Seating Charts: Necessary or not?

Pros and cons of a seating chart

Sara Doerrier

October 20, 2011

When you are planning your wedding, one of the many questions you need to ask yourself is if a seating chart is really necessary? Let's take a look at the pros and cons and why or why not you may need to create a seating chart for your guests at your wedding.

Benefits and Why You May Need a Seating Chart

- You can ensure that everyone's dinner companions gets along and shares common interests. Many do get up and mingle before and after the meal but you are making sure that during dinner, they will engage each other.

-This can make single guests or other guests that don't know each other comfortable. You know your guests; their interests, likes, dislikes, so when creating that seating charts, stick the singles with other guests you know will get a long with each other.

- You can work around the 'standard table size' to make sure that families and friends that want to sit next to each other can. You don't want to split up couples and if there is no table chart, there might be some unhappy guests.

- You can manage the drama. Your right winged activist uncle does not need to be seated next to your most liberal out spoken friends, right? Collision adverted.

- Your friends and family can get to know each other better in sort of a blind date scenario. Not in a romantic sense, but letting them get to know each other better.

If you plan a seating chart take into account your guests 100%. Try to avoid the dreaded "singles table", don't assign exact seats- just the tables, create "interest" groups ( for example travelers, gun enthusiasts, raunchy friends, etc), and be prepared to make last minute changes.

Benefits and Why You May Need a Seating Chart

- You wedding has no sit down meal. Thus, this eliminates the need for a seating chart.

- Your reception is very small and not in a typical reception venue. If you have invited guests of about ten to twenty people, there is no need to reserve seats, generally they can figure it out on their own and mingle easier.

- You have different seating options. Picnic tables, couches, four-seater, bar tops, or lounge - like furniture for example, can ensure that guests will be able to find their own seating.

- Your wedding is small and everyone knows each other.

Always provide more seating than is necessary, introduce your guests to one another, and allow single guests to bring a +1.