Reserved seating for family

I would simply tie a nice ribbon across the rows that are reserved, on the inside of the aisle. Then before the procession starts, have an usher reserve it.

For the most part though, people know not to sit in the first few rows, and they will be seated ny ushers anyhow.

I reserved two rows on each side. Our aisle markers/things were shepards hooks with grapvine balls that hadd moss and vendella roses in them. I bought pretty Scrapbook paper and ribbon to corridnate with our colors and used a fancy font and printed it on the scrap book paper and threaded ribbon trough and hung it with the grapevine balls.

I've seen people just print out paper saying "Reserved" on it and put it on the seats and then use a stone to prevent it from migrating. Since it depends on the length of the rows and the number of chairs you are reserving, it's better to put signs, cause otherwise guests might sit in the second row (I've been at weddings where only the first row was reserved--heck I've been at weddings where only 3 seats total were reserved!).

I am telling my ushers the names of people that HAVE to be in rows 1-3 (at least that's what I am hoping is needed) and in what order. Even writing it down to help em remember!

What materials do you have available or leftover from your other decorations. If you're resourceful you should be able to find something that works.

Because we can't afford a bunch of extra chairs (we are renting the chairs for our outdoor ceremony) and each row will have 8-10 chairs and neither of us needs that many reserved seats, we are reserving individual chairs for our parents and grandparents (4 on my side, 3 on FHs) with cards I designed on word that say "Reserved for the Mother of the Groom" etc.

When I get home, I will try to paste a pic of my reserved signs for you. I am just printing them on ivory cardstock and then attaching them to the seats with ribbon.

Thanks dragonfly. I also have the same dilema in that we are renting chairs (boy are they expensive!) and would have extras on each side.

Here's a pic of one of the signs I made. I will be printing them 2 to a sheet. I used the fonts from my invitations as well as part of the invitation design.

Some of my brides have placed a card (like a table number) on the tables that they want to reserve for family saying "reserved for family" and all other tables blank. This seems to work well

Apparently, back in the day, family members who were invited to sit in the first few rows received a pew card in their invitation. Then they present the card to the ushers when they arrive at the ceremony. I doubt I would EVER have the time or energy to do this, but it does sound elegant, doesn't it?