The A, B, C’s of Wedding Seating Charts!

In our previous Special Moments Event Planning blog post, we discussed Everything You Need To Know About Escort Cards and Place Cards!

We touched on a great deal of information to help you gather the information you need to create a seating plan for your wedding guests.

However, sometimes couples create a decorative Seating Chart to assign guest tables instead of having individual escort cards.

So, here’s everything you need to know about creating a seating chart for your wedding reception.

 

It’s As Easy As A, B, C!

Whether you choose Escort Cards or a Seating Chart, you’ll alphabetically list your guests by last name and table assignment.

While the list should contain the guest’s first and last name, it should be sorted alphabetically by their last name.

When creating a Seating Chart, you always want it to be broken down alphabetically. Below each letter, guests should be listed alphabetically by last name, with the table number to the right of each guest’s name.

 

 

What’s Your Number?

When creating a seating chart, what you don’t want to do is organize it by number! Seriously, we see it too often, and it doesn’t work!

Here’s the deal: People know their last name, and looking under W for Tammy Waterman is easy! Now, if Tammy is attending a wedding of 250 guests, there could be twenty-five tables at minimum. 

You need to know which table number you are assigned to, and everything backs up as guests scroll through all twenty-five tables to find their names.

Yes, an intimate wedding with fewer than ten tables might work, but it will be much easier for your guests if you list everything alphabetically! 

 

Double The Fun

Returning to bigger weddings, consider doing two seating charts if you have an extensive guest list. Create one that starts with A and goes about halfway through the alphabet and a second that starts where left off and goes to Z. Don’t assume you do the first thirteen letters on one chart and the second thirteen letters on the second chart.

Where you split the charts will depend on the two of you. Wherever your last names fall, you will certainly have more people under those letters. You may have to do a few letters under that half of the chart to balance out the more significant number of guests.

If you are creating two seating charts, placing them a few feet apart is always a good idea, often on either side of the ballroom entrance. This will allow guests to spread out and find their last names easily. 

 

Menu Selection

If you followed our last blog post, you saw where Escort Cards are sometimes used to note the guest’s entree selection or where a Place Card becomes necessary. {Check out the blog for the do’s and don’ts surrounding meal selection.}

When selecting a seating chart, creating a place card for each setting is almost always necessary to identify the guest’s entree selection. They no longer have a card to take to the table with them.

Our Special Moments Event Planning teams are always happy to help guide you through organizing details for your Seating Chart, and we can offer you some beautiful options.