Wedding Seating Chart Guide

Every professional wedding planner will advise you to take time to arrange a well planned wedding seating chart; this is an important detail that is often overlooked. This guide will help your wedding be well organized, and run smoothly.

RSVP Tip: To avoid having your guests invite additional uninvited guests to your wedding, do not provide a line where guests can write in a number of their choice.

(Example) Number of Guests ___

The following text helps avoid this problem:

Please reply by August 10th

2 seats reserved for

M__________________________

______Accept ______ Regrets

The wedding seating chart is up to you, but you may want to enlist the help of your mother and the groom's mother when it comes to assigning seats to guests who you are only slightly acquainted with.

Your guest will be very impressed with your attention to detail in the wedding seating chart when they are seated at a table with others that have the same interests, are the same age, or haven't seen each other in many years. There are many things to consider when planning your wedding seating chart.

If you have never had to perform this task, the guide below will take all the guess work out of it for you.

Entrance: Begin your wedding seating chart by creating an entrance into your reception area that is unobstructed for your grand entrance as well as for your guests to walk easily in and out of the reception hall. Never make your guest weave through tables.

Aisles: Be sure to leave approximately 54" between tables to allow waiters, photographers and others enough space to move around your reception site without bumping into one another or your guests.

Bar: Plan on having 1 bar for every 100 guests. Make them accessible so guests won't have to walk between tables to get to them.

Band/DJ: Your musicians need to be placed in an area where they will be able to see the dance floor and keep an eye on the crowd.

Dance Floor: A good wedding seating chart should include a dance floor that is sized appropriately to accommodate your guests. Approximately 2 1/2 square feet per guest is the industry standard. Remember to place the head table and parent's tables adjacent to the dance floor. This provides easy access to the dance floor. Consider where you will seat persons that will make a toast and be sure that they have a clear and easy path to the dance floor.

Head Table: The bride, groom, wedding party and or immediate families, should be seated at this table. This grouping can consist of 8 people and up to 24.

Sweetheart Table: Some couples prefer the sweetheart table, which is a small table and seats only the bride and groom. Large head tables encourage more conversation and fun. There is no right or wrong here, select the style that will best suit your venue and wedding.

Parent's Tables: The bride & groom's parents should be seated nearest to the head table, if they will not be sitting at the head table with the bride and groom. Consider if the families know each other well enough before you seat them at the same table. If they do not know each other very well it is perfectly acceptable to seat them at separate tables. Make special consideration for grandparents or elderly guests that may be sensitive to loud music. Special consideration should be made if parents are divorced.

Divorced Parent Tables: If your parents are divorced you may choose to allow them each to have their own table and allow them to select the persons that they want seated at their table.

Long Lost Family Members Table: Seat long-lost-family-members or distant relatives together. They will appreciate time together to get reacquainted since they do not get to see each other very often.

Cake Table: Should be placed in a prominent place near the head table, but be careful not to place it in a high traffic area. Do not place the cake table in front of a mirror or a large picture. The mirror/glass will reflect the flash from your photographer's camera when he is taking your cake cutting shots. If this cannot be avoided, then make sure the area is well lit, so that your photographer will not have to use flash during the cake cutting.

VIP Tables: VIP's should be seated at a table near the bride & groom. These persons may include close friends of the parents, officiant and spouse, or a special aunt/uncle or guest that has travel from a long distance.

The Partier's Tables: It's best to seat "the partiers" close to the dance floor, DJ & the bar. These guests will not be as interested in being seated close to the bride and groom. They are interested in being seated where the actions is & won't mind the noise!!

The Single's Tables: Consider having a singles table. Every wedding guest list includes single friends that love meeting new people. There might even be a "love connection", so by all means seat them at the same table. Young couples without children are also a great mix to this table as well.

Kids: Seat kids with parents or caregivers in corners or in a place that is close to restrooms. Be sure to seat them away from the cake and VIP tables. If possible arrange for a kid area near the dining room or a tent outside.

Cancellations & Additions: Always be prepared for last minute cancellations or additions to your guest list. If you have booked your event at an upscale wedding venue with a professional staff you will have nothing to worry about. Your event planner and the venue manager should always have a backup plan included in the wedding seating chart, to accommodate additional guests. Make sure you go over this plan with them before your wedding day. You should wait to print the final seating list until a few days before your wedding date, to accommodate those last minute changes.

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