Wedding Tips / Should you do Assigned Seating?
Image by: Annie Galloway
One of the questions we get asked by many of our couples is whether they should do assigned dinner seating or not. In our experience, the pros outweigh the cons, but thought we’d make a list to help you decide for yourself.
Assigned Seating Pros:
Guests will get to sit with people they know. By assigning your guests to a specific table, you have the power to sit guests with the people they know and will get along with throughout the night. You’re able to group people so that your rowdy group of friends don’t end up at the same table as your quiet aunt!
You won’t have to add additional seating. In order to fit everyone exactly without assigned seating, you would need to plan for additional spots to sit. 150 guests won’t fit perfectly in 150 chairs and won’t be guaranteed to be able to sit next to who they came with unless you plan it out that way!
“Can you please move down a seat”. Guests won’t have to awkwardly ask someone already seated at a table if they could “scooch down a chair” so they can get their smaller party at the same table as well.
Guests do weird things to save their seat. With assigned seating, guests won’t do weird things to save their spot like open napkins on the plate, prop the chair up to the table, etc. which makes the room look messy. This is especially important for when your photographer grabs photos of your reception space all set up before guests enter!
Guests won’t be in a panic to find a seat. Guests won’t rush in after the ceremony to claim a spot to sit with all their friends if you have already picked a table for them.
You decide who sits closest to the head table. You have the opportunity to pick where in the room your guests sit. This way, you can have your family close to you at the head table for the best view of you as a newlywed couple, and that rowdy bunch of friends towards the back (or maybe you would like the rowdy group to sit up front).
You get to decide who sits at tables that need to be moved. If tables need to be moved after dinner to make room for dancing, you can decide who sits at these tables and wouldn’t mind moving right after dinner. That way grandma can keep her seat for watching the wild dancing!
Guests appreciate it! Overall, in our experience, guests appreciate when there is a seating assignment!
Image by: Kokal Photography
Assigned Seating Cons:
It takes some work! It does take a little more work to figure out who should sit by who after you collect all your RSVP’s.
Last min RSVP adds/drops make things hard. If you have any last min RSVP’s that add or drop, it makes it a little trickier to add them into the seating arrangement. Because of this, you will want to wait until the week of the wedding to print your seating chart.
Image by: Angela Kissel Photography
Additional Assigned Seating Info:
How to do it. The easiest way to do assigned seating is to assign guests to a table (versus assigning them to a specific chair at that table). We recommend having a table number placed at each table that’s easy to see/read (glass numbers are tough) & even better, double sided so you can see it from all angles.
How to put together the seating chart: We recommend doing a seating chart sign in a frame that has all guest names organized in alphabetical order (by last name) and next to their name, list what table number they are at. That way guests can just find their name and see what table they are at and sit anywhere at that table. The alphabetical order works better than by table number, otherwise guests have to look at the entire chart to find their name! Rustic Elegance clients have access to a seating chart tool to help list out who sits at what table.
What if you're having a plated meal with choices? If you’re doing a plated meal, a place card will be needed with each guest’s meal choice. Make sure the type of meal is clearly visible for the catering staff. There are a million examples out there, but one of our favorites was a little succulent with a flag in it with the guest’s name on it. Doubles as a favor as well!
Where to place the placecards? If you do decide to have place cards, we’d recommend having these all set up in alphabetical order at one table (vrs placed at each guest's spot). This way guests will pick these up, bring it to their table and still have flexibility in deciding what actual seat they would like to sit in. We recommend doing it this way over having the place cards preset at each guest's spot. This will save you from having to figure out what actual chair each guest will sit in.
Can we do just a few reserved tables? Just reserving a few tables for family is an option, but it’s always hard to communicate to those family members there is a spot saved for them and usually creates a bit of confusion.
Don’t forget your vendors! Last but not least, don’t forget to save/assign seats for your vendors! Place your photographer up front so they can get the “kiss” shot and also good photos of the speeches.
Image by: Ryan Stadler
Image by: Angela Kissel Photography
While assigned seating can be a little more work, we definitely recommend it for the best experience for you, your vendors & your guests! We hope that you’ve found this list of pros & cons helpful as you plan out the details for your big day.
Image by: Holly Benke