The important role of place cards
While still a very little girl, the young creature is already dreaming of a fairy tale called “wedding.” Everything is perfect in these dreams. As a groom, there is certainly a handsome prince who loves the bride more than anything in the world. The bride is dressed in the most delicate snow-white dress and the elves carry her train. The ceremony site is decorated with many flowers. Satisfied relatives and friends rejoice and applaud.
To avoid the bustle in the hall and at the table, wedding place cards will come to the aid of the newlyweds. Of course, if there are not many guests, then you can do without pre-seating the guests. But when a large number of people are invited, it is better to worry about such convenience in advance.
Traditional options for arranging tables at a wedding
Before making the correct seating arrangements for guests, you need to decide on the arrangement of tables in the banquet hall. The traditional seating arrangement is the simplest ; it is used if there are not too many guests. A long table is set up around which guests are seated.
In what order should people be seated: it is best to alternate women and men with each other. The newlyweds are located in the middle of one of the long sides, the bride sits on the right side of the groom. Her parents sit to the right of the bride, and his mother and father sit to the left of the groom.
T-shaped seating is ideal for small rooms when the number of guests does not exceed 30 people. The newlyweds are located at the head of the table, their parents and closest friends and relatives sit closer to them.
Scheme with the letter T
The P-shaped seating plan for guests at a wedding is also convenient and is an alternative to the T-shaped seating arrangement. It is used when the number of guests averages 40 people. A young husband and wife sit in the center of the table, next to them are witnesses, and then their parents.
For a wedding of 60 people or more, it is best to use the W-shaped seating arrangement. This way, all the guests will not be too far from the newlyweds. But with such a seating, not all guests will be comfortable looking at the bride and groom.
Scheme with the letter Ш
Photo of table arrangement with the letter T at a wedding
We begin seating guests early
You need to start seating guests at the festive table not on the day of the celebration, but in advance. To do this, young people need to prepare a seating chart for guests. First of all, find out in the restaurant how the tables will be arranged. Draw a small diagram on a piece of paper. And at home, calmly discuss which of the guests will have what place at the table you will give. Write all this down on your diagram. Having prepared such a card in advance, all you have to do is entrust it and the cards to the waiters or organizers of the celebration. And when setting the table, they will also take care of the signs.
The template for seating cards can be downloaded (prepare an archive with templates for downloading) on the Internet; young people will only have to print it out and fill it out. You can find and buy ready-made cards in wedding salons. Or you can entrust this issue to the organizers. All this will simplify and save time for young people. But do-it-yourself wedding place cards based on a template bring special warmth and love to the newlyweds.
What the card will look like depends largely on your imagination. But there are two points that it is advisable to adhere to:
- the style of the cards should be consistent with the theme of the event;
- optimal size of place cards. They should not be too large or take up a lot of space, but guests should still be able to see their name from a short distance.
How to design place cards for a wedding: 15 options
Guest, name or place cards are a kind of business card, thanks to which people with similar interests, close or well known to each other, find themselves at the same table at such an important celebration. When deciding how such cards should look, you need not only to adhere to the general style of design of wedding accessories, but also to do everything to ensure that the signs placed on the tables, standing next to the numbers on the tables, attract the attention of the guests.
There are many types of personalized guest cards that can be purchased ready-made or made by yourself:
Cards with names
The best design option is business cards with the names of invited guests. They should be small in size, square, triangular or rectangular in shape.
If the card itself is made on white paper, then you need to decorate it with a pattern or design that stands out against the general background; you need to highlight the name of the guest in an even brighter color.
Postcards with the names of the guests can have any shape, but they must stand firmly on the table, so most often they are folded in the shape of a house.
You can write a few kind words on the inside of such a card, and then guests will definitely keep them as a memory of the past celebration.
Flowers with signs
Flowers at a wedding are a mandatory attribute; vases with living plants simply placed on tables take up too much space and sometimes interfere with people’s communication.
But a card with the guest’s name, located on a flower or placed inside it, plays an important role in organizing the holiday and decorates the table.
A small decorative flower, which will remain as a keepsake and can be kept by a guest as a house plant, will remind of a beautiful identity for a long time.
Table number plates
In our tradition, it is customary for all guests to sit at one long table. But with foreign films, we have come to have a tendency to seat guests in small groups at separate tables. This is a fairly popular and convenient way, especially when there are a lot of guests.
