Seating Arrangements?

Raeneera

How did your arranged seatings go? I plan on having 175 guests, and buffet style for dinner. Is it really necessary to assign seats or did it not matter in the end?

AddieCake

We assigned tables, and everything went very smoothly. I prefer assigned seating over open seating.

MoonlightSilver

We assigned people to tables, but not to individual seats. This makes it much easier for your guests. If you have tables that seat 10, and a group of 9 sits down, there's not much chance a single individual will sit at that last seat. You don't want to risk splitting up families or couples. 

We had buffet set up too, and I believe the waitstaff let each table individually know when to go up. They staggered the time so that everyone didn't rush the food at once (though lots of people had gone to the bar first anyway.). 

staar987

We also assigned tables and had a buffet. Our DJ called out when tables could go up. It worked out very well. After dinner people moved around a little and as people left people moved to other tables.

B2Z728

For 175 guests, PLEASE make seating arrangements. It's a little annoying to do and takes some time, but I think it's highly worth it for the comfort and ease of your guests. I went to a 200 person wedding once with no preassigned seating arrangements and it was chaos. Assign people to tables, not seats. Think of it as solving a puzzle to make it more "fun". Fortunately, H helped me out considerably by doing most of the seating chart. We asked our parents if they had any preferences beforehand and took that into consideration as well.  

gymbugmj2k

we had 200+ guests and definitely assigned tables.

As the RSVPs came in, I plugged names into a premade excel sheet (each column was a table and each table had 10 rows for names).  this let me move people around without tooo much of a mess.  it was a lot easier to organize than i expected. we kept families and groups of friends together as much as possible.

as far as the buffet -- the waitstaff called up each table and everything worked perfectly.

Raeneera

Thanks. I'm from a mexican family & so is my FH. So I wasn't too sure on if arranged seating/tables was going to even be an issue, I may need to rethink this whole seating thing, wether our families will actually sit where I've assigned them is another story.

B2Z728

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-recap-withdrawal_seating-arrangements?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:12Discussion:f5fc22bc-0d25-4e93-9a8b-89b74f82d53cPost:22295584-f6d2-4660-a006-239cce237299">Re: Seating Arrangements?</a>:
[QUOTE]we had 200+ guests and definitely assigned tables. As the RSVPs came in, I plugged names into a premade excel sheet (each column was a table and each table had 10 rows for names).  this let me move people around without tooo much of a mess.  it was a lot easier to organize than i expected. we kept families and groups of friends together as much as possible. as far as the buffet -- the waitstaff called up each table and everything worked perfectly.
Posted by gymbugmj2k[/QUOTE]

<div>We did basically the same thing, but with Google Docs spreadsheet instead. It made things much easier!</div>

georgiamiller00

Hi there @Raeneera Assign tables instead, its more organized, as to what I've experienced specially its a buffet. Best of wishes ! Cheers !

mattycam

I had a buffet style reception as well and assigned seating. It better to  keep things organized so the evening can go smoothly.

Sspencer89

i am having a sign with whos at what table. at the tables themselves i am having placecards so the servers can see who chose what for dinner. i know people will probably move these around on the tables be that doesnt bother me, but as long as the tags have the dinner selections/allergy alerts i dont think there will be an issue

Ella and Pedro

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-recap-withdrawal_seating-arrangements?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:12Discussion:f5fc22bc-0d25-4e93-9a8b-89b74f82d53cPost:e0c50557-2146-4d6d-bb3f-e878f463f7ec">Re: Seating Arrangements?</a>:
[QUOTE]i am having a sign with whos at what table. at the tables themselves i am having placecards so the servers can see who chose what for dinner. i know people will probably move these around on the tables be that doesnt bother me, but as long as the tags have the dinner selections/allergy alerts i dont think there will be an issue
Posted by Sspencer89[/QUOTE]

This is basically what we are doing because we have several people with really severe allergies and it was just not fesible to totally avoid all their trigger foods.  For example, my Dad and Godmother both have life threatening allergies to shellfish...and we're serving crab cakes and coconut shrimp as two of our many dinner tapas.

