Escort, Seating, and Place Cards FAQs

Escort cards, seating cards and place cards are all printed cards that tell guests where to sit at the reception. Unlike an escort or seating card, which can be pinned to a decorated board or simply tented and laid out in alphabetical order on a table, a place card is positioned at the guest's seat on the table.

Personalizing your thank you notes isn't necessary but it can be a nice touch. You can have stationery customized with your names or simply purchase some stationery that you like at a local shop or online. The important things to remember: handwrite your thank you notes and send them out in a timely manner.

You should send out thank you notes within 2 weeks of receiving a gift.

• The best way to let your guests know about your gift registry is on your wedding website, which will allow you to link to the websites where you're registered. Never put your registry information on your actual wedding invitation. If you choose not to use a wedding website, you can list your registry information on an info card or in e-mail.
• If you'd prefer to avoid asking for gifts altogether, ask a friend or relative to e-mail your guests.

A guest book is a wonderful idea-it creates a lasting memento of who attended your wedding, and lets them share in your happiness by writing a note or well-wish. That said, a simple guest registry book can be kind of uninspiring for guests. Here are some of our favourite creative guest book ideas:

• Thumbprint guest book. We love this guest book from Etsy seller Bleu de Toi. Guests each add their thumbprint and it creates a fun, tasteful lasting keepsake.
• Silhouette guest book. Similar to the thumbprint idea, you provide a silhouette of the bride and groom's head and shoulders on a sheet of paper. Have guests write messages and encourage them to fill the entire silhouette (It's okay if some messages go outside the lines). After the wedding, frame the images in a black matte that is cut out in the silhouette shape, about _” smaller than the original silhouette. Some of the guest's messages will get cut off but it will create a more pleasing graphic effect.
• Typewriter. Put slips of paper into a vintage typewriter (new typewriter ribbon is still available from specialty stationers, amazingly enough!). Let guests type their own message to you.
• Photo booth. If you're having a photo booth at your wedding, provide a book with blank pages and photo corners so that guests can paste in a photo of themselves and write a corresponding note. If you're using black pages, remember to get white gel pens so that writing shows up.
• Wishing Wall. We love this cardboard honeycomb wish wall by the now-defunct Cardboard Design. But it would be pretty easy to replicate in a DIY fashion.
• Mini-journals. Take a set of mini-journals (like these from Moleskine) and print a label for the cover of each with a provocative question (e.g. Where should we travel together? What should we do on our first anniversary? What should we name our children?)

We'd recommend it. Guests like to know what they're eating, and the menu is both a nice design detail for your place settings as well as a lasting keepsake for the day. Also, studies have shown that we have a really hard time remembering food and the taste of food, so keeping a printed menu is a great reminder of this important detail of your special day (See Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein, 2011). You can have a menu at each place setting, or just handwrite a couple of chalkboards bistro-style if you like that look. The menu can also double as a place card by having guests' names printed or calligraphed at the top of each one. If you're giving a donation to charity in lieu of favours, you can also print this at the bottom of the menu.

It depends. If you're having a small, short, or informal ceremony, you can skip them. If your ceremony is larger or longer, it's a good idea. The ceremony gives guests a who's who, an order of events, and something to do while they're waiting for the ceremony to begin. If it happens to be hot out, the program can also serve as a handy sunshade or fan. (If you know your venue is going to be hot, you can literally have your programs printed in the form of paddle fans!)

• The program needn't be a weighty tome. A simple 1- or 2-sided flat card serves well for many short ceremonies. For a religious ceremony, you may want to do a booklet (order of service) in order to include explanations of specific rituals, hymns or readings.
• To add some fun to the program, we've seen brides include hand-drawn pictures by younger family members and a bride and groom trivia quiz. You can also have the program double as a seating chart by including a couple of pages at the back with an alphabetical list of guest names and their seating assignments. Another detail we love is a small pouch attached to the back of the program filled with confetti or perhaps tickets for a photo booth or after party.
• Unless you're using a fan, it's a good idea to make programs no larger than about 5"x 7" so that they can fit into men's suit jacket pockets and women's purses. (Regardless, be prepared for a sea of left-behind programs after the ceremony.)