Top Tips to a Wedding Seating Planning

It’s a well-known fact that the seating plan is one of the more stressful tasks on the wedding to do list. We have listed some of the best things to think about when planning your chart.

A good place to start is to get together a document where you can list all your guests, along with their meal choice and also any allergies they may have. This way, once you create your seating plan, you can write down each table’s meal choices so that it is easier for the caterer to co-ordinate.

If you are having children at your wedding, a kids table is a brilliant idea. Putting them together means they are more likely to amuse each other, as well as giving their parents a little break from having them on their table. Of course, it’s a good idea to have their parents on nearby tables so they can easily keep an eye on them. Get together some games, some sweeties and colouring books – and you can even have special wedding favours just for the kids. There are lots of places you can buy wedding activity packs for kids – like these. If you have any friends who will be bringing babies, it can be a brilliant idea for you to have a ‘baby area’ so that the parents have everything they need in one area.

It’s important for you to remember that you’re never going to make everyone happy when it comes to the seating plan, but it’s your day. Place people where you see fit and what is going to work for you. You can’t worry yourselves over if everyone is exactly where they want to be – as long as you are happy, that’s what counts. Though it’s a common thing, its best to avoid singles tables. It’s likely that people going to weddings without a date are already going to have that highly in their minds – you don’t want to emphasises this by using a ‘singles’ table. Instead, seat people according to their interests and like-mindedness rather than their relationship status. Think about people’s hobbies and interests, and put them on a table where theres a couple with similar interests. Weddings can be a great opportunity to meet new friends and most importantly have fun. Consider the sensitivity of some guests – for example, elderly guests need to be placed in specific areas. They want somewhere that’s well-lit and quiet, but where they can still see all the action that’s going on from their table. Seating plans can start to seem a bit petty, however no seating plan can be chaos. It can result in people leaving a chair between strangers, leading to people being stood around as it seems like there isn’t enough seating. Plus, it’s a caters nightmare – everyone will end up with the wrong food and on uneven tables. Check with your parents if there are certain members of your families which shouldn’t be sat near each other or if there are people who will be really disappointed if they aren’t sat together. Family feuds can be annoying and disruptive – your parents will be the fountain of all knowledge when it comes to this.