Wedding place cards do two jobs: they tell guests where to sit and they reinforce the look of the table. Both jobs are easy to do at home with a printer, the right card stock, and an hour of focused work.
Choosing a style
The first decision is tent or flat. Tent cards stand on their own and read from either side, which suits round tables where guests approach from any direction. Flat cards lie on the plate or napkin and rely on a single printed side, which suits long banquets and minimalist place settings. The second decision is type: a script or calligraphy face echoes traditional invitations, while a clean sans-serif keeps the table modern. Pick fonts that match the rest of your stationery — invitations, menus, table numbers — so the table reads as one design.
Coordinating with the table plan
Place cards work alongside a master table plan posted at the entrance. Match the numbering or naming on the plan to the cards: if your plan calls table 7 “The Garden”, the cards for those guests should reference “The Garden” too. Colour-coding by table is a useful shortcut for larger weddings — a coloured stripe along the bottom edge or a small coloured dot beside the name lets staff and guests sort cards quickly during setup. Keep the colour scheme readable: pale tints on white card stock work better than saturated bands that fight the typography.
Mail merging guest names
For weddings of more than thirty guests, mail merge is faster than typing names individually and far less error-prone. Build the guest list in Excel or Google Sheets with one column per data point: First Name, Surname, Table Number, Meal Choice. Open the place card template in Word, go to Mailings > Start Mail Merge > Labels, select your guest list as the data source, then insert merge fields where the placeholder text sits. Preview before printing — extra spaces and missing fields show up clearly at this stage. The full step-by-step is in our mail merge guide for place cards.
Printing on card stock
Place cards need weight. 250gsm is the floor for cards that need to stand (tent fold), and 300gsm reads more substantial for flat cards on the table. Lighter weights warp under printer rollers and look thin at the place setting. Most home printers handle 250–300gsm through the manual feed tray rather than the main paper bin. Pre-cut sheets — Avery 5302 for 8-up tent cards, Avery 5305 for 10-up flat — save the trouble of trimming after printing.
Finishing touches
Small details lift home-printed cards into something closer to professional stationery. Rounded corners (a £5 corner-cutting punch) soften the look. A faux gold edge applied with a leafing pen adds weight to a flat card. Ribbon threaded through a punched hole works well for tent cards on rustic-themed tables. None of this is necessary; all of it is straightforward.
For format options before you commit to printing, see tent cards versus flat place cards.