Wedding Day Signage – Checklist, Hot Tips and Timelines
Signage can be such an after thought for on-the-day signage, and we’re here to offer some sound advice and hopefully change your mind on it’s impact at your wedding. We are true believers in making every opportunity one to elevate your styling and infuse your personality into every part of your day! Signage is such an incredible way to do this – so read on!
Signage Checklist – What you Need, What You Don’t
Essentials
- Order of the Day
- Seating Plan
- Table Numbers
- Bar Menu
- Cards Sign
Situational
- Name Cards
- Menus
- Directional Signage
- Reserved
- Memorial Sign
Nice-to-Haves
- Welcome sign
- Guestbook Sign
- Photobooth Sign
I can see it now – the shock at putting the ‘Welcome Sign’ as a nice-to-have, but hear me out here. If budget won’t allow all the essentials, then something has to give. While it’s nice to welcome people to your wedding, it’s likely obvious they have arrived in the right place, at the right time, and know whose wedding it is. Am I right? An Order of the Day is a far more practical option that is often not included and we think should it be! It gives your guests a timeline of events – how many weddings have you been to and feel you just don’t know what is happening, or when you will get to eat or grab a drink? I certainly have, and I feel much more at ease when I know what is coming.
Bar menus eliminate the bottleneck at the bar (please excuse the terrible pun). If guests can view the menu prior, it makes service so much easier for all involved and that creates happy guests and happy bar staff!
Directional signage is needed if it will be somewhat unclear for guest movement throughout the venue. If it’s not obvious where the ceremony is – you need a sign to direct them where to walk to. If it’s not clear where other amenities are on-site (particularly with a marquee wedding), then signage pointing to parking, the marquee or toilets are a must.
Name cards and Menus come down to a few things. If you’re not fussed where your guests seat themselves on the table you’ve assigned then they don’t need to have designated seats. For menus, you may prefer to have a large menu displayed if having a buffet, so guests can read this before or as they go up. If you have alternative drop, or shared platters (and allergies), you may opt for menus at each place setting or at least a couple of menus per table to pass around. It all comes down to what type of menu you’ve chosen – speak to your caterer to see what their suggestion is here.
Create Statement Signage
Your signage and stationery should be an integral part of your overall wedding styling. Like floral, it should be a real statement to lift your day and done well it takes your styling up a notch. You’re having it anyway, so why not make sure they’re statements.
Ways to do this can be so simple -
Shapes
Use router-cut shape throughput your signage. Right now curves and waves are the favourite, but you can also level this up by doing one side wave, or if using arched signage then have this on the bottom rather than the top. It’s just a little different and adds to the styling.
You can also opt for stand-alone signage which is oversized. These are real statement pieces and we did this at our own wedding using large 2.4m signage, coupled with our Order of the Day, and then also a Seating Plan. It worked so well, it certainly wasn’t lost amongst all the other details and it truly become part of the styling in a big way.
Wording
Use wording that is unique to you. For one couple, they were big Jersey Shore fans so we used “Party’s hereeee” on their Seating Plan. It can be as simple as this, or simply changing out your standard “Welcome to our wedding” with something more personalised like “Cheers to you – our favourite people”.
Playing with wording injects instant fun and creates that vibe that is yours.
Colours
All of our semi-custom designs allow to have background and text colours changed. Use elevated colours that go with your overall styling for the day and don’t be afraid to play around with your ideas here. Again – you’re paying for this signage so don’t just pass it off as just another thing you “have” to do – treat it like the styling star is it!
Drawings
If you really want to take your signage to the next level, add in hand drawn pictures. We’ve done it all! From sketches of pets to features at a venue – it offers something a little different and these can be added to our semi-custom designs for a small additional price.
Hot Takes
Check your spelling
It is your responsibility to check all spelling, and the designers job to make sure the design work is perfect. It can be costly if it goes to print without those simple checks by you in place. Have someone double-check before you send it to your designer.
Placement of your signage
Think about guest flow, how will they arrive, and how they will then move through the venue on the day and night. When they enter the reception what door will they come through and are your table numbers facing this way? Simple things that can easily be missed!
You don’t have to match your invitations
This is such a sicking point for so many couples. They’ve designed their invitations 12-18 months before their wedding and their style has since changed. You’re not going to have anyone compare the signage on your day to you invitation – trust me! Only you will likely fuss over this. Sure, you likely will have your photographer photograph it on the day, but it will be while you’re getting ready and won’t be with any other on-the-day signage. So don’t stress – do what you want, or allow you stylist to suggest what will work best with the overall styling of your day.
Timelines + Process
We’ve based this on our own process, so if you are using another company do make sure you check their time frames, so you’re not missing out or being stung with rush fees.
8-12 months out
Book in your wedding signage – this means we can keep your spot. We are limited to the amount we can do for specific dates (much like everyone else). You can book in the signage you know you need now and pay your booking fee to secure it all (this is 30% of your signage cost).
At this stage, you don’t need to choose anything other than the types of signage you’re wanting. You can add in some signage options at a later stage aswell – so don’t stress! As long as you’ve booked in for signage – your place is reserved.
2 months out
We will gather all details we need from you in a form, so it’s important to have your RSVPs back and working through your seating plan. At this point you will decide on your semi-custom design, signage shape and colours also.
We will ask you for these in either Word or Excel spreadsheet (e.g. name cards) so we can populate your semi-custom designs. We don’t accept these in written form – they must be easily copied straight into the designs and spell checked prior.
At the very latest, we will need your details 6 weeks before your date to have enough time to design, supply proofs for approval and then send them all for production.
4-6 weeks out
We will design these, and send you through your proof. You can then make amendments to these (pricing includes initial proof and one amendment). Once you’ve approved them we send them off to be produced.
2-3 weeks out
We can then either courier to you once it’s all ready, or we will have it for safe keeping for when we deliver your hire booking or setup your wedding (or if you’re collecting your hire booking it will be ready with this).
Do you have more clarity on your on-the-day signage?
Head on over and view all of our semi-custom designs below