Wedding Signs: 11 to Use or Skip

Four signs do the real work at most weddings. The welcome sign tells guests they are in the right place. The seating sign gets them to a table. The cards and gifts sign stops envelopes from piling up on the wrong table. The bar sign tells them what to order. Everything else on this list is useful only when your day includes what the sign points to.

The Emily Post Institute's column on printed items for your wedding groups day-of paper the same way. It names directions for guests, instructions for the guest book and descriptions of the food and drink. It also asks that every sign sound as gracious as you would in person.

Each sign needs only a line or two. Here is what the common ones say.

1. Welcome sign at the entrance (must-have)

The welcome sign is the first thing guests see. It tells them they've found the right wedding, which matters at a venue that hosts two events on one day. It usually carries your names, the date and a short greeting.

Of all your signs, the welcome sign is read from farthest away. Print it big enough to read from the path, usually as a poster on an easel. The wording and the look have their own guide, wedding welcome sign ideas, and the welcome sign size guide covers what to print it on.

2. Seating chart or find your seat sign (must-have)

If you assign tables, guests need a way to find theirs. You have two options. A seating chart poster lists every guest by table or by name. Or escort cards sit on a table, each with a guest's name and table number, under a small sign that says "Find your seat."

Etiquette agrees that guests need a way to find their table. Emily Post's column on printed items calls place cards or escort cards with the table number "a must at all but the most casual of weddings." For building the chart itself, see how to make a wedding table seating chart. For easels, frames and other displays, see ideas for a seating chart at a wedding.

With open seating, you need no chart. A no seating chart sign, such as "Choose a seat, not a side," tells guests they can sit anywhere. Keep a few tables marked reserved for family, though.

3. Cards and gifts sign at the gift table (must-have)

Guests arrive holding envelopes and boxes and don't know where to put them. A cards and gifts sign on one table near the entrance solves that. "Cards and gifts. Thank you for celebrating with us" is enough.

Put the table where someone you trust can see it, and give it a box or a lidded basket for cards. A 5 × 7 in sign in a frame is the right size for a tabletop. At the end of the night, a named person takes the box to a car.

4. Bar sign if you serve signature drinks (must-have)

A bar that pours only beer and wine can do without a sign. Signature drinks can't, because guests can't order a drink they've never heard of. The sign gives each drink a name and its ingredients, plus one line for wine, beer and soft drinks.

The wedding bar sign guide shows what to list for each kind of bar, from a full open bar to a dry wedding.

5. Reserved signs for the front rows and family tables

The front rows at the ceremony belong to your closest family. The Emily Post Institute's guide to ceremony seating says that even when guests sit where they like, the front seats are still usually kept for close family so they have a good view.

A reserved sign on each held row stops an early guest from taking a parent's seat. Use one per row or one per side. At the reception, put one on the family table if seating is open. A 5 × 7 in card on a chair or in a small stand works. "Reserved for family" says enough.

6. Unplugged ceremony sign

An unplugged ceremony sign asks guests to put phones and cameras away while you marry. Your photographer gets a clear aisle. Your guests watch you instead of a screen.

Going unplugged can also help guests remember the ceremony. A study at Fairfield University, reported in 2013 by the Association for Psychological Science, led students on a museum tour. Students recognized the objects they photographed less accurately than the ones they simply looked at.

Emily Post's etiquette advice lists three ways to ask about phones: a line in the program, a framed sign next to the guest book, or a short announcement before the processional. Its advice is that the sign and the program are less intrusive than the announcement. You can still use the sign and ask your officiant for a quick reminder. An 8 × 10 in sign at the entrance is easy to read as guests walk past.

7. Guest book sign

If you have a guest book, guests need to know it's there and what to do with it. A short sign does that: "Please sign our guest book." If you use an alternative, such as a signed print or advice cards, the sign has to explain it in one or two lines.

Place it at the entrance or at cocktail hour, on the same table as the book and pens. The wedding guest book alternative guide lists other ideas, each with the sign it needs.

8. Order of events sign

An order of events sign shows the day's timeline: ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, first dance, cake, send-off. It helps when guests move between spaces or when there are no programs. Times are useful at a long reception, so guests with a babysitter can plan.

Keep it to the moments guests take part in, about six to nine lines. Put it at the entrance to the reception or next to the bar, where people stand and read. If you print ceremony programs, skip it at the ceremony.

9. In loving memory sign

An in loving memory sign honors someone who has died. It can stand alone or sit beside a reserved chair, often with a framed photo. A short line is enough: "Those we love don't go away. They walk beside us every day."

An in loving memory sign is optional. A program also suits a brief tribute to a loved one, as the Emily Post column on printed items notes. Choose the sign if you want a visible place for the memory, and the program if you'd rather keep it quiet.

10. Hashtag sign

A hashtag sign gives guests one tag to use when they post. You then find the photos in one place. It's useful only if you'll actually look them up.

Check the tag before you print. Search it on your platforms and make sure nobody else has used it. Put the sign at cocktail hour or on the bar, where phones are out anyway.

11. Favor sign

A favor sign tells guests the small gifts on a table are theirs to take. Without one, favors often stay where they were left. "Please take one, with love and thanks" covers it.

Put it at the exit or on the favor table, at about table height. If your favors sit at each place setting, you can skip this one.

A wedding sign earns its place when a guest would otherwise have to ask someone.

How to choose which wedding signs you need

Go down the table and keep a sign only if its "Skip it when" doesn't apply to you.

Ten of the eleven signs, everything here except the welcome sign and the seating chart, come in our printable wedding signs pack. It costs $15 per design, in four designs, at 8 × 10 in, 5 × 7 in or a full Letter or A4 sheet. After you pay, a download link arrives by email. You open the personalizer from the downloaded folder in Google Chrome on your computer, type your names, date and wording, click Download PDF and print at Actual size (100%) on cardstock or photo paper. The order of events sign holds up to nine lines.

Our signs pack is the wrong choice in two cases. It doesn't make the large signs. The welcome sign and the seating chart are separate pieces, with poster files for a print shop. It also doesn't make physical signs. If you want acrylic, mirror or wood, you need a sign maker.