I really don't want to work on this seating chart...

I was dead set on doing it alphabetically to make it easier for folks. When it came down to it I was tired and irritated so I listed by table.

Sorry, I think you're going to have to suck it up and list the seating chart by alphabetical order with 175 guest. You might think about printing a 2nd copy and posting it on the other end of the venue. Just push through, you can do it!

How should I display the seating chart, though, if I list by alphabetical order? It's a rustic elegance theme.

You can display it by name with the table # to the right of the name. Here's an example.

Why does everything come out so dang small? Grrrrrrrrrr. Anyhow, the seating chart is sectioned by the letter of the alphabet. Beneath the letter is a list of guests with last names that start with that letter. Following the name are a few dots, and then the table number for that guest. You can't see it clearly on the photo, but that's how the assignment is in the photograph. It helped me to put all the guest names in Excel first which made it easy to manipulate.

@KareBear that's nice. But how or where do I print something out like that? Should I use a frame like that?

@KareBear I would also love to know how you made that list!

You get a 18x24 or 24x36 foam board poster printed at your local print shop or FedEx/Kinkos or the UPS store. I like the frame look, it will definitely enhance the rustic elegance you're going for.

I don't have a word processing program on my laptop, yet. I recently replaced my water damaged laptop with this one, but have yet to buy Microsoft office to install (it's so expensive!). I've been typing up things on Google docs. Can those be printed out at any of the stores mentioned? How would I go about doing so?

Hold on, ladies. I didn't say this was MY chart. I have a similar seating chart but mine is by table number and it's not near as big as the one in the pic. We only have 86 guests so doing it alphabetically just wasn't necessary. By table number made more sense in my case. The chart in the pic is gigantic. Mine will be 16x20 in a frame. I found this on the internet and there was a template you could use to make your own. It LOOKS like real chalkboard, but it's actually made using MS Word. I downloaded it and changed it up a little bit to make mine. I don't think I bookmarked it but I can scour around to see if I can find it again and if I do, I'll post the link. It's not as easy as it looks to get things lined up because it uses the heck out of tables.

Found it!

http://mrsfancee.com/chalkboard-seating-chart/

http://mrsfancee.com/chalkboard-seating-chart-template-download/

template:

http://mrsfancee.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/chalkboard-seating-chart-template.docx

If you want to do this yourself, give yourself PLENTY of time to work on it. It can be a little bit tedious until you get used to it, but it's so worth it when you figure it out. I found a really nice ivory colored decorative frame at Hobby Lobby and a tabletop easel it will sit on. Office Max will blow it up for me but I have to convert the Word doc to a .pdf file first, then take it to them on a flash drive along with the frame I bought. They told me they only need 24 hrs to blow it up and put it in the frame to the tune of about $30. Here's the picture frame I got (on far left)

@Karebear Love that frame! I wonder if I could do that with a Google doc.

@ C&K. I've never used Google doc but I tried it just now by uploading the Chalkboard-template.docx to Google doc. It uploaded, but it didn't upload the tables. There is a table for each alphabet section which is then populated with names. You'd have to play around with it in Google doc to see if you can get it to work. I don't know if it will or not. There are other seating charts you could use in Google doc (I just pulled one up) but they're not as nice.

Take the Google doc and rather than printing it to your printer you can print to a PDF, most print shops. You might just have some issues with special fonts but if you're okay with some of the more basic ones you should be fine. Vista print also has some great deals on large posters good luck! I'm dreading the day of making our seating chart lol

Ok, I'll check it out and play around with it. Thanks for your help, Karebear!

@Ashley I just saw your comment. I will try that method, too, if I can't do the other way. Thanks for the input!

C&K, try open office. It's basically the MS Office suite but free. There's word processing software in there, and I think there's a MAC version if you have an Apple.

Thanks @Stephanie Y. I will try that! And I do have a Mac.

I just downloaded OpenOffice. I downloaded the seating chart template and it worked, except the heading/title didn't show up (The Find Your Seat and bride/groom's name). Just the alphabetical list showed up. Am I supposed to create my own heading? Did you have this problem @Karebear?

When I downloaded the Chalkboard Template, it had the heading/title already on it. I removed the little squiggly above and below the name 'cause I didn't like it, and I changed the names and added "Sweetheart Table". This is only part of the chart, but what I downloaded looked like this:

Hmm. The whole top portion was missing when I downloaded the template. Only the alphabetical letters showed up. Weird. I'll have to figure out how to add a heading then.