Wedding Etiquette Forum

Assigned seating vs. escort cards only for reeeeally long banquet tables

We'll have a few round tables for seating, but the majority of our guests will be at two banquet tables, 40 people per table. We're already mostly done with our seating chart that consists of little escort cards that people will pop off and take with them, but I was thinking about assigning actual seats. I'd rather let people sit where they want to, but with so many people per table, I'm envisioning couples getting split up and such.

So, would it be silly to have both an escort card (which we've already made) as well as a place card? Or do you think we could just made several table names per table and place one every few chairs to show people approximately where they should sit?

Or should I just not provide seating because it's my pretty princess day, damnit? Innocent

Re: Assigned seating vs. escort cards only for reeeeally long banquet tables

  • Can you just use the escort cards as place cards and have someone place them before the reception? In your case, I think that would work the best. How will you choose who gets to sit at the round tables?
  • Right now, the round tables will be our BP and their dates.

    We could have the escort cards individually placed, but they're designed to be displayed at the front (ours isn't done, but here's what it'll look like at the end). Each square that makes up the picture is an escort card.


    Image from JanuaryBride's bio
  • I would assign them to a table so no one will be split up, but they still get to choose their exact seat.
  • Can you just do a seating chart near the escort card display?  Or would that get too confusing with the banquet tables being so long?

    image
    Everything the light touches is my kingdom.
  • we are doing something similar.  we have round tables and also 4 long rectangular "kids" tables.  Meaning they are tables for our friends.  Each long table holds 16, but we split it up into two "table numbers" of 8 seats each, to make sure that couples were sitting with people they wanted to sit with.

    So, I'd say, break up your long tables into table numbers and do escort cards that way.

    I love your escort card layout.  Are the names to be printed on the back of the photo?

  • I know seating charts are popular here on the Knot, but in real life I have been to countless weddings with open seating and I've never had a problem finding a spot.  I don't understand it. 

    I would just do your escort card idea and let people figure out their own spots at the table. It's not like they can't or won't shift around later if they really want to, whether you assign particular seats or not.
    image
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Dani, I'm sure it would be fine, but in those cases people tend to recommend to have extra seating, which we won't be able to do. I think I'm leaning towards doing what Parker did and having a few table names for each table. I wouldn't assign specific seats if we were just having lots of tables of 6-10.

    Parker, their names and table name will be written in silver pen in the blank black space between each piece. Here's another photo from JanuaryBride's bio:



  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_assigned-seating-vs-escort-cards-only-reeeeally-long-banquet-tables?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:669b251f-554d-4e22-94b0-476740641877Post:9d5ad252-2d62-4716-a4e8-4c44f27bf528">Re: Assigned seating vs. escort cards only for reeeeally long banquet tables</a>:
    [QUOTE] I think I'm leaning towards doing what Parker did and having a few table names for each table. I wouldn't assign specific seats if we were just having lots of tables of 6-10.
    Posted by polichik[/QUOTE]

    That makes sense to me.
    image
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • What's your big picture going to be, poli?
  • A photo of the Minneapolis skyline:



    It's going to be huge, around 32"x48"
  • that is really cool looking and I kinda wish I had thought about it!  But it probably works best for the number of people you are having at your wedding and would be unruly for our number of guests.
  • Parker, I couldn't imagine doing it for more than 120 people! We might get fewer "Yes"es than that, but we figure it'll be fine to have a few extra.
  • poli, I love that. I can't wait until you get married/pro pics!!

    How's the Frankencandy situation?
  • Thanks, georgia!

    My mom is still chiseling them out, and I was going to ask her to send a pic, but I didn't want to stress her out! It sounds like they're mostly salvageable. I'm guessing that not everybody will want one (I can't picture FI's hard-core police officer uncles sipping champagne with a little pink rock candy stick), so we might just save what we can and go from there.
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