Photo: Jose Villa
You put so much thought into your dress, invitations, and menu, but it's important not to forget about the little things including escort cards. To help you check a "to-do" off your list, we found a few amazing takes on the classic detail that will impress your guests as they enter the reception — and get them to their table. But first things first: Here's a quick refresher in case you're not exactly sure what an escort card is or get them confused with the all-too-similarly named place cards.
An escort card is a small card printed with each guest's name and table-number assignment. They're typically arranged in a creative way at the entrance to the reception for your friends and family to find their name and corresponding table. Place cards, however, are small cards printed with the guest's name, displayed at their reception table on the setting where they've has been assigned to sit. These are usually used at more formal weddings and indicate that the couple has put a lot of thought into the seating chart. Got it?
Now for the fun stuff: Check out three cool ideas for your escort cards below!
For the colorful and modern escort-card display above, Northern California-based wedding planner Laurie Arons commissioned a custom-made Lucite heart art installation, which was positioned on the lawn at the couple's venue in Napa. Each guest's name and table number was written on colorful paper at the end of each arrow; all of the arrows were then arranged to create a beautiful ombre effect.
Photo: Lisa Lefkowitz
This towering banyan-tree display was custom made by Blueprint Studios for a wedding held at San Francisco's City Hall. "The bride is from Thailand, so the cocktail-hour decor was highly influenced by Thai culture," explains Jubilee Lau of Jubilee Lau Events, who planned and produced the wedding in conjunction with Gloria Wong Design. The planners hired models to dress in traditional Thai attire and helped guests locate their escort cards suspended from the tree branches overhead.
Photo: Anushé Low
This hanging escort-card display by London-based stationery and decor company Eagle Eyed Bride is such a clever idea. Instead of having guests retrieve their own individual escort cards, this paper-flower display functions as a seating chart that everyone can refer to at the start of the reception.