Image from the knot {photography by Mark Romine Photography}
If you don’t have a big enough table or big enough budget to have individual escort cards, you could put together a large display on a piece of posterboard or canvas. Print off cards for each table with a list of guests sitting at that table {see the picture above}. You can display the escort cards near the entrance of the wedding reception on an easel.
If you’re having an outdoor wedding reception and you want your escort cards to stand out, consider attaching small cards with the guest’s name and table number to ties. You can find inexpensive ties at yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. Then hang them on a clothes line with clothes pins.
Image from the knot {photography by Julie Wilson}
If you can’t afford to hire a calligrapher to do your escort cards, don’t worry. You can still have cute escort cards if they’re handwritten. Get a few friends to come over and work on the project together. It looks more attractive with different, fun handwriting styles.
Image from Martha Stewart Weddings
I got an e-mail from a reader yesterday asking me how to use her favors as escort cards. She’s using wrapping paper that matches her wedding palette to wrap up boxes of chocolates for her favors. She wanted them to do double duty by serving as escort cards. Here’s my suggestion: print out the guests names and table numbers on cardstock, cut them up, and attach them to the favors with craft glue. Get a couple of cute cake stands and stack them on the cake stands near the entrance to your reception.
Image from Martha Stewart Weddings
Use a stamp that matches your wedding reception theme to make DIY escort cards. You can make them out of small envelopes or cardstock.
Image from the knot {photography by Lucida Photography}
Here’s another way to have your escort cards act as double duty for your favors: use small jars of homemade jam to let your guests know where to sit. This is a good idea for a spring or summer wedding.
Image from the knot {photography by Leigh Miller Photography}
If you’re having your wedding at the beach, you should consider having your escort cards play double duty by also using them as your favors. You can display your cards tied to sand dollars or seashells for a cute DIY escort card that saves you money.
Image from the knot {photography by Sweet Monday Photography}
Image from the knot {photography by Araujo Photography}
When you’re picking escort cards, you have to remember that you’ll need a table large enough to hold them. This can get tricky if you have a really large guest list. You can reduce your number of escort cards by putting couples {even if they’re not married} on the same card. This can help you save money and space.
Image from Martha Stewart Weddings
This month I’m going to focus all of the tips of the day around escort cards. They set the mood for a wedding reception and let guests know what to expect. Tented and calligraphed escort cards are perfect for a classic wedding reception and paper flower escort cards are a good choice for a casual reception. There are so many options for escort cards – you’ll definitely be able to find something in your budget that matches your theme.
Today’s Tip: Arrange escort cards in alphabetical order, so guests can easily find their names.
We used mini pumpkins and gourds as the escort cards for our guests. It was one of their wedding favors.
We encouraged guests to sign our “guest bench” which was a DIY project that my parents helped me with. This large piece of wood is now a bench on our porch!
We danced to Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight” for our first dance.
After the first dance, we enjoyed passed appetizers and dinner. My favorite food was the mini grilled cheese sandwiches with shot glasses of tomato soup – they were so cute and really great comfort food for an autumn night.
The centerpieces and table numbers were two more DIY projects. We found the wrought iron pumpkins two years before our wedding and I knew I had to have them. We placed them on DIY cake stands made from trees, surrounded them with moss, twigs with pearl beads and candles.
Since we’re both huge Va Tech football fans and planned our wedding around a football game {we took the bridal party to the Thursday night home game the week of our wedding}, my husband’s mom surprised us by getting the Hokie bird – the team’s mascot – to come to the reception. He took pictures with guests, danced with us and of course we all did the Hokey Pokey!
Instead of a wedding cake {I know, I’m nontraditional}, we had a DIY dessert bar with homemade cupcakes, banana nut mini loaves and cakes and candy. Since it was halloween, we decided to incorporate the holiday into our dessert bar. It was the only thing halloweenish at our wedding. We made the cake stands from trees and made the “tree” in the back with a clay pot and branches.
We had so much fun. I ate, drank and danced all night. It was seriously the best night of my life!
Photography by David Franusich {thank you, thank you, thank you}
And if you couldn’t keep up – that was a total of 12 DIY projects! I consider my wedding pretty much a DIY wedding and I’m really proud of it, because we were able to stay in budget. Now that my wedding is over, I’m going to get busy doing even more DIY projects to post on Stylish Events….
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Holly’s Question: I want my escort card table to stand out, and I would like to do something more than just paper tents. I’m having an outdoor wedding reception this spring. Any suggestions would be great!
April’s Answer: I’d be happy to help. Below you will find five pictures of escort card ideas that would look beautiful at an outdoor wedding, will stand out, and will add a sweet touch. Just add your wedding colors and/or theme to the ideas below. I hope this helps.
Images from the knot
The couple choose a color palette of orange, pink, and green.
Images from Martha Stewart Weddings
Learn from Sara and Charles: Stick to one theme throughout the invitations, programs, escort cards, favors, and gift bags. Sara and Charles incorporated their silouettes throughout their wedding which tied everything together. Have the groosmen wear bright colored ties that add to the color palette of the wedding like Sara and Charles did by having the groosmen wear orange ties to match the citrus theme. Skip the wedding cake and serve the guests individual, homemade bundt cakes with a scoop of ice cream.
