Mastering Your Wedding Seating Chart

For many couples planning a wedding, drafting and finalizing (and re-finalizing for the 4th time..) their seating chart is one of the more stressful tasks to check off their to-do list. My goal in sharing this blog post today is to simplify this process for you, highlighting a few key points to keep in mind as you perfect this element of your day.

Understand your table shapes and how many chairs will fit at each one!

This is something to get your venue's input on prior to beginning any guest seating arrangements.

Utilize technology to make the process as efficient and organized as you can for yourself!

Google Docs/Sheets, handwritten thoughts in a notebook, entries in your iPhone Notes… While these are tools that CAN be used for creating your guest list, tracking RSVPs and meals, assigning tables - the works - these resources are far from efficient given all of the options available to couples today. Depending on which wedding website you have chosen, (The Knot, Zola, WeddingWire, etc.), you very likely will find that you have the ability to enter your guest list directly into this platform and from there can track meal preferences and RSVPs (whether you are asking guests RSVP directly on your website or manually entering their RSVP yourself upon receiving their response), drag and drop confirmed guests to their corresponding tables, and so much more! Whichever wedding website you have chosen, I encourage you to play around with any features related to your guest list and table assignments. Allseated is another amazing tool to explore for this purpose!

Consider the format of your dinner - buffet, family style, plated, etc.!

If you are going the buffet or family style route, your easiest seating assignment option is going to be creating one large chart, saving the hassle of alphabetizing and organizing each individual card one by one during set up! I personally recommend individual cards by table or letter groupings that can be pasted onto a mirror/frame, hung with miniature clothes pins, etc. - the reason for this being, there are always a few guests who cannot attend at the last minute and these options give you the flexibility to re-print table assignments if needed.

If you are doing a traditional plated/served dinner, escort or place cards are likely going to be your best bet. In addition to your guests' name and table number assignment, including certain logos on their card representing which entrée they requested is a great way to easily indicate to your servers who should be getting what.

Give yourself time!

While you will need to wait until your RSVP date has passed before you can finalize your wedding seating chart, you can get started well in advance on the tables including your guests who you KNOW will be attending and their RSVP is more of a formality - your parents, siblings, closest friends, etc.!

Be considerate of who you assign where in regards to your floor plan!

Consider accessibility to exits and restrooms, proximity to your DJ/band's set up, etc.! For elderly guests or couples with little ones, they may prefer to sit farther away from the action and booming music. The idea of one large kids table is great in theory, but when assigning seats for littles, be sure to closely consider their age and family dynamic. For many parents, they may find it easiest to have some or all of their little ones sitting at the same table as them.

Be sure to assign parents and close family members to the tables closest to your head or sweetheart table so that they can have the best views of the evening.

Get input and opinions from family members/friends, but be selective.

Select a few people (perhaps a parent, close friend, maid of honor or best man) to get input from regarding who should be seated with who, which groups make sense to mesh together, etc. BUT be careful not to overdo it here. Too many differing opinions will ultimately be overwhelming and you will not be able to please everyone.

Ultimately, remember that dinner is only (give or take) one hour of the night and that guests will get up to mingle and dance as they so choose. Mastering your wedding seating chart can be an overwhelming process but it is not worth losing sleep over - you got this!