DIY: Escort Cards, Revisited

Hey all...it's been forever I know...but I have been following all of you, I've just been to lazy to post anything lately.  So I'm sorry!

But I'm back, for awhile anyways.  I'm going to be crazy busy from now until the wedding...I can't believe it's only 33 days away!

But anyways, I showed you all my escort cards quite awhile back.  If you don't remember, they looked like this:

I was planning on having these all laid out on a table when you first walked in, and each guests' table number would be on the inside.
Well I've since decided against that, and I'll be doing something a little different to show each guest to their table.
But I did realize that we'll need cards at each seat, because we're offering a choice between two entrees and we'll need a way to differentiate that so the waiters know who to serve what.  Our event coordinator recommended doing a little rhinestone or sticker or something on each card, but I wasn't really a fan of any of those options.
So I'm going to do this same design, with a different tent for each entree.

The green tents are for the chicken entree, the black for the steak, and the white is for the kids meals.

I sat down the other day and got done all of the people that have RSVP'd so far.

These will be put at each seat, but I'm going to try to figure out a way to let people know that they are free to move around at their table, they just need to make sure their tent follows them.


Are any of you dealing with multiple entree issues??  How are you distinguishing the two choices?

DIY: Escort Cards

So if you guys haven't realized yet, I'm doing things waaaay early.  I mean I still have 9 months to go and I just did my escort cards?!

(p.s. Apparently there is a difference between an escort card and a place card.  Guests will pick up an escort card when first coming in and it will direct them to which table they are seated at.  Once arriving at the table indicated by the escort card, a placecard will indicate which seat they are supposed to be seated at.)

And since I could care less who sits by who (I'm sure they are more than capable of figuring that out on their own) I'm going with the escort card.

Now before you start thinking I'm crazy, and how could I possibly know who is coming when I haven't even sent out my Save the Dates yet, let alone my invitations and gotten RSVPs back, I only did some of them!  And by some, I mean about 60.  Which, in the grand scheme of 300 potential guests, isn't much.  I did some of my close family and friends that I know will be there without a doubt.

This was my "trial run" of sorts, so I could figure out how they would work and how much paper I would need, etc.  And even though they were technically a trial, I will be using them because they turned out fantastic!

1.)  I started by cutting my green cardstock to 4"x5".  I scored a line at 2.5" and folded it in half to make a tent.  The front of the card measures 4"x2.5".

2.)  I made a template with Microsoft Digital Image Suite so I had a 4"x2.5" square and I added in the name.  I was able to fit 10 names per 8.5x11" piece of white cardstock.

As you can see each name has the first letter of the last name in the background.

3.)  I cut these out with my paper cutter and attached them to the center of the tent.

All 60 lined up.

They don't currently have table numbers on them, because well, we're 9 months out!!  And I figured it would be easier this way so I can do the table assignments at the end.  I'm going to print out another square, or possible on a label, the table number as well as information about my surprise favor (I know I keep bringing it up, but I will tell you about it soon, I promise) and place it on the inside of the tent.

So there you have it.  Quick and easy.  I'd say it took about an hour and a half to design, print, cut, and attach all 60 of these.

Price Breakdown as follows:
6 tents out of each $0.33 piece of green cardstock

10 names out of each $.05 piece of white cardstock
300 escort cards = $18.00