This was definitely one of the thousands of things I learn by stalking Weddingbee. Since I’ve attended only two weddings in my life and both of them had someone guiding me to my seat, I had absolutely no idea what a seating chart was until a few months ago.
Now that I’ve been drawn into the wedding waters, I’ve found so many cool/fun seating ideas that I had to share my favorites.
This first one was one of the ones I liked the most, because we wanted to give our guests a tiny bottle of Pisco as a our wedding favors. That way we could share with them a traditional liquor from Chile. But since we want to offer the Pisco Sour at the reception, giving them more Pisco might be too much. I love the idea of mixing the favor with the card, though. 
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Another idea I loved was to hang the cards on a rope and tie them with clothespins. This is a classic! I love it! But I don’t want to use all that paper to make the cards.
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Since we have no “official” favors yet, I thought it would be a cool idea to mix whatever we use as favors to hold the names and tables of our guests like this cool DIY coaster project. But again, too much paper is involved.
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So then I searched for some more ideas. Maybe seeds in a bag? Or these cute nests?
Perhaps apples or compasses? But, I think I’d rather stick to my initial idea of something edible as our favors.
Because of that, I thought about using other non-paper surfaces to write our guest names on, and maybe they can be grouped around wood frames with their table numbers! So, I though about using rocks.
Or, maybe very small pieces of wood. I am still not sure what road to take, but I think once we define what our favor is going to be, I could use them as the surface to write our guests’ names on.
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Are you using a non-paper seating card? if so, would you like to share what you’re using? Have you seen any similar inspirational non-paper seating cards that I should take a look at?
those are all such cute ideas! i love doing something non-traditional and non-paper. I’m still searching for ideas too! Keep us updated on your search!
I’m definitely going to use paper for my escort cards. (There is nothing green abt my wedding, which I do feel guilty about). I’m intending to make card catalog style escort cards with an old type-writer font to go with the library theme. I just have to find the right type of paper. These are all super cute options though!
Months ago, Weddingbee mentioned an Amazon.com special on Yummyearth lollipops. I got 300 for next to nothing, and I am using them. Branches and trees emerge several times in our decor, so I bought some manzanita branches, a round hole punch, and some Zots. I am writing people’s names on the paper, gluing them (and a little look of fishing line) to the lollipop wrappers, and hanging them from the branches. It’s a new take on a lollipop tree. 
Those are all so cute!! I can’t wait to see what you pick!
I like the idea of combining your escort cards with your favor. I wish we would have done that too, but we worked on those project separately. Oh well!! We ended up just using paper escort cards to match all the other paper goods in our wedding. They ended up being easier than being green.
i think that using small pieces of wood will be very cute, and will tie your hole wedding theme/look. maybe you can write your guest’s names with purple ink!! just an idea 
Lots of great photos, I’m looking forward in seeing the direction you take.
Our favors are going to be a homebrew (homemade apple cider for kiddos!) the FI & I are making together. They’ll also serve as seating cards…finding lotsa cute inspirations for attaching “tags” to the bottle for the seating card. =) Check out non wedding related product packaging blogs for great ideas. =)
Is it the fact that you’d be making cardboard coasters that makes the project un-green?
You could easily replace the coaster with an edible favor (a cookie, maybe), use recycled wax paper bags to help make your footprint smaller, and still use the idea to label each one as an escort card.
@bruyere: I do love the idea of a lollipop tree, though!
These are fabulous! Thanks for putting them together. I feel like getting married again, just to use them . The apples remind me of a New York Themed Wedding that I went to recently, where they had candied applies instead. Thanks for the post!
All of these ideas are so cute! I think we’ll be using paper escort cards and I’m on the fence between doing something along the lines of the one with the clothes pins or pinning them all up on a big cork board…We’ll see as the wedding gets closer! I’m excited to see what you decide on since everything you do seems to be so crafty!
we have a poker theme for our wedding so we are using playing cards as our escort cards! the suits/numbers are the table numbers!
but, i know you’re trying to go green as possible so here’s my little suggestion. you could try going to any glass or tile company and gather their scraps and use those. we are going to this green granite and tile company where we live and using their scrap tiles for a project later on in our home. and most places like that will give you the scraps for free as long as you make a donation to one of their conservation funds or charities. hth!
I love the scraps of wood, especially for your outdoor ranch wedding, and if they’re building your ‘chapel’ then there will be plenty of wood leftover. I think we’ll just be having tags on our favors, which are paper heavy, but I think might actually be something most people will keep.
those all look great. i might have to show the boy the first picture. we constantly argue over whether it’s soda [me] or pop [him]. another point for soda!
I haven’t decided yet on what I want to do for place cards but some of your ideas got me thinking. I like the rock idea, too. Hmmm, now I will need to think about it.
We copied pengys idea! I beaded wine charms and tied each name on to the wine charms with a piece of ribbon. The wine glasses looked SO cook all laid out on the table.
We’re doing a “tag” onto our Mason drinking jars. The tag will hold the name of the guest along with table number…and it allows them to not lose their glass all night long.
Wow, I was already planning to do the Jones soda thing! Jones’ website allows you to order personalized bottles, where you put your picture and a saying on the bottle! I thought I was being original, but it’s cool to see what it might look like all set up!
Mrs. Poodle, Santiago, Chile/San Bernardino, CA Age and Occupation: 27, Industrial & Web Designer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Firefighter & Mountain Patrol Engagement Date: February 25, 2009 Wedding Date: January 2010 Venue: Mr. P's Grandparents’ Ranch About Me: I’m a Chilean girl who's crazy about nature and swimming. I enjoy carving, drawing, reading and sewing; I drool over computers, fabric, pretty paper, purple and patterns. To me, chocolate should be one of the seven wonders, right next to lemon pie. I never thought an exchange work experience program was going to change my life forever, but while working in California, I met Mr. Poodle, and ever since my days are better and brighter. We are two goofy souls that, after finding each other, couldn’t help but want to be together forever. It has being a long and sometimes hard road, since we have to deal with such a long distance between us, but we are now facing the last stage of our Fiancé Visa, and soon we will be together. You know the best part? We will be married! So I’ll be blogging from Chile until just a few months before our “green and purple” wedding.
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