Seating chart, escort cards or place cards?
These four things are often confused and do different jobs. Two of them can replace each other. Two of them work best together.
Once the plan is finished, you still have to tell 100 people where to sit. There are four standard ways to do it, and the words get muddled constantly, so start with what each one actually is.
The four options, defined
A seating chart (also called a table plan) is one display at the entrance, listing every guest and their table. Guests read it once, remember a number, and walk in. One object to make, one object to transport, one object to lose.
Escort cards are small individual cards, one per guest, laid out on a table by the entrance. Each carries a name and a table number. The guest picks up their own card and carries it in. Same information as the chart, split into 100 pieces.
Place cards sit on the table itself and say which chair is yours. They do not tell anyone which table to go to; they only work once you are already there. This is why place cards are almost always used alongside a chart or escort cards, not instead of them.
A digital or QR option is a sign with a code that opens a page listing table assignments on the guest's phone. Cheap, and updateable up to the last minute.
Side by side
| Seating chart | Escort cards | Place cards | Digital / QR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tells guests | Which table | Which table | Which chair | Which table |
| Number of items | One | One per guest | One per guest | One sign |
| Cost pattern | Flat, whatever your guest count | Rises with every guest | Rises with every guest | Flat and low |
| Effort | Design once, print once | Print, cut, write, alphabetise, transport | Print, write, place on 100 covers | Build the page, print one sign |
| Last-minute changes | Hard once printed | Easy: rewrite one card | Easy: remove one card | Easiest |
| Queue at the door | Can bottleneck | Spreads out well | No queue | Depends on signal |
| Outdoors | Fine if mounted | Blows away | Blows away | Fine, if there is signal |
| Formality | Any | Traditional to modern | Formal | Informal |
When each one is right
Choose a seating chart if you have more than about 60 guests, an indoor entrance with wall or easel space, and you would rather do one careful job than 100 small ones. It is also the cheapest printed option per guest at scale, because the cost does not move whether you have 80 names on it or 180. Only a QR sign comes in lower.
Choose escort cards if your guest list is still moving in the final week, if there is no sensible wall to put a chart on, or if you want the cards to do double duty as favours: a luggage tag, a sprig of rosemary, a small bottle. They also spread arrivals out, because 100 people can approach a long table from both sides, whereas 100 people cannot read one poster at once.
Add place cards if you are seating specific chairs rather than just tables. You should be doing that if there is a formal meal with plated courses, if you have carefully placed people next to each other, or if the caterer needs to know who ordered the fish. Without place cards, all the work you did on who sits beside whom evaporates the moment guests sit down.
Choose digital if the venue has reliable signal, your crowd is comfortable with it, and the guest list genuinely might change on the day. Put a printed copy somewhere too. Someone's phone will be dead.
The most common combination
A single chart at the entrance to get people to the right table, plus place cards on the table to set the exact seats. You make one large printed item and 100 small ones, and nothing has to be alphabetised on a windy lawn.
If you would rather not do 100 small ones, a chart alone is completely acceptable. Guests will sort out their own chairs within a table, which is fine unless the seating within the table mattered.
Practical details people learn the hard way
Sort by name, not by table, on a chart for a large wedding. An A-Z list of every guest with their table number lets someone find themselves in three seconds. A chart grouped by table looks better and forces guests to scan ten lists. Under about 80 guests, by-table is fine and prettier. Over that, alphabetical wins on the day.
Escort cards must be alphabetised and stay that way. This is a real job for one hour with two people, and someone needs to tidy the table twice during arrivals.
Size the chart for reading distance. A2 works for around 60 to 80 names. Above that, go to A1 or 24x36in, or split into two boards. Names below about 18pt are hard to read at arm's length in dim lighting.
Check spellings twice, and check preferred names. A misspelled surname on a poster is seen by every guest at the wedding.
Print at least a week before. Whatever you choose, allow time for a reprint. Something will be wrong.
What tablout gives you
Once your plan is built in the planner, you can produce a seating chart poster directly from it: four print templates, sizes A2, A1, 18x24in and 24x36in, laid out either by table or as an A-Z index of names. The planner and the watermarked preview are free. The print-ready file is a one-off €9.99: PNG at up to 300 DPI, SVG, print or save as PDF, and a 3 mm bleed version, no watermark.
For escort cards and place cards, tablout does not print them, but it does export your guest list as CSV or TXT, with names and table assignments. That file is what a mail merge in Word or Pages needs, and it saves retyping 100 names into a template. Export the floor plan as a PNG at the same time and send it to the venue.
Whatever display you land on, the underlying plan is the same work. If you have not built it yet, start with the step-by-step method, and check your table count against the sizing guide before you commit to a design.
Turn your plan into a poster
Four print templates, A2 to 24x36in, by table or A-Z. Preview and download from the same plan you built, in the browser.
Open the planner →Common questions
- What is the difference between escort cards and place cards?
- Escort cards sit at the entrance and tell a guest which table to go to. Place cards sit on the table and tell them which chair is theirs. Escort cards replace a seating chart; place cards do not.
- Do I need both a seating chart and place cards?
- Only if the exact seat matters, for example with a plated meal, a formal dinner, or seating you have carefully arranged person by person. For a relaxed reception, a chart alone is enough.
- Which is cheaper, a chart or escort cards?
- A chart, at almost any guest count above about 40, because it is one printed item regardless of numbers. Escort cards cost and take time per guest, so 150 guests means 150 cards written, cut and sorted.
- Can I change a seating chart at the last minute?
- Not once it is printed, which is the main argument for escort cards if your numbers are unsettled. Leave one or two flexible seats in the plan so late changes do not require a reprint.
- What size should a seating chart poster be?
- A2 handles roughly 60 to 80 names comfortably. For 100 or more, use A1 or 24x36in, or split it across two boards, and keep names large enough to read from arm's length.