How to Create a Seating Plan for a Wedding
As with planning other aspects of your wedding day, etiquette rules can help simplify the planning of seating arrangements for the reception. With some basic etiquette guidelines, you will be able to formulate a proper seating chart where your guests will have an enjoyable time mingling with other guests at the reception. You may even want to enlist the help of your mother and future mother-in-law in the planning as they may have valuable input as to who might enjoy sitting next to whom.
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Instructions
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Place the bride and groom at the head table, which should be the center of attention. Traditionally, the groom sits to the right of the bride, the maid of honor takes her place next to the groom and the best man takes his place next to the bride. If you are one for tradition and you have room for your entire wedding party at the table, you can alternate groomsmen and bridesmaids in the seating so that to the right of the groom there is the maid of honor, groomsman 1, bridesmaid 1, groomsman 2 and bridesmaid 2. Then to the left of the bride there is the best man, bridesmaid 3, groomsman 3, bridesmaid 4, and groomsman 4. You can also have all of the bridesmaids next to the groom and all of the groomsmen next to the bride at the head table. If you are not one for tradition, the bride's party may be seated to her left, and the groom and groomsmen to her right.
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Put each of set of parents, immediate family, and grandparents at another table. If you have a set of parents that is divorced, you may split up the table into three or more tables so that each set of parents may host their own tables full of family and close friends.
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Seat children at a special children's table toward the side or back of the reception. If there are less than three or four children, seat them with their parents. When it comes to teenagers at your wedding, you can choose to sit them with others in their age group or at their parents' table.
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Combine young married couples with single people at the same table. Do not have a table just for the singles in order to avoid awkwardness and insult. If you have two or more single people that you would like to try and play matchmaker with, you can sit them side by side at a table with the rest of the table being seated with couples.
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Mix up the bride and grooms extended family at their tables. For instance, if the bride and groom both have sets of aunts and uncles who share similar interests, you should place them at the same table. If you do not know your aunts or uncles well enough to know what interests they hold, employ the use of your mother and future mother-in-law to help you with seating those family members.
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Avoid placing two people at the same table when there is animosity between them. This is a joyous occasion and should not provoke drama.
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References
- Photo Credit Tables decorated at a wedding reception. image by Gina Smith from Fotolia.com
