Organized Seating

Why do you need to organize your guests on tables?

For order! For direction! To have all your guests feel welcomed and have a spot at your wedding!

All shouty exclamation points aside… A seating chart will help you and your partner stay organized and properly group your guests together by couples, households, family groups, coworkers, friends, and more.

Now, how do you organize a seating chart? First of all, you’ll need to sort through all of your RSVPs. Our first suggestion is to organize your seating chart by A-Z order by last name, then first name. So please do your best to list your guests’ full names and correct spelling. It’s just so awkward with Sarah (L) sits at the wrong table meant for another Sarah (K), and that Sarah (K) is sitting in Sara’s seat and Sara can’t find where she’s supposed to sit because her seat is currently occupied.

After you sort your guest list by A-Z, start grouping guests together by similar qualities. Whether they are your first cousins, aunties, uncles, family from Canada, coworkers from your first job, coworkers from your current job, or friends who can make new friends, we recommend group your guests together as cohesively as possible.

But how about table space? Well, that’ll depend on the size of your guest’s tables. Most banquet tables can fit between 8-10 guests and maybe an 11th guest if everyone is on the smaller size and your reception chairs aren’t bulky. As for banquet rectangles, it really just depends on the size of your rectangle tables. Usually they can seat between 6 - 8 guests each … But I’d double check your floor plan to see what the maximum capacity per table is.

What if you have a family of 4 and they can’t fit anywhere else? Or a bunch of couple’s who don’t know each other? Well, if it’s okay to do so… pair them up with others and try to make the tables as “whole” as possible. We do recommend maximizing your tables as it’ll help you save on costs of extra linens, tables, centerpieces, table numbers, etc,. So as best as possible, maximize your tables!

After you sort your guest names, added the table numbers, and finalized the seating to match the floor plan, it’s time to create some lists. We always recommend having (2) sets of lists for your check in table helpers.

1. A-Z list

2. Table list (list of everyone sitting at that table)

3. *Ordered table list (list of everyone sitting at that table, AND their seat assignment. This is a MUST HAVE for plated meals!)

I’m a little old school and like to use Excel or Google Sheets to create a seating plan. But many of our couples like to use:

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-planning/wedding-seating-tables.html

or

https://planning.wedding/seating-chart

So far, more of our couple’s are leaning towards using “Planning.Wedding”, but let us know what you end up doing!

Lastly, why do we NOT recommend “open seating”? You know, the one where guests can choose wherever they want to sit? Because, somehow, someway, your guests will grumble if they don’t know where to sit and sometimes they end up moving tables, chairs, and whatever they want in order to create their own clique under your wedding tent or in your ballroom space. It creates chaos, confusion, and someone is always trying to move themselves and your parents closer to the front because they’re the “VIP” guests. Just please organize your guests on assigned tables. It’ll greatly help our team, your catering staff, and your peace of mind.

xoxo,

R