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If you think creating a seating plan falls within the last-minute category of your wedding planning, think again! A well-planned seating chart takes time and is important to enhancing your guests’ experiences at the reception. And we’re here with helpful advice on how to arrange a successful plan to make your event memorable!

For any seating arrangement you choose, you’ll need fashionable place cards to direct guests to the places you have so carefully chosen. Write your guests’ names on the cards and include the table number to help them find their seats easily.

The Head Table

Love the idea of a head table, but wondering how you should arrange the members? Read on for our ideas…

• Seat parents, grandparents and close family with you at one large table. Your attendants would then be placed throughout the general seating area.

• Have your attendants sit with you while parents, grandparents and close relatives are seated at tables near yours.

• Attendants can be arranged with bridesmaids on the bride’s side and groomsmen on the groom’s side or they can be seated mixed.

• Having attendants’ significant others seated at the head table is an option.

The most important thing about arranging your head table is to make sure the bride and groom can be clearly seen by all the guests.

General Seating

Making your guests feel comfortable are your main priorities when creating a seating chart. Keep these tips in mind…

• Seat people of similar ages next to each other so everyone at the table will have an easier time visiting with each other.

• Seat people with similar interests next to each other. Your mountain-climbing cousins from Denver could strike up a great friendship with your college friends training for the Boston marathon.

• Allow divorced parents to host their own tables of family and friends if they are not comfortable sitting together.

• Seat family members who live far from each other together so they can have some quality catch-up time.

• Put dance lovers near the dance floor. Every wedding needs those first few dance-crazy friends or family members to get the party started.

• Try out your matchmaking skills! This is your opportunity to introduce those two people you’ve always thought would be great together — the day’s about romance, after all!

• Always seat even numbers at every table. People tend to pair up in conversation and no one wants to be left out.

Creating the chart

Now you’re ready to get guests to the perfect places! Start by working in a spreadsheet on your computer, or use a large piece of paper or tag board and draw the floor plan of your reception venue on it. Use sticky notes with guests’ names and place them wherever needed. This makes it easy for you to move guests around until you come up with the right arrangement.

• If you’re feeling artistic (or have an artist friend), design your final seating arrangement and have it framed to display at the entrance to your reception. Place it next to your place cards so guests can refer to the chart and head in the right direction.

Make it fun!

Encourage conversation by incorporating some unique ideas into your seating arrangement…

• Name your tables instead of simply numbering them. You could name tables after cities you’ve traveled to, wines you love, sports teams, famous romantic couples — anything that fits the style of your event.

• Let guests choose where they will sit at their assigned tables to allow for natural mingling.

• Include a special note on each place card to make each guest feel welcome.

• Write a word or part of a phrase on one place card and the same word or the end of the phrase on another place card  — then encourage guests to mingle beyond their tables before and after dinner to find their “match.”

Enjoy the reception planning!

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