Wedding Printing Checklist: Order of Service, Tent Cards and Signage

Planning a wedding means juggling a hundred small jobs at once, and print is one of the ones people leave until far too late. Good stationery does more work than most couples expect. It guides guests to their seats without a fuss, gives the vicar or registrar's timings a clear home, and gives your nan something to keep in a drawer for the next twenty years. This wedding printing checklist helps you manage essential items like the order of service, tent cards, and site signage with complete confidence.

We print wedding stationery for venues across London every weekend of the season, from marquees in Richmond Park to registry offices near Elephant and Castle, and same-day options exist for the inevitable last-minute changes. Get the print sorted early and it is one less thing competing for your attention the week of the wedding.

Essential Pre-Event Stationery Checklist

Every venue needs a mix of the practical and the pretty, signage that actually directs people and stationery that looks like it belongs in the photos. Sorting out what you need early keeps you off the rush order list and off the last-minute price hikes that come with it. Here is what most couples end up ordering:

• Order of Service: Keeps your guests informed during the ceremony by detailing hymns, readings, and key participants.
• Tent Cards & Place Name Cards: Helps your guests locate their assigned tables and seats quickly during the wedding breakfast.
• Welcome Signage: Sets a welcoming tone at the entrance and provides immediate reassurance to your arriving visitors.
• Seating Plans: Clear visual charts placed near the reception entry to avoid unnecessary bottlenecks.
• Menu Cards: Placed on tables to inform your guests of upcoming courses and dietary options.

Ordering everything together, same paper stock, same colour palette, same fonts, is the easiest way to make the whole venue feel like one considered event rather than a stack of separate print jobs.

Designing a Clear Order of Service Booklet

The order of service is the one piece of stationery every single guest holds during the ceremony itself, so it earns a bit more care than the rest. Beyond guiding people through hymns and readings, it is usually the thing that ends up pressed in a book somewhere years later. Match it to your overall look, but keep the text legible even in a dim church or a marquee at dusk.

Key Content Requirements

Cover the running order, the names of everyone standing up with you, the titles of any readings or hymns, and the words themselves if guests are expected to join in. A short thank you on the back cover, to parents, to whoever drove three hours with the flowers, goes down well and costs nothing extra to print.

Paper and Sizing Options

A5 is the most popular fold and feels right in the hand, though A4 works if you have a longer running order. We recommend 250gsm for the cover and 150gsm for the internal pages, sturdy enough to survive being folded into a coat pocket without creasing or showing ink through from the other side. You can explore verified size and paper options directly on our a5 order of service printing page.

Tent Cards and Place Names for Reception Success

A well-run reception depends on guests finding their seats without wandering around asking, and that comes down to table stationery that is legible from a few feet away and consistent across every table in the room.

Seating Plan Placement

Put the main seating chart right at the entrance to the dining room, somewhere people naturally pause before heading in. Listing guests alphabetically rather than by table number gets everyone to their seat faster than making people scan every table looking for their name.

Table Numbers and Tent Cards

Table numbers need to stand tall enough to be seen over the flowers and the wine glasses, which trips up more couples than you would think. Folded tent cards do the job well because they stay upright on their own. Order your tent cards well in advance, and double-check the spelling of every guest name before the final files go to print. Nobody enjoys reprinting three hundred place cards the week of the wedding.

Venue Signage That Keeps Guests Informed

Good directional signage means your guests find the ceremony room, the bar and the loos without ever having to flag down a member of staff, which matters more at a sprawling country house venue than a small registry office.

Welcome Boards and Directional Signs

An A1 or A2 welcome board by the entrance reassures arriving guests they are in the right place, which matters more than you would think when a venue has more than one function room booked on the same day. A few smaller directional signs near the stairwells, gardens or loos keep everyone moving without a fuss.

Material Selection

Rigid foam board is light enough to sit on an easel all day without sagging, and it stays completely flat rather than curling at the edges the way thinner card can. You can review size options on our A2 foam board printing page. If your venue has an outdoor ceremony space or garden reception, our A2 waterproof posters keeps signage looking sharp regardless of a surprise shower.

Print Timeline and Quality Control Tips

Print is one of the easiest things to leave too late, mostly because it feels like a small job compared to the venue and the catering. Give yourself a proper runway and it stops being a source of stress in the final fortnight.

Proofreading and File Verification

Check every spelling twice, especially guest names and menu details. Confirm image resolutions are set to 300 DPI and colours are converted to CMYK before sending your files to print.

Production Schedule

Finalise your guest list and seating plan around three weeks before the big day, then aim to have your stationery printed two to three weeks before the event date. That leaves enough breathing room for a proofreading pass and any last-minute name changes. If a table shuffles at the eleventh hour, London couples can lean on our same-day services for a fast reprint. Browse fast options on our a5 order of service printing page for quick production turnarounds.

Complete Your Wedding Print Orders Today

Good stationery is one of those things nobody notices when it goes right, and everybody notices when it does not. From the order of service in the front pew to the welcome board at the door, ExactPrint prints reliable, sharp-looking wedding stationery built around your actual timeline.

From custom booklets to venue signage and tent cards, our London team gets the physical bits right so you can focus on the parts that actually need your attention. Sort your wedding printing early and it becomes one less thing to think about in the final week.

Explore our complete range and order your tent card printing today to finalise your reception setup.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far in advance should wedding stationery be printed?

Finalise and print your stationery at least two to three weeks before your event date. This timeframe accounts for final RSVP responses, seating adjustments, and standard production schedules.

What paper weight is recommended for order of service booklets?

We recommend 250gsm for the cover and 150gsm for the internal pages. It gives a professional, sturdy finish that holds its shape during handling and stops ink from showing through on the inside pages.

Which signage materials work best for indoor and outdoor venues?

Foam core boards work brilliantly indoors on display easels. Outdoor venue displays benefit from waterproof posters or thicker rigid boards that resist wind and rain moisture.

Can last-minute seating chart changes be accommodated?

Yes, same-day printing services allow fast updates if your guest counts change shortly before the ceremony. Submitting print-ready PDF files early in the morning ensures same-day collection or delivery across London.

What size should wedding welcome boards be?

A1 and A2 sizes offer optimal visibility at venue entrances. They fit standard display easels and are easily readable from a distance.