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Should I do assigned seating for my wedding?

One week to go for the big day. There are so many last minute details to take care including the seating plan. Once you have received your floor plan from the venue, it’s time to make your seating chart. This can be a tedious task but the majority of weddings choose to assign guest seats and I highly recommend it. This will help to avoid some confusion to start the night. Guests will enter the hall and look for either place cards or a list at the door identifying what table number they will be at. By doing this, the event will run smoothly and families and friends are seating together.

If you choose to have guests sit wherever they like, you will have early arrivals getting a table together but as time goes by, it becomes very difficult for family or friends to find a number of seats together leaving them to split up to different tables. One problem that I have seen over and over again, is a large group arrives very late to the cocktail reception and can’t sit together. They will ask the reception hall for another table but you do not want this to happen. This table will not have a centerpiece, your special linens or seat covers you ordered. It also can cause a problem in the kitchen and with wait staff depending on the type of meal service you ordered.

As I mentioned earlier, you can seat your guests two ways. You can have place cards made up with their names or provide a seating chart in alphabetical order at the main entrance. The second option is the most suitable. It will cost you less to provide because you can create this yourself. If you want to have a little fun, you don’t have to use table numbers but can create something cool that may represent your lives together. For example, if you are avid sport fans, you can identify each table with sport team’s name or if you love to travel together, you can identify tables with destination names. The options are endless and always remember this is your wedding and you can do anything you like out of the norm.

It is definitely more work (and sometimes a headache) for you to work out assigned seating, but in the end it will be worth it! Enlist the help of your wedding party and family and it should be a breeze.