No wedding party table problem

In all the weddings I’ve been to, either my SO has been able to snag our seats or we were able to put our escort cards down to claim seats before the official grand entrance.

Let them know ahead of time which tables they are seated at, and give them their escort cards before they enter the reception. Reserved signage never works because it doesn’t clarify who is reserved to sit at any given table.

We put name cards at each place setting, and it worked perfectly. Zero confusion about seating.

They could claim a spot at their tables during cocktail hour before the grand entrance.

Do you mean they take part in the grand entrance and are introduced before the bride and groom? Is that necessary?

If they are assigned tables wouldn’t there be a place left? I suppose you can let them take a seat ahead of time, but I’m not sure that’s much different than taking a remaining open seat or seats since you don’t know who you’ll be sitting next to either way. You could also assign actual seats.

We assigned tables to everyone, so for the bridal party and their plus ones they were split between 2 different tables. Obviously no one not assigned to that table sat at it, and the plus one's all made sure their partner had a seat next to them, no issues!

You could also put out place cards that say "reserved for wedding party" at the seats you want them in if you are concerned