Crack the Code on Seating Charts: 5 Savvy Ways to Piece Together the Perfect Puzzle of Guest Tables
Today is National Puzzle Day and to celebrate, we are addressing how to solve one of the most difficult puzzles in wedding planning - the seating assignments. Regardless of the type of event, from an intimate dinner for 12 to a fundraiser for 700, assigning tables, and sometimes seats, makes both the client's and planner's brain cells go a bit haywire.
Well, fear no more. Assigning tables has never been easier since we discovered the BEST thing to hit the event planning and design world, digital platforms such as Social Tables and All Seated to help you do the work and get the visuals.
Not only do these digital platforms create seating charts and build floor plans to scale (and in 3-D), but they also allow couples to manage guest lists and seat guests directly onto the floor plan – AND they generate a report (that can easily include meal types and other notes) to give directly to the venue, catering manager and wedding coordinator. Days of using paper plates and Post-Its are long gone!
Here are 5 tips (plus a few more) to save you seating assignment anxiety and time:
Start arranging your seating plan as soon as possible to avoid stress. No need to wait for all the RSVPs to come in before you start assigning tables. It becomes overwhelming right before the big day when there are other important details to attend to, and here, details are IMPORTANT!
Have your diagram to scale to familiarize yourself with options (how many people are minimum and maximum at each of the tables?)
Escort Cards vs. Place Cards
Escort cards or Escort assignment boards are usually found before entering for dinner, at cocktail hour, assign guests to a table. This is a great way to incorporate some fun and personalized designs.
TIP: These should be sorted in alphabetical order (by first OR last name)
Place cards used in addition to escort cards; assign guests to a seat within their table and placed at their place setting. They are usually used for formal dinners.
TIP: These should be sorted in order of seats for each table from the top of the table, all the way around.
Sweetheart Table vs. Wedding Party Table
Sweetheart tables are for the bride and groom only, the advantage of this seating is that guests will visit the couple sitting at the sweetheart, and the couple gets to mingle a bit from their seats.
TIP: the bride's last name will be her married name at this point, so when making the cards, use that instead of the maiden name (if appropriate).
Wedding party tables consist of the entire wedding party
TIP: Include the plus 1's at this table, if you do not, those guests will end up visiting their significant others at their seats/tables, leaving the happy couple alone at a very long empty table.
TIP: This table should have escort cards at each place setting, typically in the same order as the wedding party stood during the ceremony.
Photo Credit - Featured - Lerina Winters || Clockwise Top Left - We Heart Photography || Top Right - Jen Rodriguez || Bottom Right - Lerina Winters || Bottom Left - Danielle Bacon
