One of the questions I am often asked to clarify for clients is the difference between escort (or seating) cards and place cards. There is a simple way to remember this:

Escort cards escort guests to their table, while place cards indicate at which place at the table they should sit.

Escort Cards

Escort cards are used at large events when guests need to be assigned to tables. The cards are generally set out in alphabetical order on a table or some other creative setting so that guests can easily find their card. Cards can be written for each couple or for each guest individually.

Escort cards need not be traditional cards, they could be votive candles (like the image from a Rex & Regina wedding below) apples with calligraphied names pinned to them, shells for a beach wedding… you name it!

These tented cards are anything but traditional. Used at a Rex & Regina wedding, these gorgeous cards were created by Saima Says and were part of a larger stationery suite used throughout the wedding.

These little bundles of lavender, featured on Martha Stewart,  illustrate that the sky is the limit with respect to creative  escort cards:

Place Cards

Place cards can be a useful tool in helping guests feel comfortable at the table at which they are assigned. A host should carefully consider where to seat each person so that, to the extend possible, each is seated near someone they know but also near someone with whom they can enjoy interesting conversation.

When guests have selected specific entrees in advance, the place cards can also help the servers know what entree each guest should receive. (Escort cards can also do this, but only if guests think to set their escort card in front of their place setting when they sit down.)

Here are a few inspiring place card ideas from Martha Stewart: