20 Unique Place Card Holders to Elevate Your Reception Tables

By Lauren Pardee
February 15, 2017
Anya Kernes Photography

These small details can lend tons of personality to your wedding tablescapes.

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Rebecca Yale Photography

Place cards play an important role in every wedding. These smaller details help guests find their dinner seats, ensuring a smooth transition from the ceremony and cocktail party to the reception. While place cards are functional, they can be an integral aspect of an event's design, too. We suggest pairing a traditional place card with a unique holder to nod to your event's aesthetic or locale. Take these Orange Blossom Specail Event place card holders, for example: The pros used shells to display these blue-and-white name tags. The oceanic motif highlighted this celebration's beachy setting beautifully.

A unique place card holder can complement other aspects of your tablescape, like your centerpieces or place settings. Use a natural element with plenty of color, such as fruit, to enhance your floral décor in a cohesive way. Strawberries are the perfect match for romantic red roses, while oranges can upgrade a vibrant arrangement of marigolds. The right unique place card holders can double as wedding favors, as well. Case in point: Guests would be thrilled to learn that they can use their personalized seating assignments after the big day to decorate their homes or adorn their desks at work. Even a metal figurine that speaks to your interests can work as a fun keepsake that will remind attendees of your party for years to come.

If you're looking for a subtler way to use your place card holder to elevate your wedding, try hinting at your menu with a food iteration. Get guests excited about the upcoming farm-to-table courses with a fresh vegetable holder. Want more unique place card holder inspiration? Check out the following examples ahead for several eye-catching ways to style this important wedding-day detail.

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Seasonal Oranges

Andrew Jade Photo
20 Orange Wedding Ideas for Couples Who Love Color

Nod to your warm-weather wedding date by using an in-season fruit as a place card holder. We love how Events By Stephanie Antoinette opted for oranges, adding a summery pop of color to this tablescape.

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Modern Lucite

Anya Kernes Photography
Lucite Wedding Ideas for the Minimalist Couple

Lucite place card holders are a great décor option for modern, minimalist couples. This iteration added a dose of contemporary flair to a simple name tag calligraphed by Olive Saint Lily.

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Garden Locale

Anna Roussos
25 Beautiful Garden Wedding Venues

Hosting a garden wedding? Use tiny succulents—like White Ribbon Boutique Events did here to display Michaela McBride name tags—as place card holders. They're an easy way to nod to your locale.

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Romantic Red

Sarah Gormley Photography
22 Wedding Centerpieces Bursting with Fruits and Vegetables

Vibrant red strawberries can be used as place card holders, too. This fruit's color matched Little Bit Heart's red calligraphy used at this celebration, but these berries would add punchy color to just about any setup.

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Brass Spikes

Mark Martinez
Is It Really Worth It to Collect Antiques for Your Wedding?

A brass-toned flower frog holder will ensure your place cards are one of a kind. Calligraphed assignments by Made By Meer finished off this look.

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Moody Pomegranate

Micah Schmidt of Double Knot Photography
20 Bold Ideas for a Red Wedding Color Palette

Pomegranate place card holders not only make for a delicious pre-dinner treat, but their dark red color will elevate any moody tablecape, as evidenced by this creation by Kendra Duke of Double Knot Designs.

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Antique and Wood

Ashleigh Jayne
Trending Now: Wood-Themed Wedding Ideas

Pair an antique flower frog with a wooden name tag for a cohesively rustic look. Miller Line Design calligraphed this weathered iteration.

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Autumnal Pumpkin

Kurt Boomer Photography
58 Genius Fall Wedding Ideas

Mini pumpkin place card holders can upgrade any autumnal tablescape. The Elegant Ninja used white gourds to match this table setting's ivory dishware.

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Feminine Metallic

Ryann Lindsey Photography
24 Metallic Wedding Ideas That Will Add a Little Shine to Your Big Day

Modernize your tablescape with a circular metallic place card holder. The pretty rose gold finish of this stand (which held a Wonderland Invites name tag) enhanced the feminine-meets-contemporary aesthetic of this pink-and-white reception table by Wilma Event Design.

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Centerpiece Inspiration

Peaches & Mint

Model your reception table after Lovely Weddings' by complementing your centerpiece vessels with matching place card holders. A brass vase inspired this metallic clip and calligraphy combination by Milia Druckt.

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Farm-Fresh Artichokes

Katie Grant Photography
20 Beautiful Ways to Add a Pop of Green to Your Wedding

Hint at your farm-to-table menu by using fresh artichokes to display place cards (these are by Signore e Mare), like Lemonade and Lenses did here.

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Personal Flower Arrangements

Danielle Smith Photography
Unique Ways to Use Flowers in Every Element of Your Wedding

Place personal flower arrangments at each table setting to make guests feel appreciated. Essential Wedding Hire created these lush place card holders out of baby's breath and dainty foliage to match this event's green-and-white color palette.

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Natural Colors

Laurelyn Savannah Photography
Wedding Place Cards That Are Truly Unique

Tie your floral centerpieces into your place settings with natural place card holders in the same hue. Purple radishes were used at this event to complement burgundy blooms.

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Stump Texture

Lauren Kinsey

Bring an element from your wedding's woodsy setting indoors with miniature stump place card holders. The bark on these iterations texturized Mitchell Willis Events' simple, all-white dishware.

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Bohemian Contrast

Lizelle Goussard Photography
Boho-Chic Wedding Ideas for Free-Spirited Brides and Grooms

If you're planning a largely pastel-hued wedding reception, you might consider breaking up that feminine color palette with a few rustic details. Cloud 9 used tiny antlers as place card holders for watercolor pink-and-white assignments by The Fozzy Book to do just that.

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Eclectic Snail

Sposto Photography
20 Blue Wedding Color Palettes We Love

An eclectic place card holder, like this brass snail, can serve as a fun conversation starter for guests—especially if it nods to your relationship. This metallic figurine spoke to this couple's love of nature while coordinating beautifully with Luminous Lines' silver name tags.

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Macaron Favors

Tiahna Lynn Photography
33 Wedding Cookies That Will Sweeten Up Your Dessert Table

Macarons can double as place card holders and delicious wedding favors. Plus, the dessert makes for a cohesive tablescape accent. I Need Sugar Therapy's rose gold treats fit right in with the menu, dishware, and assignments by Ridgely Calligraphy.

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Champagne Corks

Hazelnut Photography
20 Celebratory Champagne-Themed Wedding Ideas

Use Champagne corks as place card holders if you're looking to add celebratory flair to your wedding reception.

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Air Plants

Amanda Karen Photography
Flower and Plant Wedding Favor Ideas

Make like Always Andri and use an air plant as a place card holder (these held name tags by Flamboyant Invites) to enhance the earthy feel of your table settings.

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