To Assign or Not to Assign
The planning is almost over. . . your wedding is a month or two away, and now you have to make a final big decision. . . to assign seats (tables) or not to assign seats at the reception.
So many times, I have met with a bride and groom, and they have decided they don’t want to assign seats (tables). They don’t want to assign seats to make someone sit next to someone they don’t want to, they don’t want to assign seats because they want a more casual feel to their reception, or sometimes, they don’t want to assign seats simply because they don’t want to take on any more projects. Whatever the reason, I always caution them to reconsider for these reasons.
- Remember that awkward feeling at school when you didn’t know where to sit or who to sit next to? Well guests can feel the same way. . . especially if they don’t know a lot of other people attending the weddings. If they don’t have an assigned seat (table), trying to find seats can be awkward and stressful.
- When someone doesn’t know where to sit, it could take them a long time to figure out where to sit, which in turn means your reception may start later than anticipated.
- While your DJ and coordinator will try extra hard to work with guests to be sure they find a seat, inevitably, when guests are not assigned seats, it means chairs, and place settings have to get moved around. This in turn means that your reception tables may not be very cohesive. . . you may have lots of people squish themselves on one table and others that only have a couple people sitting at it. Believe it or not, guests will be a lot more comfortable if they are assigned a seat (table). When you really think about it. . . guests are not sitting at their tables for very long, so better to make them comfortable for the time they are.
- Lastly, assigning seats gives you control where to seat people. Which means if you have tricky family or friend dynamics, you can be sure so seat them where everyone will be happy.
So, while you make the decision whether or not to assign seats (tables), take these reasons into consideration so that you can enjoy your reception!
