We spoke with Sandy Hammer, Co-Founder and CMO of AllSeated, a free collaboration network for planning events, all about ways to make seating your guests at your wedding a less stressful task.
AllSeated offers wedding couples the ability to design and view their floorplans in 3D, arrange seating charts, manage guest lists and timelines all in one place, updated in real time. These features are time savers and stress relievers, especially when combined with Sandy’s 5 seating tips which come in handy when you struggle to determine how and where to seat your guests.
1. It’s important to think ahead and organize your guest list before it’s time to arrange your seating charts.
Since drafting your guest list should be one of the first things you do, make sure you put it together in an organized fashion. Group your guests as you list them – college friends, family, colleagues, special needs guests – these categories will help you later on when it is time to assign your guests to their tables.
While traditional table groupings may involve categories such as family, colleagues, college friends and family friends, another important category is “special needs guests.”
Using the label of special needs is important for those guests who may not be able to walk far into a room, may need close access to a bathroom or have hearing issues which affects how far away/how close you need to seat them in relation to the band.
2. Give the bride’s family and the groom’s family, especially the parents and grandparents, prime tables. Make sure that they are seating closest to the dance floor and not rows of tables behind the dance floor, not near the kitchen or the exit.
3. The young adult guests can sit closest to the music because they won’t mind and chances are they will be busy dancing on the dance floor, not sitting most of the time.
4. Don’t seat the older guests on top of the music – you will never hear the end of it!
5. Take into consideration relationships and dynamics of your guests. It’s so important to create great tables. Although, realize that you may not be able to avoid blending people together that really have nothing in common but try your best to make good matches with your table seating.
Sometimes you may need to speak to your guests in advance regarding where you will be seating them at your wedding. Let them know how much they mean to you, but warn them, ‘I’m going to sit you with my distant Aunt Edna from another planet!’
