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The choice to assign seats at your wedding reception or not can seem to be a difficult one, however . . .
Unless you have less than 30 or so guests, I always recommend that you assign at least tables. Otherwise, you've got couples who can't find seats together. There's one seat open at table 9 and one seat open at table 3, or people start moving chairs around to be with friends and all of a sudden you've got one table with 14 squished people and one table with 3 lonely people. Do the table seating! It makes for a much more comfortable environment for both the couple & the guests. After dinner, people can move around and sit with whoever they want. Some people leave relatively early and it opens up the tables anyway. Seat family up front together so they can talk and be near the bride and groom and don't try to force the families to get to know each other at your wedding by seating half bride & half groom at each table as old etiquette recommends.
The choice to assign seats depends on if you will be serving Buffet or Plate style.
Buffet style or one-choice-only dinner meals requires only assigning a table & let the guests seat themselves wherever they like at that table unless of course you prefer otherwise.
Dinner plate style really requires assigned seating. I recommend ordering a Seating Chart Poster (or two) on display at the entryway(s) to your dining area. Then display place cards at each place setting with each individual guests name. If there was a menu choice on your RSVP card, many venues require you to somehow code the placecards by color, a sticker or embellishment of some kind, or a letter written on the upper corner to indicate which place setting gets what entree choice. Check with your venue as to what they prefer for their servers.
Many brides try to incorporate the place card into the favor.
Seating Chart Posters
Reasons to have a Seating Chart Poster displayed at the entryway instead of a table full of Placecards:
- Easier to read and at eye level
- Placecards can get messy - they look good until the first few cards are taken & no need to hastle with them looking perfectly aligned
- No worry about the guests misplacing them before finding their seat. They may set them down while mingling with others during social/cocktail hour or place them in their pocket & forget to display them when seated.
- It is a piece of artwork that serves as decoration the entire night & maybe even afterwards in your home.
- Can keep for years to come & remember who came to your wedding.
- If you have an outdoor wedding, it may be too windy that day & placecards may blow around.
- The only dis-advantage to seating chart posters is that you cannot make last minute table changes. Your seating arrangements need to be finalized about 2 weeks prior to the wedding - but is it really a big deal if there's one empty seat here or there?
Click below to view a slide show of recent samples of my work
Seating Chart Posters
