At South Asian weddings there are so many people! Guests, relatives, family – all the people you love and who love you, together! Usually the bride and groom can’t personally talk to everyone. Well that bothered one bride enough to do the next best thing. She wrote personalized messages to every single guest and had them arranged on their tables at the reception.

These also make great escort cards!

How many people were at this wedding? 350
How long did it take to write the messages? A long time! (8-10 hours).
How long did it take to print, organize, and arrange the logistics for this? about 20 hours
Was it worth it? YES!

How To Organize This
Only do this once you’ve assigned table numbers to each guest.

1. add 3 columns to your guest spreadsheet – Salutation (“Namaste Aunty” in example below), Message (I was so happy… in example below), Closing (Love, Samta in the example below.)
2. Messages to couples can go either way – write 1 message for both or separate messages. Just make sure they’re organized exactly as your guest spreadsheet.
3. You’ll need someone who can do a data merge to print the cards. In this example they were printed business card size on card stock (3.5in.x2in.).
4. Make this part of the fun! Once you’ve printed all the cards, consider inserting them into envelopes, so the messages aren’t exposed. Since they were business card size, she used cute mini envelopes and labelled with each guest’s name and table number.
5. The week of the wedding, (before you get your mehndi done), gather all your cousins and besties to help insert the cards into the envelopes. Post Mates some pizza, get some Bollywood tunes going in the background and you’ll be done before you know it!

Ideas and ProTips brought to you by ShaadiShop, the best place to find South Asian-friendly wedding venues.