Wedding Etiquette Forum

Long Table Place Cards and Seating Chart

Hi!
Wondering if anyone knows the best way to go about setting up the seating arrangement and using placecards for long reception tables instead of round tables.  We have about 200 guests and will be seating everyone at about 4 long tables w 50 guests each.  I want to make sure people who know each other are seated in the same general area but not sure how you distinguish tables from each other when the tables are really long.
Anyone w exeprience w long reception tables?

Re: Long Table Place Cards and Seating Chart

  • imunkiimunki member
    First Comment
    i have the same question!  what did you end up doing?
  • I'm also doing long tables, but I am dividing them using the decor and naming areas different things.  I am not having table numbers, but rather naming sections after dates that FI have been on.  I'll also have a "floor plan" at the entrance so guests can figure out which section is where.   

  • I realize this question is very old, but thought I'd respond since I went to a wedding last summer that did this and there was a huge issue with it. They had about 140 guests at two long tables. The escort cards told people a table number but nothing else – in essence, they did not assign seats, but let people sit wherever they wanted at their table number. The problem was (seemed obvious, but obviously not…) because it was just a super long table, it was impossible to tell where "table 1" ended and "table 2" began - even though they had table numbers. We tried to guess how many people were at each table to then figure out the middle and work from there, but it was confusing. So some "tables" ended up too crowded (people ended up without seats) and others had empty chairs. The wedding planner was running around trying to get more chairs and asking people to shift down, etc. It was a total disaster. They could have avoided it by alternating table cloths/runners/SOMETHING to show where one table ended and the next began so that people weren't confused.

    Also, escort cards were hung on the main gate and in extremely fancy script lettering. 1) the area got really congested and no one could move because people stopped (in the main gate/entrance) to try to find their escort cards; 2) the cards were alphabetized, but because the gate had a scroll pattern, they weren't hung in rows or columns, so it was kind of a connect the dots to find the next name; and 3) the lettering was so fancy that it was impossible to find your card quickly and move out of the way.

    Theirs was a "pintrest wedding" – in other words, it was extremely adorable, but not very functional. 

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