Everything you need to know about wedding seating

It seems that the most difficult part of the preparation is over? Wait, you haven’t planned the seating arrangements for your wedding yet! In order to distribute the invitees, you do not need to be a mathematician, but it is worth knowing the basic rules. Fortunately, you have us – we tell you who to seat with whom, how to organize the process and how to arrange seating.

Important Rules

The first thing to know is to leave enough space for the guests at the table so that they do not huddle and do not hit each other with their elbows. Ideally, it is believed that between the chairs there should be a distance of one to one and a half meters. Less space? What to do, plant guests more densely, but keep in mind that they will be cramped.

The invitees should be able to see the young people and the places where competitions, dances and other activities take place. Arrange tables so that no one is sitting at the toilet, the entrance to the kitchen, and close to the aisles that others will constantly walk along. Also, do not plant anyone with their backs to the young.

Keep in mind that people need to be told where to go. Usually, one of two options is used for this:

1. A seating plan is made with table numbers and names of guests, and cards with their numbers and names are placed on the tables, showing specific places.
2. Guests are distributed only on the tables. In this case, there are numbers or names on the tables themselves, and guests choose their own places within the table.

Tali Photography

Who to plant with whom

Traditionally, when seating guests at a wedding, the following approach is followed: the closer the young people are to the table, the closer the guests (parents, close friends) are to them. The further away from the table, the weaker the connection with the bride and groom (colleagues, distant relatives). Now let’s get to the details:

• Usually, invitees are seated in groups: family, university friends, colleagues, etc.
• At the same time, try to group people by age, do not put the young at the same table with the elderly, because. they will have few common topics of conversation.
• Seating guests by interests, not by status.
• The parents of the bride and groom are seated at the same table, but there are exceptions. Divorced parents who are in a tense relationship with each other are seated at different tables at the same distance from the table of the young.
• Don’t separate couples.
• When planning the seating arrangements for your wedding, alternate men and women if appropriate.
• Do not make a “lone table” – it looks funny in American films, but in reality it is offensive to those who find themselves at such a table. People who like each other will find the opportunity to get to know each other, even being in different parts of the hall.
• Try to put people you know with each other at the same table. The idea of putting strangers together to discover new faces is good in theory. In practice, those sitting at such a table will feel constrained.
• If there are three or more children , they can be seated at a separate table, organizing entertainment for them. In this case, parents should be at adjacent tables in order to quickly approach the children without disturbing the rest of the guests with constant passages through the hall. If there are 1-2 children at the wedding, they sit with their parents.
• Young people are seated closer to the dance floor, and the elderly are further away. So they will not be disturbed by loud music and dancing.
• Guests in wheelchairs are placed so that there is room for maneuver (closer to the aisle or dance floor).

Morning Wild Photography

How to plan seating arrangements for your wedding

It is difficult to understand how to take into account the rules written above? Proceed according to the following algorithm and everything will work out:

1. Decide on the final guest list.
2. Find out the capacity of the tables on the site. By dividing the number of guests by capacity, you get the approximate number of tables.
3. Decide how to put the necessary technical points – a dj table, a stage for a cover band, etc. Usually they do not depend on the seating arrangement, but on the availability of sockets, the location of doors and passages.
4. Determine where the young table will stand.
5. Decide where to place your parents’ table (or tables if they are divorced and in a strained relationship).
6. Understand which of your close relatives you will seat together and where you will put their tables.
7. Now the turn of close friends has come – we mentally seat them and arrange tables with them).
8. Will there be a children’s table? His time has come, but do not forget that parents should be there.
9. Distribute the remaining guests to existing or new tables.
10. Order a nice seating plan, table numbers/names and name cards.

Basic seating charts

In most cases, invitees are planted according to one of the schemes described below.

Seating with the letters T or P. The letter T – the table of the young is perpendicular to the table of the guests (or the tables of the guests are with the letter T). The letter P – the table of the young or one of the tables of the guests is placed perpendicularly, and the tables of the guests are “attached” along the edges to make P.

This scheme is suitable if guests are from 20 people, and the room is small. That way you can save a lot of space. However, some of the guests will not be able to see what is happening behind them.

pinterest

European seating. In this case, round or square tables are staggered. Guests can clearly see the young and the entire festive area, and there is enough space between the tables for passage.

Christmas tree planting. If there are many guests (from 50 or more), pay attention to such a seating arrangement for guests at the wedding. This scheme saves space, but is not very popular, because some people sit with their backs to the bride and groom.

One table. This option is suitable for a chamber wedding with up to 20 guests. The bride and groom are seated in the middle of the table or at the head of it, the rest are seated according to the principles described above. You don’t need to worry about finding a long table – just slide standard-sized square or rectangular tables.

Halo Wedding

Seating arrangements for wedding guests

Seating plan examples:

Jen Rodriguez Photography

Philosophy Studios / Ruth Eileen Photography

Safeena Noah Photography / Emily Wren Photography

Jessica Bordner Photography

Morgan McCanne

Natalie Probst Photography

Amy & Stuart / Rebecca Yale

And here is how you can submit the numbers or names of the tables. In the first example, each plate has photos of the bride and groom at the age corresponding to the table number:

Etsy MorningBlush

Etsy PinkPosiesandPearls / KarmaKWeddings

Anna Delores Photography / Marianne Wiest Photography

Examples of guest seating cards:

Etsy LookGoodonPaperCo

Etsy LittlePagePaperCo / Brown Fox Creative

Etsy Papercasestudio / CopleyandPine

Etsy GunpowderAndInk

The title photo is Tali Photography .