Please Be Seated

If you have opted for a more formal dining arrangement for your reception, the open seating arrangement is unlikely to work for you. It would jar with the feel of your wedding. The more grand the affair, the more important it is to have a clear seating plan.

There are two seating arrangement styles often used for weddings. The more popular choice is the reserved table arrangement. The other choice is the reserved seating arrangement.

No matter which style you choose, the first step is to arrange your guest list in alphabetical order (by their last name). This is to help you clearly see family relationships. Split the list into two columns - one for the guests of the bride, the other for guests of the groom. Make special notes on the side of their names if they are the date of another guest. This will help ensure that you seat them together.

Next, you need to arrange everyone at the bridal table. That’s pretty easy since this mainly involves the bridal party. Usually you would all be seated at a rectangular or U-shaped table with the bridesmaids and groomsmen placed at the end of the ends of the table.

The next step is very important. You need to get hold of the floor plan and table layout for your event. This will be a useful tool for your florist as well so it will be good to acquire it early.

Once you have it, note where all the tables are and assign numers to each one. The table nearest to the newlyweds is table number one. A good way to count them off is to assign the numbers on the bride’s side with the even numbers and those on the groom’s side with the odd ones.

Next you need to break your list into groups matching the number of seats per table. For example, if each table has ten seats then assign ten guests per table. Some brides cut out circles for each table, numbers it in the middle and then draw smaller circles on them to represent each seat.

The seats nearest to the bride and groom are the seats of honor. It follows that any VIP guests will be placed at these tables (tables 1 and 2). Family, of course, is seated next. Then the rest of the guests are given a place at the reception..

If you choose the reserved table style, once you’ve assigned each guest to a table, your pretty much done. Your guest will have the freedom to decide where to actually sit at that table. This style of seating allows your guests to follow the couples choice of seating yet still personally choose their seat mates.

On the other hand, if you follow the reserved seating style, you still need to assign each guest to a specific seat. You will need to make place cards for each place as well before the big day of your event. This is very important if you want specific people seated together.

This is really simple but it can get confusing if many changes need to be made. To make it even easier for you, get hold of some software for seating arrangements. It will be useful for any party that you will host in the future. No matter what though, have a great wedding reception.

[tags]wedding,wedding planning,seating,wedding reception[/tags]