If this is your option, then you cannot do without signs on the table for guests; the template can be found here (prepare the material with the necessary archive). In this case, you need to number the tables. The table number can be provided to guests on the invitation. In this case, nameplates are not required.
The second option is a banquet card where the table number and names of the guests will be indicated. Here it is also advisable for guests to know in advance which table they should sit at. This is done primarily to avoid fuss.
Seating of guests at a wedding - cards for any event
Having distributed the guests on the diagram, it remains to resolve this issue in reality - and you can organize the seating of guests very quickly if you use special cards. These are cardboard elements on which the table number and names (or first and last names) of the participants are indicated. Guests must take their place at a specific table. In addition to this, you can make a general list with the guests and their places, or place a person at the entrance to the hall who will tell the guests where they should go to find their place.
Wedding in a classic style
Couvert cards, in the classical sense, are placed on the table next to the cutlery. Usually these are small cards with the guest's name, folded in half along the short axis. Standard format in a spread is 130x100 mm. Such cards are decorated with the symbols of the event, various bows, ribbons, pearls, lace, and flowers.
Such couvert cards are ideal for a wedding celebration of any style. And for a classic event they will be an excellent attribute and decor.
How to make your own seating cards
These seating cards can be ordered from a company that specializes in organizing wedding events.
You can go to popular websites on the Internet, where wedding details can cost much less, but expect that delivery can take up to two months.
You can do it yourself, following the color schemes of the wedding.
Cardboard cards
You can make cards for seating guests at tables yourself at home. This is a creative process that you will have fun with.
All the necessary materials can be bought at hobby hypermarkets and stationery stores.
To work on cards you will need: thick cardboard, glue, scissors, ruler, hole punch, ribbon, needle, elements for decorating cards, for example, beads, rhinestones, bows.
These cards are convenient to place on the table; no additional stands are needed. Next, the card needs to be decorated with decorative elements, beads, rhinestones, and flowers.
Using a hole punch, make a hole or two at the top of the card, thread a ribbon through it, and tie it with a bow.
Don't overdo it with decorations, do it tastefully. Next, the signs need to be signed; you can do this yourself, or contact a photo salon.
You can also make the card in the shape of a heart. To do this, you need a red cardboard stencil of the desired shape.
Fabric seating cards
Depending on the style of your wedding, fabric place cards may be right for you.
To do this, take felt, chintz or linen, ribbons, lace, ribbon to decorate, scissors, needle and thread, buttons.
Next, whatever your imagination tells you, the names of the guests can be embroidered or written with acrylic paint. You can insert cardboard inside the fabric to make the cards more stable.
Cards with photos of guests
Cards on a stand
You can also take fruits, such as apples, as a stand for a card. They make cuts in the fruit and attach a card with the guest's name there. It all depends on the imagination of the newlyweds.
You can make a stand in the shape of a flower, a pot of flowers, just a plant, use candles, glasses or even pine cones.
Candy-shaped seating cards
To do this, take mesh fabric and cut out a circle from it, approximately 15-16 centimeters in diameter. Next, place a candy shaped like a truffle on the circle and attach a card with the guest’s name to the base.
Wrap the candy in a net and tie the fabric at the top with a ribbon.
Interesting place card ideas
Instead of ordinary paper cards, you can come up with something unusual, for example, make cards in the form of:
- boxes containing sweets, small bottles with colored drinks,
- in the form of a cone,
- small flower pots
- jar of sweets or honey.
- a beautiful and cheerful insect, such as a butterfly.
This way, you will also give each guest a small present that will remind them of your wedding.
Decorating a napkin
Table plates with name, which are attached to a serving napkin, look very elegant. There are several ways to attach such a card to a napkin:
- on a special ring for serving napkins;
- using decorative pins or brooches;
- tying the napkin with the card with braid, ribbon or twine.
Decorating glasses
A popular method is when nameplates on the table for guests are attached to glasses. This is quite easy to do. Cut out the cards for the guest table according to the template, sign them and attach them directly to the top of the glass. Most often, cards made in this way are shaped like a butterfly, bird or heart. An openwork figurine placed on thin glass adds airiness, lightness and tenderness to the overall table setting.
Making table signs
From us you can order production from all solid materials popular today (metal, plastic, glass, plexiglass, acrylic). Design technologies allow you to achieve the highest possible image quality.
