Printable Wedding Place Cards

How the Printable PDF Is Built — Sheet-Ready, Bleed-Marked

The PDF that comes out of the export is genuinely print-ready — not a screen-friendly file you’ll need to re-format. Specs:

• 300 DPI resolution, embedded fonts, no font licenses needed by the printer.
• 3 mm bleed on all sides plus crop marks at the corners — both home printers and local print shops can use the file as-is.
• RGB by default, with a CMYK option for offset-press print shops.
• Sheet layouts for US Letter and A4, plus a custom single-card layout for short runs.
• Avery codes preset — 5302 (8-up tent), 5305 (10-up flat), 8395 (8-up name badge).

Get personalized name cards generated from the seating chart

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Sheet Layout — How Many Cards Per Page

Sheet layout is largely a function of card size. The default Avery 5302 (3.5×2 tent-fold) gives 8 cards per US Letter sheet. The flatter 2.5×3.5 layout gets 10 cards. Custom sizes scale accordingly — the export rounds down so you never end up with a sliver of a card on the edge of the sheet.

For a 100-guest wedding, that’s 13 sheets at 8-up, or 10 sheets at 10-up. Tweak the sheet count to match the cardstock package your printer or stationer carries.

Cardstock Choice for Place Cards

Cardstock weight and finish change how the printed card looks and lasts. Not all weights work with home printers, and not all finishes hold ink the same way.

• 80 lb cardstock — the lightest you’d want. Light enough for any home printer, heavy enough that tent-folds stand without leaning. Recommended for budget runs or test batches.
• 100 lb cardstock — the wedding default. Most home printers handle it; bookbindery-grade printers handle it cleanly. Premium feel without the premium price.
• 110 lb cardstock — reads as a higher-end finish. Some entry-level home printers struggle with this weight; a print shop will cope without issue.
• Linen, matte and laid finishes all work for place cards. Avoid coated or glossy stocks — they don’t hold calligraphy ink and they look flat under venue lighting.

Avery Perforated Sheets vs Custom-Cut Cardstock

Avery sheets are the fastest path from print to placed card — peel and place, no cutting. Trade-off: you’re locked into Avery’s exact dimensions and the card edges have the slightly textured look of perforations.

Custom-cut cardstock requires a paper trimmer (a $15 home tool) or a print shop’s guillotine, but gives you any size you want plus a clean cut edge. Most couples printing 100+ cards favor custom-cut for the cleaner finish.

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Home Printer Settings — Step-by-Step

Home printers vary, but the settings that matter for place cards are universal. Set paper type to cardstock or heavy, set quality to high or best, and use the manual paper-feed tray (most home printers don’t auto-feed cardstock cleanly).

Print one test sheet first. Check the alignment, the cut marks, the ink saturation. Once the test prints clean, run the rest of the batch. Reprint singles for any cards with smudges or paper-jam scuffs.

Hybrid Approach — Print Names + Hand-Letter Embellishments

A growing trend is to print the typed names from the template and then hand-letter additional details — a decorative initial, a calligraphy flourish, a small meal-choice symbol. The template handles the precise text alignment; the calligrapher adds the warmth.

Pick a cardstock with a calligraphy-friendly finish (matte or laid) and leave a small margin on the card for the hand-lettered element. Most calligraphers can finish 100 cards in a single afternoon if the printed text is already in place.

When to Use a Print Shop Instead

Home printing works for 50–150 cards on standard cardstock. Above that count, or with premium stocks (cotton, deckle-edge, foiled), a local print shop is the better choice — and the same PDF you’d print at home goes straight to them. No re-export, no specs adjustment.