How to organise your seating plan

Trying to figure out the best way to seat everybody is one of the bigger headaches that comes with planning a wedding. From trying to group friends together to avoiding family drama, there’s a lot to try and juggle. We’ve put together some top tips to help you with your seating plans.

How big are the tables?

The first thing you really need to know is how big the tables at your venue are and how many people they can seat. This helps you to know how many people you can fit around each table.

Group people together

Try grouping people together, like family groups or sets of friends. This can also help you to work out how many people you need to try and fit around each table. But this doesn’t necessarily need to be by family or friendship group. You might want to have a kids’ table, for instance, which gives you more room to group the adults together.

Adjust each table

You might find that you have slightly more people on some tables over others. Struggling to balance this out and get an even number of people on each table can be a major headache.

Instead, just try to get people sat in places where they would be comfortable. People will naturally move round to talk to people as the night goes on, so your seating plan is only temporary and the odd empty seat isn’t the end of the world.

Table names or numbers?

Once you’ve organised who is sitting where, you should think about how you’ll identify each table.

You might simply number your tables. However, you might want to use the naming of the tables to add more personality to your wedding, by naming them after something that relates to you or ties into the theme.

One idea could be to name each table after a type of flower and incorporate it into a table centrepiece, for example. This could tie the tables into the particular season that your wedding is taking place, by using flowers that are in bloom at the time.

Set seats or a set table?

One way to take a major stress out of your seating plan is to simply assign people to a table as opposed to an individual seat. This means people can sit next to whoever they like on their table. This can work well if your meal is more of a buffet, as guests don’t need to be assigned to a seat to receive their food and can serve it themselves.

If you’re providing a full sit-down meal, however, it might be easier to assign seats so the staff in the venue can identify those people who require specific meal options. This includes vegetarians, vegans, or people with food allergies.

Organising the rest of your wedding

Your seating plan helps to organise a key part of your wedding. However, there’s much more to keep in mind, from entertainment to decorations.

At the Dream Venues Collection, we have a dedicated team of wedding planners that can help you organise your perfect wedding – from setting out the room so everyone has somewhere to sit, to helping you transform the venue into the perfect place for your wedding to take place.

To find out more about having your dream wedding at one of our Dream Venues, get in touch with our Dream Makers to arrange a show around.