Using manzanita trees to hang escort cards has been an extremely popular trend the last few years.  It looks so lovely and cool in photos that if you’re already using trees in your decor, its hard to pass up.
BUT, it does pose some challenges.  First, its not immediately clear to your guests that they’re supposed to take the cards.  Hanging on the trees, they look so much like decor that your guests don’t necessarily know that these cards are vital to your seating arrangements.
Also, your guests may not be able to find their names.  The pure simple beauty of cards displayed alphabetically on a table is that your guests immediately know what to do and how to look for their name.  That does not always translate to a tree.  There is no way to simply and easily arrange cards on a tree so that your guests merely have to skim through to find their name.  If just doesn’t work that way, nor can it.  Invevitably, they will be looking card by card until they find their own (if they find their own).
So then what do you do if you’re tied to the idea of using these lovely branches to arrange your escort cards?  Well…

• You can use the branches to ACCENT the table on which the cards will be displayed.
• You can label the trees to help your guests narrow their search.
• You can use small wire hooks to create more lateral space on the tree branches, thus making it easier to hang and remove escort cards.
• You can create a seating chart, break it up into multiple sections, and hang each section on the tree….labeled of course!  So instead of one huge 3′ x 4′ foam board you would have multiple 1′ x 6″ sections!

Just remember, when it comes to seating your guests it really must be functional.  Otherwise, your guests will be confused, have to be re-directed and a seating period that should have taken no more than 30 minutes will end up pushing 60!

Happy Planning!

You may be planning a small intimate dinner but want to assign your guests seats at the table.  Or perhaps you have a large soiree and want to assign your guests to a particular table, but let them choose their seat.  And maybe you have a desire to do both: tell your guests what table and what seat they are in.  Well, this is where place cards and escort cards come in.

When assigning guests to a particular table, you use Escort Cards to tell your guests what table they are assigned to (so they may escort themselves to the proper table).  These are usually setup alphabetically as guests are about to enter the dining area.

When you are assigning guests to a particular seat at a table, you use Place Cards to tell your guests which seat (or place) at the table is theirs.  These are typically pre-set at the place settings at the dining table(s).

Now, you may ask yourself “So?!  What’s the big deal?”  Well, it is a big deal when you are using BOTH.  Escort Cards so your guests may find their table and Place Cards so they may find their seats.

Why would you be using both?  A few reasons.

• For a particular type of dinner service, your venue may require you to use Place Cards at the tables to denote the meal selections (and if your party is over 20 or 30 people, then you will want the Escort Cards so your guests know which table to go to).
• Does a portion of your dinner program require audience pickups by a cameraman?  If so, then you better know where those folks are sitting!  In this case, Place Cards may only be required for a few people, while Escort Cards are provided for everyone.
• Maybe you simply like the formality and presentation of using both Escort Cards and Place Cards.

Whether you are using one or both, it is a good idea to know the distinction so as to avoid any confusion.  I once had a client that said “Escort Cards” and I figured we were talking about the same thing (I’ve since learned not to take such things for granted).  So when they brought me Place Cards instead of Escort Cards and no way to tell their guests what table they were at in the first place , it presented a great challenge (trying to tell 100 guests what table they are seated at is no easy task)!  Luckily, I had about 24 hours to find an effective solution.

So don’t let something as silly as the wrong phrase be a monkey wrench in your day!  Remember, your guests are first ESCORTed to a table and then PLACEd at a seat.