Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, Canada
Age and Occupation: 25, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing Student
Engagement Date: December 2004
Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)
About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
Where Do I Sit?
April 24th, 2008 @ 8:30 am by Mrs. Flamingo
Before I even need to think about who I will be seating where (and let me say I am dreading this part!), I have to decide what type of escort cards I will be using. I recently learned the difference between escort cards and place cards : place cards actually assign the seats of the guests and escort cards simply say which table your guest will be seated at and they choose their seat.
Image source
Since I have a mixture of 2 elements for my wedding theme (Vintage Glamour & Hollywood Movies), I need to figure out which route I want to go with. I desperately need your help with this, awesome Weddingbee readers. Because I’ve had issues with incorporating movie elements in the wedding, maybe having movie escort cards is the perfect thing to solve part of that problem?
Our table numbers will be movies posters of that era. Even though the colors won’t necessarily fit with our decor, the design, typeface and overall feel of the posters brings you back to that era and that’s what we want. So then I thought of actually making slates with the movie name (aka table number), the guest name, as well as our wedding date.
I would make these in Photoshop and then print them out on hard cardboard paper. The fact that I would make them brown rather than the classic black takes away from the “be there, done that”. I thought this idea was really neat, but when I mentioned it to Mr.Flamingo, he wasn’t too keen about the idea - but he’s a visual person - so maybe I need to show him what I mean.
If we go with this option, then there’s the issue on how to display these… any suggestions?.
Option number 2 would be the glamour option.
We’ve all seen these before, but they are absolutely gorgeous - don’t you think? They would be simple to make and the display itself could create a beautiful setting. But because our centerpieces looks like a chandelier on stand, I’m afraid it will look too glam.
What do you think we should do? Any other suggestions?
18 Responses to “Where Do I Sit?”
What if you did some fancy hollywood stars (as in the stars along Hollywood Walk of Fame) as your escort cards?
Otherwise I would just go for something vintage/glam so it’s not too “themey”.
I definitely prefer the glamour option. The other comes across as a little overdone.
the first one could be cute if you painted something w/ chalkboard paint and then wrote the names on that way (maybe your favors if they’re a box?) - but you risk erasing names and it might be too much work.
I also think glam. The movie route could come across as a little too theme-y because to make it translate, you would need to do something very obvious — and that risks being more birthday party than glam wedding. Besides, when you print which table the guests are sitting, those will be movie names right?
Just to throw out there, did you consider doing a seating chart/table rather than escort cards? We’re doing that because we have an idea that fits our theme better than anything we could come up with for individual cards - maybe it could work that way for you too? (Or perhaps several charts - like having the movie poster that matches each table name and having the guests at that table as the stars and the cast and crew?)
I think lunapark’s idea of the larger movie posters is a great one … or you could have the posters on a larger white board, with the guests names as ‘autographs’ around the outside.
Or you could go for a similar look to the glamour options, but instead of ribbon hanging down, have camera film?
I agree with the others though - this is a hard theme to do subtlely, and you don’t want to be too heavy-handed.
i agree with the hive so far. i think the movie posters will add just enough to the hollywood movie theme. and vintage glamour plus movies go together sooo well.
you could also find a curvy, vintagey design (obviously not art deco, but you almost could get away with it) for a border on a simple escort card.
i found silver stardream paper on sale at Omer DeSerres (fellow montrealer here) that will be our (albeit, maybe small) escort cards. We’ll have to print out people’s names on clear and chartreuse labels, since the paper is just impossible for DIY printing/writing. but yeah… know that it’s out there and the silvery tone would work well.
http://www.littlethingsfavors.com/setof12moinc.html
Movie Inspired Clapboard Place Card Holders
Could you also do something in Illustrator to make the movie posters more in your colours? i.e. similar to what you did with your invitation?
i agree with going with the glamour thing. i think you might end up hitting people over the head with the movie theme instead of subtly incorporating it. (says the girl whose Bat Mitzvah theme was “movies” and who did theater tickets for escort cards– the main kids table? Dirty Dancing. ah, 1988).
How about making mini film canisters and labeling them with the movie/table and the names of the star/guest. You could use small round tins and use a sticker to create the film canister look and it can double to hold your favors.
I like this:
[img]http://bp1.blogger.com/_W0pVZkB1Z9U/RwFteDROH_I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/4DFtsxCKPi8/s400/RueksupapholWang_w_1021.jpg[/img]
(From Karl Ko Photography.)
It’s long ribbons in their colors, with cards with the movie names on it. (I think you could put the guests’ names on there too.) It’s more on the glam side . . . .
I will agree with everyone thus far…
I really think that going Old Hollywood Glam is the best route. You want it invoke a feeling- NOT feel like a Party-In-A-Box full of props….
Stick with elements that invoke that feeling. If you want to have something “Special” and still fun… think of glamourous vintage elements rather than “movie elements”….
I think that by having the projected silent movies, tables named after the movie posters, etc you will have enough subtle hints- now is the time to edit… perhaps having a vintage flapper-inspired headband wrapping the napkins, cigarette girl-inspired serving trays for the waiters at cocktail hour, mini-popcorn and candy display later in the night…. these are the tasteful details that will inspire the night to transpire in a glamorous way on its own….
Looking forward to seeing how it will all come together- and loving your “theme”
I also like Lunapark’s idea of the cast and crew on moves posters! Thanks for letting me know the difference between place cards and escort cards, I had no idea. **bad bee**
I found option 1 confusing to interpret. The numbers at to bottom (which I know realize is your wedding date) threw me off, because I thought they were telling me the section, table and seat number… like assigned seats at a concert. A simplified version would be nice, though.
[…] 1. I liked this post because of the cool wedding theme and design elements Miss Flamingo over at Weddingbee chose. I also like how she’s working her theme into her wedding. In this post she’s working on seating cards or place cards. Checkout “Where do I Sit?” […]
Thanks everyone with the input… in a way, Im glad you all said Glamour… 
Maybe Mr.F was right after all… haha
Amy H. I like the idea of ribbon… because I loooovvveee ribbon but it can become very costly. I dont know of any cheap prices for ribbon… any suggestions?
Danielle… thanks for the suggestions… I will ebay my way around to see if I couldnt find any interesting elements…
Thanks again everyone… and ill keep you posted!
[…] while back I was debating what style of escort card we should have. I went with the majority of your suggestions and went […]
