Seating Arrangements for Small Reception?

Same boat. But 9 tables, i figured a seating arrangement would not take that long to do, and it will just be so much less stressful for the guests.

I have a small guest list as well and wasn't going to do a seating chart. I may change my mind though, I'm far out still..

We assigned tables for our 33 guests. No need to go as far as assigning seats IMO.

Edit: I wasn't going to bother with this until we realized that we had a couple of guests that wouldn't know anyone else in attendance other than us. One being in her 80s. I couldn't imagine her roaming around like the new kid at school trying to find a spot to sit. It took 10 min and will save your guests the hassle.

Assign tables. Even with that few, it can still be confusing not having assigned tables.

Assign tables. Without assignments of some kind, you'll need more tables/chairs than guests to account for people seating themselves in odd configurations, and you run the risk of people feeling awkward and left out trying to find seats, particularly if they dont know many other guests.

Has anyone had an issue with guests not liking who they were seated with and taking it into their own hands to seat themselves elsewhere? I ask because I feel I may have some guests who would try to pull this due to immaturity and not realizing there is a reason and science behind them being assigned a table

So for assigning just tables and not specific seats do you just make one of those 1 page things and put numbers on the tables?

You can. We did name tags with their table number on them that they picked up on the way in and then found their table.

Never thought of doing name tags but that's a great idea

My wedding is similar to yours, 40 people and 6 tables. No need to have a seating chart and table numbers. I am just having place cards already arranged at the seats at the tables. This way as guest come in they can find their seat accordingly. This avoids any awkwardness and the odd empty seat here and there which would cause the need for people to shuffle to have couples sit together.

Personally, I think it's always best to assign tables. You don't have to assign specific seats if you don't want to but assigning tables makes everyones lives easier. Plus, without table assignments you need more tables.

We will only have seven tables and we're assigning tables.

I would suggest assigning tables. People like order. There's nothing more uncomfortable than looking for an empty seat.

We had 45 and assigned tables.