reply follow-up, seating and headcount tasks in the free Yes, I Do wedding checklist by date.
• Microsoft Support: print labels for your mailing list, for printing cards from a spreadsheet with mail merge.