Open Seating

I was planning on not... now I'm thinking I probably should do at least table seatings... guess we'll see when the RSVP's come in...

I'm having open seating and this sign states it best.

I'm having open seating. Ain't nobody got time to organize 250 people. Just reserved tables for the parents/grandparents then free for all!

We attended a wedding with open seating that went very smoothly. I think it went so well because they had a reception host and hostess that helped people find seats and helped encourage tables to fill up, rather than leaving a few awkward empty seats here and there. Several people who had RSVP'd did not come but a whole group that did not RSVP did show up. How do you handle that kind of thing when you have seating charts? Still trying to decide what we'll do for our October wedding!

We're having a buffet brunch reception directly following the ceremony, at the same location. I definitely plan on having open seating.

That blackboard sign is intended for the ceremony....

I've heard you should at least assign tables. People don't tend to group up evenly and you'll end up with a lot of empty seats at each table.

Heh. Might do this

Agree with Lynn H (what happened to RATR?). I've been to a wedding before with open seating and sure enough, when the last people went through the buffet, sure enough there were single chairs all over the place. It was disruptive to move other guests so couples could sit next to one another.

Save yourself hassle and to ensure your guests are comfortable, assign tables.

I HATE open seating. it gives me horrible anxiety - like "new kid searching for a table in the lunchroom on the first day of school" vibes, while wandering aimlessly searching for open seats with my date near people who i at least kinda sorta know. I know I'm not the only one - and it was twice as bad when I was single.

Please dont do this to your guests.

I was wondering this today. I have personally never attended a wedding where there was assigned seating, however, I did email the venue coordinator and ask her what the norm is at the venue.

I was going to do open but decided against it after reading the forums. People will only be sitting for a short while, I'd rather them have a table and feel less stressed about where to go.

Our wedding was on Saturday and we did not have assigned tables. It's the third wedding I've been to like this. The two that worked best (mine and one in New Orleans) were heavy passed plus stationary appetizers, not sit down dinner.

The one wedding I went to that was a buffet dinner without assigned seats was chaotic. They didn't have enough chairs for everyone in the main area, so we got stuck at a weird table in a room adjacent to where the reception was with people we didn't know. As soon as we ate, we moved our chairs over to sit with friends.

If you do open seating you need 30% more seating than guests... people often leave odd numbers at tables and have open chairs here or there.... assign tables.

We had open seating. We had approximately 65 people, including the bridal party.

Our reception was SUPER laid back, and relaxed. It went over really well.

We are doing table cards for assigned tables, but not seats. We're expecting approximately 125-150 guests, with a lot of families and friends; I tend to be a stresser, and I don't want people to feel out of place if they are not coming with a date and may only know a few people at the wedding. I've been in uncomfortable situations before where I'm the only one at a table who doesn't know everyone else so I want to make sure my guests don't have a difficult time.

If you have over 50+ you need one. Sure, a guest and a date will be able to find seats, but not a family of 5. Or the family of 5 will be left at a table of 8 alone, leaving others to be crammed and the family of 4 who was out chasing kids will have to be separated. This left awkward "solo" people (groomsmen's dates who weren't sitting with each other) were scattered randomly and had a bad time. The VIPs you kind of forget about- maybe your boss, godmother, an aunt who helped out a lot- end up getting stuck in the back corner and are bummed. We are not attending your wedding, so we do not care. Just know if shit hits the fan, you're short tables, some tables are empty which means wasted centerpieces. It literally takes 15 minutes to do.

Why does your FMIL give 2 shits if you have a seating chart? Especially since I'm assuming she would have assigned seating as a VIP.

We are having about 150 people, and will be assigning everyone to tables. The plan is for them all to sit at their tables for the ceremony, and if they decide they want to mingle during the reception, that is fine. But I have some drama within my family, so its best for me to assign tables to those groups that mingle well with each other. Also, instead of doing table numbers, each table is going to be part of a theme. I don't want to add to the drama by giving someone a disrespectful table number...

My FH thought it would be fun to do random assigned seating - put people who don't know each other at the same table. I was like, uh, veto!

You don't necessarily needed specific assigned seats, like other posters have said but I would do assigned tables. I'm not sure if you're planning to do individual place cards or a seating chart but if you're doing place cards, I would let guests pick up their own and go choose their seat. Likely they'd move themselves around anyway if you gave them a specific seat.

I get anxiety just thinking of walking into a wedding with no assigned tables...