Sitting Pretty - A mini guide to planning the seating at your wedding

If you’ve just made it past the potential minefield that is the guest list, here’s your next challenge: How are you going to seat everyone? Round tables? Long ones? One long banquet table? Goodness.

If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Get down and boogie:

While your nuptials are all about sharing the love, it’s the dance floor that will have your guests remember your big day. Having said that, this is an excellent starting point. The most popular – and effective – option is to plonk your dance floor in the centre of the room. Then you’ll position the band or DJ against the wall. Of course, there are a whole host of ideas that will have your guests dancing until their feet hurt, and if your venue doesn’t allow for this, you can place the dance floor at one end of the room, centred and backed up against a wall.

dance floor wedding — Picture: Pinterest

It’s all about the size:

Long or round – choose the shape and size of your tables, but beyond this, make sure that the two of you are in the central spot so that your guests can see you in all your glory. A great place to start is to figure out how many guests fit at each table, this will allow you to figure out how many tables you will need.

What’s the plan – the floor plan that is:

We may think that the dance floor is the most important aspect of the wedding celebration, nothing is possible without creating a floor plan that the two of you are happy with. Start with the two most important people – you and your partner as you need to have the best seats and view in the house. Arrange your tables as symmetrically as possible – in a U-shape around the centred dance floor or fill one end of the space (if the dance floor is on the one side).

Don’t forget the VIPs

Reserve the tables closest to the two of you for your immediate families, and set aside tables further from the band/DJ for the older guests. The less desirable seats should be saved for your friends. Keep people together who will enjoy the time together – perhaps there are family members who haven’t seen each other in a while?

The bar area

This will also be dependent on your venue, but as a rule of thumb, the bar should be away from the entrance to avoid possible congestion. If you have more than one bar (one bar with two bartenders for every 100 guests is a good point of measure), then position one close to the dance floor and another one on the other side of the room.

But, how will your guests know

It’s time to dab the sweat that’s been dripping from your forehead and let a little stress go because we have something else on the agenda. How will you let guests know where to sit on the day? Whether you have 150 or 20 guests, displaying their names in alphabetical order is the most convenient option, to eliminate confusion and unnecessary time spent hovering around the seating chart. To make it more exciting, give each guest a refreshing cocktail or glass of bubbly along with their table number – it really sets the tone for a festive reception! Why not go a step further and add a signature cocktail to your wedding reception – here are a few ideas.