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You want to ensure your guests have a fun time at your wedding reception, and where and with whom they sit will factor into their enjoyment. Since coordinating seating arrangements can be a challenge to organize, follow these tips to simplify the process.

How to Arrange Seating for Your Wedding Guests

1. Pick Table Shapes 

Before you place guests, you need to know the size and shape of the tables and how many people each can accommodate. Pick from four possible options: rectangle, round, oval, and square.

Rectangular has the highest seating capacity, while round offers a traditional look and more legroom. Square tables are more intimate since they seat fewer people. Oval provides a compromise with a lot of legroom and more seats.

2. Design a Floor Plan

Visual cues will make any plan simpler to understand and arrange, so draw a simplified version of your wedding reception room. Draw out the tables, then write guest names on sticky notes to arrange their seats. You can also use a whiteboard. 

Ask the venue manager how they usually organize tables to give you a starting point.

3. Organize Guests by Groups

Wedding ReceptionsGroup your guests based on how you know them in categories like family, high school friends, college friends, and friends from work. This will give you a better idea of who knows each other and how big each group is, so you know how many tables are needed.

4. Make a Children’s Table

For children and teens, group them by age at their own table. They’ll likely have more in common with each other than with any adults and can play games or dance with their peers.

Don’t put the children’s table too far away from their parents. Some may get anxious if they can’t see their parents in the crowd.

5. Ask Your Parents for Help

If your parents bring in extended family you hardly know, ask for their help in planning those seating arrangements. They’ll be more familiar with those family members’ relationships and take some names off your plate.

 

From the seating arrangements to venue selection, the experts at Envisions Weddings are here to help plan your big day. Serving Maui, HI, their skilled planners have over 30 years of experience to organize all the details of the wedding reception and ceremony. Call (808) 874-1000 today to start planning, or visit their website to learn more about their full-service event planning.

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