Northern California Wedding Show | Guest Seating Tips

To assign seating or not assign seating, that is the question.

What if you can do the best of both worlds? Assign seating for your immediate family members and wedding party if they won't be seated at a head table but leave the rest of the seating open for guests.  

This allows you to make it simple for your family to find their seat and if they have been doing photos after the ceremony they may be the last to be making their way over to the reception area to find a seat.  It also keeps mom and dad happy because they have their family seated close by and they have a great view of your table.

image courtesy of Sourced+Co.

If you've elected to use assigned seating for all of your guests be sure to not only have a copy of the list for your coordinator or banquet captain but also a map of where the tables should be placed.  So if your best friend is at table 6, consider where table 6 should be in relation to your table and sketch out a simple layout for reference.  

Stressed about seating? Ask your wedding planner, or venue, caterer, photographer for ideas on how to make a seamless seating arrangement for your wedding reception!