Wedding seating arrangements
How to put a wedding seating plan together:
It's not as easy as you may think and leaving the seating arrangements to the last minute doesn't help either finds Angelique Ruzicka
Like most couples we left sorting out the seating plan till just before the wedding. It wasn't as easy as I expected. I wondered whether people would get offended if they didn't sit close to the bridal table. Would they all get along? Could we lump my friends together with my partner's friends? The list of concerns went on and on.
But in the end with the wedding day looming we had to cast those fears aside. The first tip is to work with the room and the space that you have available to you. Ask your venue manager how many tables can fit into the venue and how many chairs can be put around them.
Consider too where things are located relative to where people are sitting. You don't for example want to put the elderly grandparents too close to the loudspeakers and disabled people should be seated close to the exit or at a table that is accessible.
Avoid trying to scribble down guest's names under table headings. Rather do a large visual drawing of the table plan with people sitting in the exact sequence that you would like them too. This will help when you want to make things clear to your wedding co-ordinator, function manager and the waiters.
Try to put close friends and family nearer to the bridal table. If you think some people may get offended that they weren't put at table '2' or '3' rather come up with names for the tables. Names can be derived from the theme of the wedding. For example a recent wedding I attended in Bath had the tables named after novels from Jane Austen. Austen lived in Bath between 1801 and 1806.
The second thing to bear in mind is that it's impossible to please everyone. But there are some things you should consider when it comes to making your guests as comfortable as possible. Ask yourself: Can they all speak the same language? Do they know one another?
If not try and seat guests together that have something in common that will help kick start the conversation. There is nothing more boring than attending a wedding where you can't speak to people or find some way with which to begin some small talk.
“Generally you should try to put families together and work colleagues together. But if you know people don't get on, try seating them separately. It is worth breaking with tradition to have a stress free wedding,” adds Mark Norton-Noon, associate at Lancashire Wedding Planners.
You may be tempted to create a children's table, but Norton-Noon advises against this in certain instances: “Young children should be seated with their parents. Older children can be seated with their parents or on a table together.
Where to put single friends and family members is always a dilemma. Traditionally, you'd seat guests by alternating male-female-male-female but Norton-Noon says you don't have to adhere to this rule. “Try to create balanced tables, with even numbers of males and females. If it is a group of people that know each other well you could try splitting up married couples for extra variety. Try to avoid putting guests on the same table as ex-partners, unless you are sure this is okay,” he advises.
It's also difficult to decide who should sit at the bridal table. My husband and I settled for having both sets of parents and the best man (his brother). This made sense as we had all the people who needed to make speeches, i.e. my husband, father, father in-law (who was also master of ceremonies) and brother in law who was the best man located in one area. So the speeches were conducted effortlessly and there was no awkward moments of having to wait for the speaker to get to the front of the room. “If you really can’t decide on who is to sit at the top table, consider having a sweetheart table where the bride and groom are seated together on their own. This allows the couple to have some time together and to leave the table at their own discretion to mingle with the guests,” says Norton-Noon.
Ultimately, you will end up with a couple of stragglers that don't fall into the category of 'colleague', 'child' or 'relative'. Again, it's tempting to lump them all together on one table but it's far more appropriate to distribute them evenly at various tables.
It's not as easy as you may think and leaving the seating arrangements to the last minute doesn't help either finds Angelique Ruzicka
Like most couples we left sorting out the seating plan till just before the wedding. It wasn't as easy as I expected. I wondered whether people would get offended if they didn't sit close to the bridal table. Would they all get along? Could we lump my friends together with my partner's friends? The list of concerns went on and on.
But in the end with the wedding day looming we had to cast those fears aside. The first tip is to work with the room and the space that you have available to you. Ask your venue manager how many tables can fit into the venue and how many chairs can be put around them.
Consider too where things are located relative to where people are sitting. You don't for example want to put the elderly grandparents too close to the loudspeakers and disabled people should be seated close to the exit or at a table that is accessible.
Avoid trying to scribble down guest's names under table headings. Rather do a large visual drawing of the table plan with people sitting in the exact sequence that you would like them too. This will help when you want to make things clear to your wedding co-ordinator, function manager and the waiters.
Try to put close friends and family nearer to the bridal table. If you think some people may get offended that they weren't put at table '2' or '3' rather come up with names for the tables. Names can be derived from the theme of the wedding. For example a recent wedding I attended in Bath had the tables named after novels from Jane Austen. Austen lived in Bath between 1801 and 1806.
The second thing to bear in mind is that it's impossible to please everyone. But there are some things you should consider when it comes to making your guests as comfortable as possible. Ask yourself: Can they all speak the same language? Do they know one another?
If not try and seat guests together that have something in common that will help kick start the conversation. There is nothing more boring than attending a wedding where you can't speak to people or find some way with which to begin some small talk.
“Generally you should try to put families together and work colleagues together. But if you know people don't get on, try seating them separately. It is worth breaking with tradition to have a stress free wedding,” adds Mark Norton-Noon, associate at Lancashire Wedding Planners.
You may be tempted to create a children's table, but Norton-Noon advises against this in certain instances: “Young children should be seated with their parents. Older children can be seated with their parents or on a table together.
Where to put single friends and family members is always a dilemma. Traditionally, you'd seat guests by alternating male-female-male-female but Norton-Noon says you don't have to adhere to this rule. “Try to create balanced tables, with even numbers of males and females. If it is a group of people that know each other well you could try splitting up married couples for extra variety. Try to avoid putting guests on the same table as ex-partners, unless you are sure this is okay,” he advises.
It's also difficult to decide who should sit at the bridal table. My husband and I settled for having both sets of parents and the best man (his brother). This made sense as we had all the people who needed to make speeches, i.e. my husband, father, father in-law (who was also master of ceremonies) and brother in law who was the best man located in one area. So the speeches were conducted effortlessly and there was no awkward moments of having to wait for the speaker to get to the front of the room. “If you really can’t decide on who is to sit at the top table, consider having a sweetheart table where the bride and groom are seated together on their own. This allows the couple to have some time together and to leave the table at their own discretion to mingle with the guests,” says Norton-Noon.
Ultimately, you will end up with a couple of stragglers that don't fall into the category of 'colleague', 'child' or 'relative'. Again, it's tempting to lump them all together on one table but it's far more appropriate to distribute them evenly at various tables.
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