About Wedding Reception Seating Charts
Your wedding reception will probably be the largest party you will throw in your life. More than half of the total cost of a wedding is usually spent on this single part of the event and given that the average wedding costs about $20,000 in total, you can see that a lot of money will go into making this celebration perfect. Part of ensuring a perfect night is planning the seating for your guests.
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Importance of Seating Charts
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As the host of the celebration, you want your guests to feel comfortable. However, you are also blending two families and two groups of friends. This blending makes people feel less comfortable because there are so many unfamiliar faces. Seating charts help reduce the discomfort by giving people some social direction. No one wants to ask "Can I sit here?" and be rejected. The formal seating chart removes the need for such a question altogether. Seating charts can also help you inspire mingling among your guests and can ensure people who don't get along don't end up near one another.
Making the Seating Chart
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The first step in creating your seating chart should be sketching the layout of the reception venue. Your wedding planner or coordinator may do this part for you. Be sure to add on the sketch where the dance floor, wedding cake, buffet, entrance and other important elements of the reception are placed in the room so you don't inadvertently place your family in the back of the room. Develop a labeling system for each available seat at the reception. For example, you could use letters for the tables and numbers for the seats, so a guest might sit at B-5 or C-2. Another idea is just to number all of the seats. On a separate sheet of paper, write down all of the labels for the seats so you place the appropriate guest's name beside the label. Don't start assigning seats until after you have received all of your RSVPs.
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Making Choices about Seating Arrangements
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Planning a seating chart for your reception involves more decisions than you might imagine. For example, you need to decide if a children's table would be appropriate. Having all of the young guests seated together might make them more manageable. Then you need to decide what age is the cutoff for being seated at that table. Another decision is whether to set up tables for families, or mix people together so they get to know each other better. Make your decision based on what you know about the people involved.
Creating the Seating Chart
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Once you have received your RSVPs and made decisions about how the seating will be arranged, you can begin making your chart. Computer software is available to make this task easier, but you can also just work off the sketch you have of the reception venue. Arrange the response cards in the same way you might want to seat the people. For example, make stacks of the cards from people who will be seated together. Now just add the names to your list beside the appropriate seat's label. Once you've added all the names, you've successfully completed your reception seating chart.
Guests & the Seating Chart
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Completing the seating chart is only half of the task. Guests also need to have access to the chart so they can easily find their seats. Blowing up copies of the labeled sketch and your seating chart list and placing them around the venue is a good way to help guests. You can also use place cards to let guests know where to sit at the tables. If your wedding planner has an assistant, ask if she can be present at the reception to provide additional assistance to guests.
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