Things to consider when planning seating arrangements

Have you ever attended a wedding where there are no seating charts or name placements? As a guest who has attended a large wedding “first in first serve” it can make things awkward and uncomfortable especially if the groups don’t know each other too well.

1. Have seating charts arranged - seating charts can put guests at ease and not feel like they have to save seats for their friends or family. Removes the stress of scrambling to find a spot. Place cards can also make things simpler but can come at an extra expense. It can also be helpful for guests that have dietary requirements but caterers are quite good when it comes to knowing who these guests are. If your weddings as a shared menu or share platters in the middle of the table may not necessarily require place cards.

2. Wedding/bridal party and their partners, where should they sit? This is definitely something to consider but if you have a bridal party of 4 on each side, you’re looking at a very large bridal table. Recommend considering this if you have a smaller bridal party as it can get everyone involved and their partners aren’t left astray in the wedding alone.

3. How to start a seating chart?

We’ve all seen Monica and Chandler do it on a huge A3 paper with pins scattered across the page but there are much simpler ways to do this. Firstly, get your full list of RSVP’d guests. Secondly, print or have a floor chart from your venue with the layout so you can see how many tables are on each side of the venue. Thirdly, open excel or google sheets and table columns Table 1, 2, 3 and so on until you have it all listed horizontally. Few things to consider before dumping a bunch of names under each table - look at the layout and consider:

• Elderly guests seated close enough to see the action but far away from the dance floor

• Parents on both sides should be seated at the front where they can see the bridal party. You can choose to seat your parents together at the table or separately with their own families such as aunties and uncles

• Young children can be seated together at their own table but close enough to be supervised by their parents at the next table

• Newborns or babies - best to keep them near the door so they can easily exit if the baby needs quiet time or a feed

• Younger guests or guests you know will get the party started - get them right near the DF. They’ll get the party started.

Have you got any additional tips you'd like to share? Leave a comment below - we'd love to hear from you!