We're also having the caterer put a list on each offering's sign of the ingredients, so people who have say...a nut allergy...can see if it's in something.

ash273uk

My H was in a wedding several months before ours.  The only people I knew at the wedding were the bride, the groom, and my H.  The wedding party did pictures after the ceremony so I went to the reception by myself.  When I got there, they did not have assigned seats/tables.  I knew NO ONE and I felt really stupid.  I got myself a drink, walked around, and basically tried to waste time because I felt awkward.  Eventually I walked up to a couple of girls at a table and asked if I could sit with them.  When the wedding party finally arrived, they had a head table for just the WP, not their spouses/dates.  Thankfully, the girls that I ended up sitting with were super sweet and I had a great time talking to them.  After that wedding I realized that I was definitely doing assigned tables for my own wedding.  We had 200 guests, and the seating chart was a huge headache at times, but I didn't want any of my guests to feel as uncomfortable and awkward as I did when I knew no one and had nowhere to sit.

aquari0216

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-recap-withdrawal_seating-arrangements?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:12Discussion:f5fc22bc-0d25-4e93-9a8b-89b74f82d53cPost:11e29f92-f290-41a2-9e04-59b8c69f35c0">Re: Seating Arrangements?</a>:
[QUOTE]We assigned people to tables, but not to individual seats. This makes it much easier for your guests. If you have tables that seat 10, and a group of 9 sits down, there's not much chance a single individual will sit at that last seat. You don't want to risk splitting up families or couples.  We had buffet set up too, and I believe the waitstaff let each table individually know when to go up. They staggered the time so that everyone didn't rush the food at once (though lots of people had gone to the bar first anyway.). 
Posted by MoonlightSilver[/QUOTE]

THANKS! WE'RE GONNA DO THIS

Raeneera

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-recap-withdrawal_seating-arrangements?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:12Discussion:f5fc22bc-0d25-4e93-9a8b-89b74f82d53cPost:138c9d9b-bda7-423c-a320-b8a709dfe372">Re: Seating Arrangements?</a>:
[QUOTE]My H was in a wedding several months before ours.  The only people I knew at the wedding were the bride, the groom, and my H.  The wedding party did pictures after the ceremony so I went to the reception by myself.  When I got there, they did not have assigned seats/tables.  I knew NO ONE and I felt really stupid.  I got myself a drink, walked around, and basically tried to waste time because I felt awkward.  Eventually I walked up to a couple of girls at a table and asked if I could sit with them.  When the wedding party finally arrived, they had a head table for just the WP, not their spouses/dates.  Thankfully, the girls that I ended up sitting with were super sweet and I had a great time talking to them.  After that wedding I realized that I was definitely doing assigned tables for my own wedding.  We had 200 guests, and the seating chart was a huge headache at times, but I didn't want any of my guests to feel as uncomfortable and awkward as I did when I knew no one and had nowhere to sit.
Posted by ash273uk[/QUOTE]

Super late replying to this post, but where would they have seated you if you didnt know anyone in the first place? I know im going to assign tables to the VIPs (Parents, Siblings, Ect...) but other than that idk if its worth assigning tables when I've never been to a wedding where they do that. Not that assigning tables isnt a bad idea (its a great idea in fact)

katienjeff

Hmmm. Glad to have read the responses...I was thinking of just not assigning them, but now it seems like a good idea.

fuerst37

If you end up assigning seating, we used Wedding Wire's seating link, and it worked really well for us.

Sspencer89

i have made up basically what i think in my opinion should be the seating arrangement. hes saying his mother wants a say in it cause some of her friends will be there. he tried to tell me that her friends would be sitting at the first table with them..... uhhh NO! parents and grandparents at the first table. family at the first five then friends get arranged. 

kmmssg

Sspencer89 said:

i have made up basically what i think in my opinion should be the seating arrangement. hes saying his mother wants a say in it cause some of her friends will be there. he tried to tell me that her friends would be sitting at the first table with them..... uhhh NO! parents and grandparents at the first table. family at the first five then friends get arranged. 

Can I make a suggestion?  let the parents host their own tables.  I am a 3 time MOB and that is what we have done each time.  We only have one g'parent living so he sits at our table or with one of his other children.  I decide who is at my table, my ex-h decides who is at his table, and the parents of the groom decides who is at their table.  I want to host my out of town siblings or the Pastor who married DD #1 as he is a dear friend.  I would not want to sit with the parents and grandparents of the groom.

You can make the seating chart super easy for yourself or you can be really controlling and have a major headache over all of it.  For our girls, I did the chart for seating family members and friends, the MOG did the chart for her side of the family and friends, and my DD and her then FI did the portion for all of their friends.  EVERYONE was happy and there were no headaches.

I really don't blame your FMIL on this.  Let her host her table how she sees fit.