Ideas for seating: escort cards vs. seating chart

I prefer escort cards. Our venue organized our cards alphabetically!

For my 80 person wedding we are having a seating chart that is alphabetically organized.

No matter which method you chose, sort them in alphabetical order. No one at table 20, wants to read 19 and a half lists before they find their name.

We're doing individual escort cards with their meal choice indicated with a particular color. You could do social unit/family cards if not having different meals/buffet.

I think escort cards and seating chart display are both good options. We did escort cards because the venue required them. We were doing a plated dinner, so the venue wanted each guest to have a card that denoted meal choice for the sake of the servers. They were displayed in alphabetical order so guests could find their cards easily.

I think one upside to escort cards is that if you do have any last minute changes, you don't have to redo the whole thing. You can just make a new card to reflect the change. If you have a big chart, you would need to redo the whole sign, and that would be more of a hassle (ordering a new print of the sign, for example).

I think organizing a seating chart sign by table is fine if you have a really small guest list. If it's organized by table, keep in mind that guests need to read the names listed under each table until they find their name. If it's a small crowd, that's not a huge deal, but organizing names alphabetically would help people find their table assignments faster. With larger guest lists, organizing alphabetically on a seating chart sign would be essential.

I prefer escort cards, and we actually had to have escort cards for my venue because they showed the table number and entree choice of each guest.

As others have said, whatever you do, do it alphabetically.

I was going to point out the meal choices! We're having plated dinner options so we need colored escort cards so the waiters can keep track. If we were doing buffet we'd probably use a seating chart to save some time and money. Either way, it should definitely be alphabetical.

I am just doing a seating chart. We will have roughly 150 guests in attendance.

Escort cards in alphabetical order. This way you can indicate meal choice if you are doing plates, plus guests physically take the card so they don't have to worry about remembering correctly.

Team Seating Chart, arranged alphabetically

I'd say escort cards for a large wedding, people will be hovering over the table listing forever finding their name. If the escort cards are alphabetical, people will be able to pick their name quickly!

I think escort cards are the easier/better option, but that being said we went with a seating chart by table. We have a whole hour and a half cocktail hour and its on a huge posterboard, so I don't think it'll be that much trouble. There are 18 tables though. Not important enough for me to change at this point.

Escort cards. that would be a lot of people standing around that sign...

I did hanging escort cards. We found an old slotted door, distressed it, and added hooks. So if you want something vertical, you can still find a way to do that with escort cards.

We had 170 guests and did escort cards, but personally I wish we had done the lists.

@LB- great idea! Especially because something like this can be organized before the wedding and my Decorator can set it up. We're doing buffet so no need to give meal options luckily. @FutureAbbey, why do you say that? Thanks for the feedback guys!

We did the same type of set up as LB for our 90 person wedding. it worked very well and was easy for guests. and looked pretty. I was recently at a wedding of almost 300 people with seating charts--They were HUGE and I'm sure pricey as they were hand done by calligrapher. They had two at different entrances into the reception area, which was nice, but with 30 tables to look through it was annoying as a guest. On the bright side, our last name starts with a Z so you basically just have to look for the last person on each table list (if alphabetical)...

This is what we did!! Not removable though. And don't worry we fixed that saggy row lol

I kinda did a little of both since our venue is two levels. Everyone is getting a name card pinecone, arranged alphabetically on a table. Then on the table is a "seating chart" that has the tables in colors that match the name cards (so table 1 is yellow, everyone at table 1 has a yellow name card and then the table number for table 1 is also yellow).

Escort cards, arranged by alphabetical order.

Random question: if you do escort cards with meal choices indicated, do people actually take the cards to their tables? Or do they just look for their table number and then leave the card on the table?