Do You Need a Seating Chart at Your Wedding Reception?

Planning a wedding and the following reception following is hard work. Do you really need a seating chart for your reception? Would it not be easier to simply throw the doors open and let your guests worry about who is going to sit where? Of course it would be easier, but you will find that in many cases the overall success of the evening will be greater with at least some seating plan.

Brides who have decided that they did not need a seating chart have found too late that Aunt Jane, who refuses to get hearing aids because she says they make her look old, ended up sitting at a table in the back and missed the entire evening because she could not hear.

Brides who have decided they did not need a seating chart have found that while her grandparents did manage to get seated close to the front, her new husband's grandmother did not and she is not happy about it. Do I need to remind you that could ruin your wedding party?
Other examples of the consequences of deciding there was no need for a seating chart at the wedding reception are guests leaving early because their family ended up sitting at four different tables, or tables where no one knows anyone and as a result does not talk and therefore no one is truly enjoying the celebration that you worked so hard to plan.

Truly, you do need to assign seating in some form if you are having any more formal of a reception than wedding cake, nuts, and punch. The real question is how elaborate you need to get in your designing your seating plan. The bigger the reception and the more unfamiliar...

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Planning a Wedding Reception Seating Chart

Planning a seating chart for your wedding reception is hard work, especially if you do not have a plan or a simple understanding of tradition and how the rules of decorum impact your choices. It is difficult, but it is also worthwhile. Remember, a wedding dinner often lasts for two or more hours. Your wedding will have the greatest chance of enjoyment if you carefully consider your seating arrangement.

Of course, your first and quite probably your easiest decision is the seating arrangement of the head table. Do you want to pair or alternate groomsmen with the bridesmaids on either side of you, or do you want to have all the bridesmaids flanking the bride and the groomsmen flanking the groom just as they were in the ceremony? Or perhaps you would prefer adding parents?

Or would you prefer to simply plan a romantic table for two like in a Parisian cafe. Or...? Have fun planning the seating chart on the head table. A little creativity and some well chosen themed wedding decorations could go a long way toward making your wedding celebration memorable.

Planning the seating chart for...


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