All You Need to Know About Place Cards & Escort Cards

At Flying Little Birds, we create ways to display our signature handcrafted sachet favors, which work double duty as escort cards or name cards. Our favorite part of designing weddings and events is incorporating our sachet favors matching not only the theme of the celebration, but also adding your personality and style to the wedding/event décor.

I know there are many questions regarding the differences between place cards and escort cards: Do I need both of them? Is it one per guest? How should they be addressed? And so forth… If you are planning your wedding and have similar questions, this post is for you, as I am sharing tips on planning these items for your big day.

But first of all, let’s talk about the main differences between an escort card (or seat chart) and place card (sometimes referred to as a name card or name tag). Escort cards will assist in directing your guests to a designated table, while place cards are set on the table at the guest’s predetermined seat.

Ok, but which one(s) should I use at my wedding? Well, it will depend on a few facts; so let's check it out!

Escort Cards:

If you have a large guest list, having escort cards can be a particularly great idea. You will be able to previously preset the seat of your guests and avoid unevenly distributed tables or empty seats. Most weddings have escort cards placed at the entrance of the reception area as it makes it easier for the guests to find a table. The escort card will give piece of mind to your guests and prevent large parties from having to seat separating for lack of space at a particular table.

In case you decide to skip the escort cards, just have in mind that guests tend to spread out and sit with those that they already know. Besides the fact that this may create empty spots that would not look good in photos, you may also have extra costs at your wedding reception in order to keep all parties together.

Working on an escort card / seat chart can be an extra planning step on your agenda, but I recommend that it be done. It is best to start doing so as soon as you start receiving your RSVPs. And would we need one per guest? Nope! Actually, we normally have one per family, couples (married or not married) and single guests (with or without company). Here are a few tips when it comes to addressing these cards, depending on the formality of your reception.

Married Couples:

"Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith" - Formal

"Robert and Catherine Smith - Less Formal

Unmarried couples:

"Jennifer Sloan and David Smith" - Alphabetize the guests according to their last name

Singles:

Anna Sinclair

Anna Sinclair and Guest - If the person is bringing a guest

Family:

The Guedes Family

Place Cards or Name Cards:

When talking about place cards or name cards, this item will bring a bit more formality to your event. A place card designates where each guest will be seated at a wedding reception, pointing each guest to his or her particular seat at the table. Although place cards are optional, if you are planning a plated dinner offering more than one entrée, place cards can be very helpful for the serving staff to bring the correct meals to the guests. Have also in mind that every guest should have his or her own place card.

Normally, if you decide to have a place card at your reception, you may also consider having an escort card, in order to avoid having guests walking around at the reception looking for their names at each table. However, if you are hosting a small intimate reception with a long family table, you may only have the place cards skipping the escort cards.

Check our Wedding Favor Collection for more inspirations!

Would you like to know more about Flying Little Birds tips in styling and design events? Send your questions or comments!

XoXo, Carol Guedes

Event Design: @flyinglittlebirds

Flowers, Favors & Signage: @flyinglittlebirds

Venue: @501union

#weddingfavors #weddingdecor #weddingdesign #escortcards

The Brooklyn Easter Celebration

I believe that love is shown by small details. Since my Flying Little Birds Chloe and Lila were newborns, every Easter is celebrated with a handmade décor that I especially create for them.

The idea behind The Brooklyn Easter Celebration photo shoot was to capture all Easter décor memories created for my daughters, who are also my Flying Little Birds. This Easter handmade décor tradition turned into an incredibly sweet keepsake collection. From fabric baskets filled with colorful fabric eggs, to little bunnies to go along with the baskets, each year I created a new addition, such as crayon cases, jordan almonds sachets, ears’ bunny bag and more.

Last year, I invited the photographer Oye Atama for a family photo shoot to celebrate the Easter in our favorite park, The Brooklyn Bridge Park. As we live in Brooklyn, having the NYC skyline as a backdrop was a perfect location for this styled photo shoot. Besides the keepsake items, I also invited Rafaela, from Baked by Rafaela Capellan, to bake lovely Bunny Cookies.

Flying Little Birds is an event planning and design studio based in Brooklyn, and specialized in thoughtful events with creative décor. The essence of Flying Little Birds Event Design services is based on capturing the personality of our clients styling thoughtful events with creative décor and unique favors for weddings, baby shower celebrations, memorable birthday parties and other social celebrations in the greater New York City area.

Happy Easter everyone!

Planning & Design, Flowers & Favors: @flyinglittlebirds

Photos: @oye_atama

Cookies: @Bakedbyrcapellan

Love,

Carol Guedes

#Easter #HandmadeDecor #eventdesign

Brooklyn Wedding Crashers

We had such a great time at the Wedding Crashers Brooklyn Fair last weekend. It was so nice to meet lovely couples and hang around with top wedding vendors and creatives. Hope we have inspired you with our handmade wedding favors & styling tips!

As an event designer, I treasure attention to personalization, as small details can wow guests, if considered as part of the overall decor. In case you missed the show and would like a sneak peak of how you can create a unique décor by adding personalized touches with our handmade favors, go ahead and scroll down! A huge thanks to Stephanie Eichman for taking gorgeous pictures of our booth!

The idea of Flying Little Birds Handmade Wedding Favor Collection is to offer favors that allow guests to bring home an extension of your Big Day celebration. Serving as double duty favors, the possibilities to style a reception are endless, as they can also be used as name tags or escort cards.

Displaying the favors as escort cards is an original way to wow guests as an element of surprise on the decor. Here we brought an example of how hanging the dried lavender favors on a beautiful cherry blossom branches, can add personality in the ceremony decor.

Jordan Almond or Dried Lavender sachets look great as name tags on the table setting.

You can choose from 18 different silk ribbon colors besides diverse options of personalized tags, including calligraphy name tags, seal wax monograms, to match your wedding style decor.

Monogram and "With Love" Seal Wax Tags

Watercolor Tags

Each white pouch is carefully crafted here in Brooklyn and shipped nationwide, and even worldwide. We have shipped our favors to France, Italy and many other destinations around the world.

For more detailed information, visit our online store. In case you have a special idea in mind, send us an email and I would be happy to add a custom order for you at our store.

And if you are located in NYC, come and visit us on April 4th at the Green Building Open House. We will be there with our favors sharing more tips about styling your big day with our Favors! Make sure you RSVP beforehand at the Green Building Instagram account.

#weddingfavors #weddingdecor #weddingdesign #eventdesign #handmadefavors