Making sense of seating charts, table numbers and place cards | Paper & Ink Studio
When it comes to the most stressful parts of wedding planning, settling on a seating plan and finding a way to display this information rate pretty highly – especially if you’ve invited a lot of guests.
It takes patience, skill, compromise and sometimes a little blind faith to arrive at a plan that suits everyone. The task is made that much trickier when you consider how close it falls to the ceremony. Couples can only get stuck into the seating plan once all of the RSVP’s have arrived, and if you’re following our handy timeline that puts you about six weeks out from the big day.
Organising and ordering On Day Wedding Stationery – like Seating Charts, Placecards and Table Numbers – needs to be ticked off your to-do list as soon as possible in order to give your designers time to work their magic.
We’re very lucky to get to work on the pretty side of table planning, but we do have a few suggestions to making the process easier.
SEATING CHARTS, TABLE NUMBERS AND PLACE CARDS - WHAT ARE THEY USED FOR?
While seating charts, table numbers and place cards are all different, they serve similar purposes – they give your guests direction. The faster people find their place, the quicker the party can get started!
Seating charts are signs or larger-format posters that show where every guest attending the reception is sitting. A seating chart can be broken down by table number (or theme) or alphabetically. Obviously the more guests, the bigger and more intricate the sign.
Some couples opt for using place cards to allocate specific seats for their guests at their reserved table. Others prefer just allocating the table number and allowing their guests to choose their own seat. It’s very much a personal preference.
OUR TOP 4 THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN ORGANISING SEATING CHARTS, TABLE NUMBERS AND PLACE CARDS
- Work with your venue to organise the best table layout for the number of guests you have coming. Once you have your numbers and a basic layout you have half the job done.
- If you know you’re going to have a large wedding, get a quote for seating chart and wedding signage at the same time as your other Save the Dates and invitations.
- If you’re using place cards, consider incorporating them into the menu – that way you give the guests direction while getting them excited about the yummy things coming their way. It also means there will be one less element on the table.
- There are plenty of ways to make your On the Day stationery items stand out. Think about using frames, floral accents and different shapes, and different mediums like acrylic.
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