Ways to Display your Place Cards

Place cards doesn't always have to just sit idly on a tray or just be a name on a tented cardstock. These cards are what makes your guests feel welcomed with their own seat at a table. I've had many brides ask me whether they should assign seating or let their guests sit wherever they please and, although each guest list is different, I usually advise the middle-ground. In most cases it would work best for guests to know which table they will be seated at but leave where they sit within that table up to them.

Ways to display the place cards:

1) Favors doubling as place cards - why have both place cards and favors when you can use the one for the other? If your favors come in small rectangular boxes, use them as your place card stands with the name on a simple card on top. If you're planning to have them on a table for guests to pick up, make sure they're grouped by tables, either in a neat group or place in tray boxes for easy finding.

2)Hanging tags off a central floral arrangement - if you're planning to have a large arrangement with outstretched branches, hang your place cards off the branches where guests can easily read and find. This idea could be tricky to pull off as the tags can become tangled, hard to find or hard to remove.

3) Place cards don't always have to be displayed on the table; for weddings with assigned seating, incorporate the place cards with the decoration of each chair. Ribbon can be strung through a place card and hung elegantly on the back. To go all out, pocket enclosures with the guest's names on front can be hung from the tops of chairs with the menu tucked inside.

4)If you like the idea of having place card holders but don't want to spend the money to get one for each guest, consider making your own. For my own asian-themed wedding, I created these wire card holders out of radio wire. They were simple and fun to make and propped up my place cards to leave more room for everything else on the guests' tables.

These are just a few ideas to play with. Even if you don't find one that suits your event, hopefully, it will give you an idea of the endless possibilities for just a simple place card. Get creative but stay SIMPLE. There are so many details to go over for a wedding and place cards are just a teensy piece of it. Remember to RELAX and have fun planning!