Why Your Wedding Needs a Good Seating Chart

“Does my wedding really need a seating chart?”  We hear this sometimes, particularly from brides who are trying to avoid being perceived as too controlling.  While it might seem strange at first, dictating where each and every person sits, creating a seating chart for your wedding reception really is a good idea in most situations.

Really, the only time you might think about skipping the chart is if you’re having a very small/informal reception.  Otherwise, there are just too many good reasons for drawing one up.

Plenty of Reasons a Wedding Reception Seating Chart Is a Good Idea

1. Reducing chaos.

At larger receptions, simply wrangling your guests can be a major challenge – particularly if there are a lot of other things going on like waiters carrying food and drinks around.  A seating chart does a lot to ensure your guests are where they need to be, when they need to be.

2. Ensuring everyone has good conversational partners.

Few things are more uncomfortable for a wedding guest than to be stuck in-between people they have little or nothing in common with. This is doubly true if they’re flying solo, without a plus one.  A well-planned chart allows you to mitigate this, and help ensure everyone at your reception has a good time by seating them next to people they’ll (hopefully) like.  And isn’t that what a good event hostess is trying to achieve?

Plus, there’s the reverse issue…

3. Preventing drama.

At any sufficiently large wedding, there are going to be people you want to keep separate. Maybe they have a history of drama, or maybe you just know that you want to keep your liberal and conservative guests as far away from each other as possible.  While you can’t stop all mixing and mingling, you can at least prevent any fistfights from breaking out during the soup course.  Hopefully.

4. Your guests may be tipsy. Do you trust them to manage seating themselves?

Speaking of preventing drama, it’s time to be honest.  There are going to be guests who are hitting up the cocktail table more than others.  This can be another major source of drama, if there’s no assigned seating and they get upset over not being able to find a spot they like.  A seating chart can at least help mitigate this issue.

5. Better-planning your seating, plating, etc.

If you don’t have a seating chart, then you’ll have to over-plan for seating because -for example- there’s no way to ensure that couples can always find paired seats if there are exactly as many chairs as guests. This means extra work, extra clutter, even extra expenses.  A chart can significantly reduce your own stresses in this area, and even make life easier for the help.

Best Wedding Backdrops Makes Great Signs

We aren’t just about backdrops!  We can also help you custom-design and create perfect seating charts which enhance the experience while fitting into your overall design.

Contact us today to learn more!