Deciding on Your Seating Chart

When it comes to planning your wedding, the list can seem endless. There are so many things to do and details to take care of. One of the hardest tasks, believe it or not, is the seating arrangement of the wedding reception.

If you are having a smaller more intimate wedding than this chore is not too difficult. The problem comes into play when you are dealing with seventy five or more people. You will have two families to seat in the best possible arrangement possible. It may sound easy, but make sure you take plenty of time and have help from others when it comes to this task.

You will not start trying to arrange the seating chart until weeks or a couple of months before the wedding day. You will have to have all of your RSVP’s in hand to realize who is actually attending the event. Once you know who will be in attendance, split them into two separate piles, one for the Bride’s side and one for the Groom’s side.

To start with, you want the Bride and Groom front and center and as close to the dance floor as possible. If the wedding party is not sitting with the Bride and Groom then you want to place them as close as possible to their table, with the parents of the lucky couple not far off.

You will need some knowledge of your guests when planning the seating arrangement. You will want to try and place your invitees at tables that share common interests. If you can arrange tables by types of professions or businesses, this can give your guests something to talk about and break the ice with one another. Areas from which they live and possible like hobbies are also a way to get your guests to interact with each other. By pairing up like interests it will allow your guests to enjoy themselves more and possibly make new friends.

When it comes to seating family members, you want to be aware of any form of rift or disagreement that some of them may have. If a pair of cousins has had a long time feud, you want to place them as far apart as possible. You wedding day will probably not be the place for them to settle their differences and you do not want to chance an uncomfortable situation.

Age groups are also a good way of making out your seating chart. Keep younger guests together and seat your older guests together. You will find that they will encourage each other to enjoy themselves more and you will not leave old Aunt Betty and Uncle Chuck sitting at the table by themselves while all of the younger couples are out tearing up the dance floor.

All in all, remember that it is your day and not to be too concerned with the placement of your guests. However, the easier you avoid potential problems and attract similar people to each other, the better off you are.