Table Planning

We just made a sign to say that all is welcome sit where you want as we have no seating plan.

I struggled for weeks writing down names in my planner but couldn't see it... I got told by my event co-ordinator to buy some paper plates and sticky notes so you can use them to actually see the tables and people. Had it sorted within no time 👍

I wouldn’t have a seating plan as such but more a table plan. So a list of people on what table. If you have it as a free for all then you’ll end up with odd seats everywhere and it’ll take forever to sort x

Please speak to your venue before deciding. They might have a seating plan as a requirement.

We had a travel themed wedding, with each table being a different country. We put two sets of sweets on each table and a sign saying “trading with other countries is encouraged” to get everyone mingling with other tables. It’s always a hard task to know where to seat everyone but don’t panic - everyone only stays seated for a relatively short time before they are up and about chatting and dancing ☺️ hope you have a wonderful day! x

I’m trying to mix the families up too... but my family is twice the size of my other half’s ... so feel your pain. Waiting on the rest of my rsvps and then having a pizza and wine night to work it all out

I got a flip chart, some small post it notes with everyone’s names on and I could mix and match until I found the right balance between the families. I’ll see if I can find the picture....!

We used the uk bride seating planner and it was so helpful to move people round etc. There’s no right or wrong or people needing to escape etc guests do their own thing on the day and should be happy to be with you on your special day 🙂 xx

Try not to stress about it. We took the approach that the table plan was for dinner so only a short amount of time in the whole day and as long as everyone had someone they knew and could talk too that was ok.
We cut up a list of names and put everyone in groups. Then we matched groups together to make each table up to 10 people. It was actually pretty simple and we were done in an hour.
Good Luck x

I’ve split everyone up cos I didn’t want his family and my family sitting apart so I’ve mixed it up. People were trying to tell me they were sitting next to so and so so my plan B was seating bingo. What ever number you pulled out was the seat u were sitting in lol. Fair to say I’m sticking to plan a because I have the final say not them x

I had no seating plan either let them all mingle together it was only bride and grooms table wat was reserved

Yeah it was a source of contention for us, with our parents getting involved! We started by knowing we only wanted 9/10 on a table. Then literally put names on post-it notes and moved them around. Started with larger groups and went down in numbers. We put people we thought had things in common together, which meant we did have some mixed tables. Then we decided where each table would be, using things like disabled access and ease for kids to get out to decide. It took us several attempts to get it right!

We used post-it notes and moved them around. Was very difficult and still not sure if we've got it 100% right but it's only for a couple of hours and we tried to put people together who we thought would have most in common x

I have tried to mix it up a bit but putting together people who i think will get on. I have 4 kids coming to the wedding and its 8 per table so kids and they're two sets of parents are on one table, only have two teens at my wedding so have sat them together along with their accompanying adults. My H2bs cousins wife is pregnant and so is one of our friends wives so we have put them together. My Nana who is sat at the top table asked us to put her bf with someone he knows so he is sat with my mum. MoH's partner is sat with a single friend of the same age.

I jokingly told the fella that our table plan will be. Our closest family and friends at the front, our next closest in the middle and people we didn't want to invite but felt obligated to invite go at the back. I was only joking though

If you can have the bridal party on a round table in the middle of the room, no one is that far away then

We put a seating plan in... But didn't number the tables, we called them after all the cities as a couple we had visited... Saga over... On the inside we also included random fun facts about the city

We had a major argument about the table plans. I didn’t want to have a plan as I thought it would be best if people sat wherever they wanted. I also didn’t want to split the bridal party from their plus ones so wanted to have an extended top table. Husband didn’t agree with this as he was really bothered about having everything as traditional as possible (he is a people pleaser). We argued about it until the day before the wedding. In the end I was the bigger person and said just do whatever the f* you want, I don’t care about this enough to argue anymore. We did it how he wanted it, in the end we didn’t spend that much time at the tables anyway (I was walking around between courses and so was everybody else, and as soon as the dinner finished most people were up anyway) so it was ok. Not worth the stress, I don’t think. And I figured there were more important things that I wasn’t prepared to compromise on so the table plan I let him have his way with 😂.

I like to be quite hands on so I wrote all the names on bits of paper and stuck them to paper plates. I could then move things around and arrange the tables. Really helped me to visualise things

I had a wedding of 400.. we did 12 tables for our blood relatives and bridal party. The other 28 tables were free for all. We had a sign that said “pick a seat, not a side. We’re all family once the not is tied”