Ten Tips Toward a Wedding Reception Seating Chart
47444
Society > Weddings
Oct 10, 2007
layerbylayer
Ten Tips Toward a Wedding Reception Seating Chart
Designing a seating chart for your wedding reception is difficult if you do not have a plan. Likewise, you need a straightforward understanding of tradition and how the rules of decorum impact your choices. It is difficult, but it is also valuable because a wedding meal often lasts for two or more hours. As a result, your wedding will have the greatest likelihood of success and the smallest potential for a disaster if you carefully consider your seating arrangement. Of course, the seating arrangement of the head table is your first and, quite possibly, your easiest decision. How do you want to seat your groomsmen and bridesmaids? Do you want to pair them? Do you want to have all the bridesmaids on the side of the bride and the groomsmen beside the groom just as they were in the ceremony? Do you want parents and grandparents at the head table? Or would you prefer to simply plan a romantic table for two like in a Parisian cafe. It could be just the two of you, or your whole bridal party could be at small tables around you. Or...? Do not hesitate to enjoy planning the seating chart for the head table. A little originality could go a long way toward making your wedding celebration unforgettable. Designing the seating plan for the rest of your guests is a bit more challenging, but with persistence you can find a practical arrangement. Here are ten tips to assist you in achieving success. 1. Focus on what will make the most people happy. That is the goal after all, isn't it? 2. Place close family and friends closest to the bride and groom. This protects against hurt feelings. 3. When assigning specific seats, be sure to use place cards. This can be done with 'tent' cards or if you choose you can develop the theme of your wedding decor by choosing place card holders. 4. When using round tables couples are traditionally seated next to each other and then seated in the same alternating male, female pattern. 5. When using long tables, couples are customarily seated opposite each other and in an alternating male, female pattern. 6. Avoid tables that are a sole family group. Part of the idea is to get your guests to mingle with the rest of your guests. Though you are attempting to seat your guests in such a way that they are comfortable, you cannot forget the other goal - getting your guests to mingle. You have to find a proper balance. 7. Make sure that everybody is seated with someone they know well enough to be comfortable with. 8. Where feasible cluster your guests (especially those who do not know each other) by interests to encourage interaction. For example, you have a friend from college who will be attending who is an avid skier and your groom has cousins who everyone says lives on the slopes. This might be a good pairing. 9. When similar interests are not known, you could potentially achieve the same thing by designating your reception tables by the names of significant places to you along with a story about why that place is significant in your life. It might spark some conversations and for those in the back it is better than sitting at table number '43'! 10. Do have fun seating singles together, but do not be obvious and avoid at all costs a table just for single people. Such an arrangement is exceptionally uncomfortable for most everyone at the table. Start work on designing your seating chart immediately after making your guest list up and finding out whether your guests will be seated at long tables or smaller round tables. You can do this simply by buying a bag of poker chips and write each guest's name on a chip. Then you can set up a table with the layout of your wedding reception hall on it so you can lay your seating chart out visually and easily revise it as often as you need to revise it. Another option is to use a spread sheet like Excel to lay out your seating arrangement. You can even find software to help you with the process of planning your wedding reception seating chart. However you do it, the key is that you take the time to start designing your seating chart now. The benefits will come in a smoother wedding reception celebrating your new marriage.
Jeanette Shinn is a wedding professional with over a dozen years experience making dreams come alive. Find tips and accessories from crystal jewelry for wedding cakes to useful magnetic save the date cards at http://www.ExcitingWeddingFavors.com.
send email to layerbylayer
Write a Review
Add to My Favorite
Refer it to Friend
Report Article
Other links owned by this user
Every year brides all across the country take on the task of planning their wedding by themselves because they think they cannot afford a wedding planning consultant. The reality, though, is that an experienced and savy consultant can save you enough mone
Category:
Sometimes we all need a little help coming up with ideas for the wedding shower we are planning. Here are a number of possibilities ranging from the standard to some definately non traditional options.
Category:
You want your wedding reception to go smoothly, but your time is limited. Is a seating chart worth the time commitment?
Category:
We all want the best wedding band that we can afford, but few of us have sufficient background to really know what we are looking at. Fortunately, the industry is standardized enough that even those who have never purchased jewelry before can approach the
Category:
Even the most mild mannered bride runs the risk of turning into bridezilla. The stress of the situation makes such a terrible transformation a terrible possibility. Here are a handful of common signs to warn you before it's too late.
Category:
For many homemade chocolate wedding favors are more than a way to save money, it's nearly a rite of passage. But what if you have no experience working with chocolate and have no idea where to start? Never fear, jump off here.
Category:
The days when a young bride was limited to the long white flowing wedding gown are long behind us. While that is still one of the options, it is far from the only option and the availablility of informal wedding dresses opens a world of opportunities for
Category:
Wedding Blunders make great filler for blooper shows. But not every blunder is funny. As a matter of fact some mistakes you make on your wedding day have the potential to damage your relationships, financial future, and even the day itself.
Category:
Most all of us are familiar with the power that fragrance can have to lock a memory into place. So savy brides are taking advantage of the opportunity to give their guests a fragrant choice that could seal their big day in thie minds for years to come.
Category:
During the excitment and pressure of staging a wedding it is easy to forget the marriage that you are celebrating and in the process damage the very relationship that you are planning to celebrate. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way. The wedding
Category:
Any destination wedding can be special, but for a couple that is looking for a romantic spot that is a little bit different from the everyday getaway consider these five spots that North Americans often overlook.
Category:
The astronomical figures that are reported every year as the average for what a bride spends on her wedding can be daunting to a young couple with meager resources. But a tight budget doesn't have to mean a meager wedding, in fact it can open the door to
Category:
Once you have decided you needed a seating chart for your wedding reception the question becomes, How?. Here are ten practical tips designed to make the process easier.
Category:
Writing a thank you note after your wedding need not be as daunting of a task as most percieve it too be. Follow these easy steps to take the anxiety out of the experience.
Category:
A fiftieth wedding anniversary is a hugely significant celebration. So few people ever achieve fifty years of marriage. It's worth a real celebration. Here are at least six options for the cake top for this momentous occasion.
Category:
Other links at Society > Weddings
Choosing a wedding venue is one of the most important decisions any couple will make in their lives. This is where you will be spending most of your time on your big day; therefore it is important that you make the correct decision. Before deciding on tha
Category:
Every person dreams of a perfect wedding and one of the necessary elements in preparing and planning for a wedding is to find the best place or perfect location to tie the knot. If an individual is dreaming of having his or her wedding in an exotic tropic
Category:
Informal wedding dresses are in high demand and are extremely popular. They are typically chosen as alternative to formal wedding gowns by women who want something simple and comfortable, yet still elegant and enchanting at the same time. Despite their ca
Category:
Wedding photography is probably the most important aspect of your wedding.
Category:
On the wedding day it is a tradition of a wedding or marriage for the bride to give the groom a gift. Even though the rings that the bride and groom will give each other can be considered as a gift to one another usually still the bride will give the groo
Category:
Site Sponsor
Directory Statistics
Articles: 68285
Categories: 501
Yahoo Entertainment