Based on the material used, they are divided into the following types:
Made of metal: made using the sublimation printing method, the text is transferred from the layout to a metal (steel, aluminum, brass) blank with sublimation coating. We can also produce them with laser engraving. Such a product will have a high durability image with fine lines and contours.
Made from acrylic or plexiglass: these are one of the most popular types of products in our company. The imprint is applied to a base of a certain thickness using direct UV printing (for those requiring accurate color reproduction) or laser engraving (for any type). Options with a replaceable transparent plexiglass insert are also available for order.
Made of plastic. The image is applied using direct or reverse laser engraving. For prompt orders, we offer single-layer PVC appliqué types with vinyl film.
From glass. Inscriptions are transferred using laser engraving, and logos and other colored elements are transferred using film appliqué or UV printing technology. Most often, they are equipped with plastic or metal holders (nickel), which fix the base at an angle convenient for reading.
Cards for those with a sweet tooth
For those with a sweet tooth, candy or other desserts are a great way to display guest name signs on the table. And guests will be pleased to start the feast with something tasty.
It’s quite simple to prepare such place cards for a wedding with your own hands:
- download and print the template;
- cut it along the contour and sign it;
- use a glue gun to secure the template to a wooden skewer or toothpick;
- insert the prepared skewer into the dessert.
For sweets, it is best to use truffles, marshmallows, and small cakes. You can also order or bake yourself gingerbread or cookies with the names of your guests.
Theme party
When the celebration is planned in a certain style, it is quite logical to complement the decor with themed signs on the table for wedding guests. For an autumn wedding, you can safely use leaves, acorns, apples, and small pumpkins. In winter - cones. In spring and summer - fresh flowers. For an eco-style wedding - small wooden cuts.
We offer you an example of a do-it-yourself place card for a nautical-themed wedding:
- fold a boat out of paper of the desired color, according to the diagram;
- sign it;
- decorate with shells, small sea pebbles or anchors.
Using your imagination, you can come up with many different options: boxes or envelopes with small memorable gifts, decorative stones, souvenirs, figurines of young people, photographs and much more. You can download seating cards based on the template for free here (prepare an archive with the necessary material).
How to make wedding place cards with your own hands: step-by-step instructions
The place card for each guest is intended only for him and is personalized; they are all made in the same style, but may differ in design and color. If you don’t want to use ready-made products, then you can make such an accessory yourself, using available materials (for example, left over after making wedding signs) and without spending a lot of time.
Paper medals with guests' names on them make for simple and attractive place cards. To make them you will need :
- craft paper;
- glue;
- scissors;
- narrow satin ribbons;
- elements for decoration (beads, small artificial flowers).
First of all, you need to decide whether all medals will have the same shape or whether it will be different for each table. Now you can start preparing the components for the name cards. Based on the number of invitees, the number of elements is determined, taking into account that for each medal you will need at least three paper circles, ovals, and polyhedra.
The best option is that the outer edge of the medal is the same for everyone, and its middle is selected separately for each table. They begin by cutting out strips of at least 5 cm wide from soft, brightly colored corrugated paper. There should be as many stripes as there are cards to be made. Now, from paper of the same quality, but of a different color, an equal number of strips no more than 3 cm wide are cut out.
As shown in the figure, carefully fold the strips so that the circles are first large, then smaller. You can secure the edges with glue. The next step is to combine the centers of large and small circles by overlapping the parts one on top of the other. At this stage you will need glue again. A narrow satin ribbon is attached to the back of the medal with a stapler. A circle, oval, star or any other shape is placed in the middle of the blank, on which the name of the guest is beautifully written.
Another option for making place cards with your own hands is beautiful cards decorated with beads. To do this, it is enough to cut out rectangles of cardboard according to a certain size (chosen at your discretion) in an amount corresponding to the number of invited guests. Carefully fold each piece in half.
On the front side, write the guest's name and decorate the card using whatever the artist finds most suitable. This could be a flower or satin ribbon, beads or small shells glued with a glue gun. Inside the card you should write words of gratitude for the fact that the guests came to the heroes of the occasion on such a festive and memorable day. Leftover pieces of cardboard can be used to make fun signs for guests.
It is original, simple and convenient to use small photographs of guests to make place cards. They can be secured on wooden skewers tied with thin satin ribbons, and strengthened by inserting fruit into the candies.
Remember that the signs placed on the tables must correspond to the seating chart of the guests.
