Seating Plan

This may seem like the easy part, but there are many factors to consider when arranging your reception seating plan.

You will need to wait first until you have all the replies as to which guests will be attending. Chase up people who have not replied by your deadline with a phone call.

While it is not strictly necessary to assign seats to guests, it is normally expected and helps the day run more smoothly. It also avoids families being split up or people being seated along with others they may not know.

A seating chart is generally posted on a board or table near the entrance to the reception, or escort cards can be printed and given to each guest with their name and table and seat number. The advantage of these is they can be changed up to the last minute, whereas a seating chart will need to be printed in advance.

It is a nice idea to give ‘names’ to your tables instead of numbers. These can have a theme, for example gemstones or cartoon characters.

Generally it is best to sit families and work colleagues together, but avoid having a table of ‘leftovers’ who don’t know anyone else – it is best to distribute these guests evenly.

Some couples like to have a male-female seating arrangement for variety, but this is not always practical.

The wedding party sit at the top table, which generally takes the form of a long table with seats along one side. Sometimes it is on a raised platform.

Traditionally the groom sits to the right of the bride, and places alternate male-female. Partners of the best man and chief bridesmaid sit at other tables.

A typical line-up could be chief bridesmaid, groom’s father, bride’s mother, groom, bride, bride’s father, groom’s mother, best man.

If it is a second marriage, children from previous relationships may also sit at the top table.

If the parents of the bride or groom have divorced and remarried it probably isn’t a good idea to put them and their new partners together on the top table. One solution is to invite some family of the step-parent and put them together on a separate table near the top table.

It is also becoming more fashionable for the bride and groom to sit at their own table, known as the sweetheart table. This avoids anyone feeling ‘left out’ from the top table. // My Wedding Planner