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Assigned seats? (Answered)

[Deleted User][Deleted User] member
First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
edited October 2014 in Wedding Reception Forum
We're having a relatively small wedding (50-60 guests), with guests definitely assigned to a table. My fiancé wants to leave it at that, while I think that it's best to assign seats so that there are no awkward "holes" and then everyone has to move over when others join the table. 

What are your experiences with either option? 

He'll probably just let me do what I think is best, but he has me doubting my gut feeling. 

UPDATE: Thanks for the comments. Our venue has actually asked that we assign seats because we're serving a plated dinner and guests have a choice of mains. Assigned seats will make it easier for the servers and more efficient in general.
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Re: Assigned seats? (Answered)

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    Almie425Almie425 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    How would they know where to sit otherwise? You can certainly use a sign, blackboard, etc, depending in the decor of the event, but people need to know where to go...
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    sarahjane222sarahjane222 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    edited October 2014
    I'm guessing that what you mean is that you're just going to designate people to a table and then let them choose their own seat at that table. If you're doing a plated meal with options, you may need to have place cards so that servers can identify which meal type goes where. If not though, you don't have to do place cards. I wouldn't worry about awkward holes or people moving over...they'll figure it out. If you want to go the extra step and make place cards though - it wouldn't hurt...and I can't imagine your fiance would care *that* much if you're taking on the extra work. 
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    NymeruNymeru member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    If you don't mind taking the time, I'd do assigned seats.  I did them for my wedding and I put a lot of thought into where each couple would sit so that everyone at the table would have the "best" people around them.  It made it so that a lot of otherwise-shy people were much more talkative/out-going than usual.
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    theartistformerlyknownastheartistformerlyknownas member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    People know how to sit at a table. This is totally unnecessary. Just assign people to tables and leave it at that.
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    ohannabelleohannabelle member
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    My daughter had a small wedding (50.) No assigned seating. It worked. No problems. 
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    LittleWohlscheidLittleWohlscheid member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    My sister's wedding didn't have assigned seating with over 100 guests and it was totally fine. No holes and no awkwardly scooting over to make room. People sat by who they wanted, the B&G couldn't be blamed for seating people farther away from them (some people actually get upset by that, it turns out), and I personally have enjoyed weddings with no assigned seating way more. I'm pretty introverted and shy so I get uncomfortable being forced to sit with other people that I don't know.
    That being said, as a PP mentioned it may be useful for plated meals.
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    climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
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    Assigning tables is as far as you need to go. You don't need to assign seats as well. 
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    atlastmrsgatlastmrsg member
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    I just assigned table numbers, and people figured it out just fine.  The servers also got all the vegetarian entrees to the people who needed them without any problems.  I think letting people sit by who they wanted at the table worked out better so they weren't "stuck" by someone, or feel like they got the "worst" seat at the table since it was with back facing the band.  People get ticked off by the dumbest things.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    Thanks for the input, ladies! 

    My fiancé actually called the venue yesterday to confirm our tasting appointment and they requested that we assign seats. Since we're having plated dinners and guests can choose their main, it will be easier for servers if seats are assigned.


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    Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    crimsonsaffron said:
    Thanks for the input, ladies! 

    My fiancé actually called the venue yesterday to confirm our tasting appointment and they requested that we assign seats. Since we're having plated dinners and guests can choose their main, it will be easier for servers if seats are assigned.


    This is what your escort cards are for.  On them you denote what table the person is sitting at and then use some sort of other notation (color of card, or sticker or what not) to show what that person is ordering.

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    MandyMostMandyMost member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    If it's a typical set up of 8-10 people per table, people can figure out how to sit with no holes. I've never had an issue with this at any wedding I've ever been to. 

    At my venue, we let the caterer know the meal split per table, and provide a list of the guests and what they ordered at the table...the waiters will confirm who get's what before serving the meal. Not too much unlike going to a regular restaurant. 
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    koriemokoriemo member
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    We are assigning seats at our wedding of 45 people. We have people sitting at 4 long rectangular tables that seat 12 each. I just feel like that will be easier because of the particular groups of people we have to seat together.
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    hellohkbhellohkb mod
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    The DOC should be able to assist if a problem does actually arise. The last wedding I went to there was an issue with seating. We got to our table and every time we tried to sit at a seat someone at the table claimed it was taken. There was one seat left and I was pissed. The DOC went over to the table and handled it and we were able to sit with no problem.

    As for the venue requesting assigned seating, you can do that but like PPs said, that's what escort cards are for. If you really want to do assigned seating, go for it! But it is definitely not required.


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    Jen4948Jen4948 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    I'd assign tables only, but use color coding or something on escort cards that tell the venue staff what meals each guest is to be served.
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