Top tips for arranging your wedding seating plan
On Twitter, we noticed that Adam from the awesome TopTablePlanner.com has been posting a set of tips for putting together your wedding table plan, so we asked him if he wouldn’t mind writing a guest blog post for us collecting some of that wisdom together in one place. Adam very kindly agreed, so here’s the first in what we hope to be a series of occasional guest posts offering general advice and ideas for your big day and beyond.
Working out who’s going to sit where can often be one of the most stressful and time consuming parts of planning a wedding. It can be like trying to fit square pegs in round holes sometimes!
Maybe you’ve got a group of nine friends or colleagues but are limited to tables of eight so somehow need to split them up. Or perhaps Aunt Maud doesn’t speak to the rest of the family so you need to find another table to sit her on.
Don’t despair though! Here’s some top tips to help you arrange your wedding seating plan.
Elderly guests
Make sure they’re not sitting near any loud speakers as they may moan about the noise — but at the same time make sure they’re near enough to hear any speeches!
Children
Always sit young children with their parents but think about having a table for older children if you think that might work. Putting some crayons and colouring books on the table is a great way of keeping younger children entertained.
Close Friends/Family
Make sure the tables nearest the top table are reserved for close friends and family.
Groups
Try to keep groups together wherever you can — friends, family, colleagues etc. Place as many obvious groups as you can on the plan first and you’ll find you’ve probably almost completed it already! If you need to split them up make sure everyone knows someone else on the table.
Couples
If at all possible, don’t separate couples even if one of them is a bridesmaid or usher. If you have to, put the leftover partner on a table with people they know.
Singles
Don’t use the seating plan as an opportunity to plan cupid and matchmake single guests. It’ll be really obvious and they probably won’t thank you for it!
Table Numbers
Numbers can imply a hierarchy – you wouldn’t want Aunt Maud grumbling that she’s only on table 8 whereas Aunt Betty is on table 3. Consider using table names instead, perhaps related to your theme or to things that are special to you as a couple.
And finally…
Consider using software such as Toptableplanner to help you arrange your seating plan. You can easily drag and drop your guests and tables around the screen and try different layouts, saving each version so you can see what works best.
Thanks Adam! You can follow @TopTablePlanner on Twitter — and don’t forget to follow @BuyOurHoneymoon for all the latest news and developments here at the UK’s leading honeymoon gift list service.