Here it is, two weeks before your wedding. The responses are in, the honeymoon is booked, you’ve made your big-day beauty appointments. Time to relax, right? Wrong! Time for one of the more difficult last-minute tasks – designing a seating plan for your reception.
If you’re planning on serving a seated dinner – and even if you’re planning on having a buffet-style meal – it really is best to have at least a specific table assigned to each guest. People feel more comfortable when they know where they’re sitting! No one wants to be reminded of those high school cafeteria days, wandering around and hoping someone will ask you to join them at their table. Plus, having a planned seating arrangement will keep any family pressures at bay. Grandma may want Aunt Suzie to sit with her, while Aunt Suzie might prefer to sit with her siblings. If everyone’s table has already been selected in advance, no one will feel that their friends or relatives have snubbed them by sitting elsewhere. (Not to mention that putting your single friends at a table together is a perfect way to encourage them to mingle with each other -–and maybe a love match will be born!)
If you’ve chosen to offer more than one entrée choice, your caterer will be glad that you’ve chosen to assign your guests to specific tables. The kitchen staff will be able to plan in advance how many of each dish need to be served to each particular table, and brief the waiters accordingly – ensuring more seamless service to your guests!
It has been common in the past for the wedding party to be seated at a long head table – bride and groom in the center, flanked by their attendants. But for a number of reasons, this is becoming a less and less popular option in the new milennium. Brides and grooms often feel uncomfortable putting themselves, and their wedding party, on display while they are trying to eat! And many couples don’t want their wedding party to be separated from their spouses/dates, as well as the other guests. It’s becoming more common these days to see a bridal party seated at round reception tables, together with their dates – or even scattered throughout “regular” tables among other guests with whom they would normally be seated if they were not in the wedding party. Do what you think will make your wedding party the most comfortable – if you think your maid of honor would be thrilled to be seated with all of your college pals, seat her with them! Don’t feel that it is required to seat your wedding party together - they want to relax and have fun with friends too!
If you’re not planning to go with a head table, you’ll be wondering where the two of you should be seated. There are lots of options! Many couples choose to have an oh-so-romantic sweetheart table, just for the two of them. What a romantic choice for your first meal as a married couple! This is a very practical option, too. As the guests of honor, you’ll find that you don’t spend much time at your table – you’ll be visiting your guests at their tables, dancing up a storm, generally just being social butterflies – and having your own table means that there won’t be any “empty” spaces at a large table in you absence. Another option is to seat yourselves with your parents and grandparents, and have that serve as the head table. Be creative!
When you’re hashing out the seating arrangements, if you keep a simple rule of thumb in mind, you can’t go wrong: Make your guests comfortable! Keep in mind that guests have the most fun and enjoy weddings the most when they are seated with others with whom they will have something in common (if not with people they already know and love), and your guests will love you for it!
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