Seating chart. Combining families?

The way your grandmother suggested sounds good, especially if your parents are divorced. My husband's parents are deceased but I sat his siblings and cousins together, my siblings together, and my parents with their siblings.

My parents arnt like a normal divorced family I found lol. Everyone still gets along really well. My brother and me are grown now but we can all still get together for holiday. My mom and step mom really like each other. FH thought it was really awkward the first couple times we were all together. It wouldn't be a big deal if they were together but is it odd I'm separating his family from mine?

How is everyone else doing this?

We are probably going to do it with my parents at one table with my close family members and his grandmother at a separate table with her close family members. We are having a sweetheart table.

The only case where I've seen all the parents at one table has been when the bride and groom have also sat at that table. I also think that's the only case where it works. Your parents will probably want to socialize with their guests anyway as there are some they probably don't see super often.

I'm going to let each set of parents choose who sits at their table, but they'll all sit separately. My parents, his mom & step dad, his dad & step mom

Your parents sound like mine. We never had a holiday that wasn't spent together and we even did vacations together. 10 years after they divorced they got remarried to each other in their backyard. I would say ask your parents what they would prefer.

How many people at each table? That is a big factor. At our venue we could only seat 10 to a table. This inevitably split families up. We ran into a lot of what are we going to do with Aunt Flo who makes that family table 11? We had a handful of people who didn't like each other too, so we didn't want to sit them at the same tables. But for the families who did like each other, there was always one or 2 extra that wouldn't fit. This exhausted me. So, the only way we saw fit, was to split up the majority of families, yet having their tables next to each other. UGH for us it was always what to do with that 11th person! In the end, it is only for dinner for Pete's sake. After that they can all mill around and associate with whomever they want. Seating arrangements were the hardest thing for me, neck and neck with the invitation list. Good Luck!

Both of our parents are divorced too.

We asked both our Moms who they wanted at their tables.

I think we're going to put our dad's & their families together (depending on who comes) since their sides are relatively small).

For everyone else, our mom's were really into the idea of splitting the tables with half my side and half FHs side, to let our families mix & mingle. We've had a few gatherings where everyone has met and gotten to know each other and my family is very social and inclusive. We're going to obviously sit guests with people they know so that no one feels uncomfortable.

We've also gotten some request from our friends that we mix them up, so its not just a table of FHs friends then a table of mine. Again, we have a very social guest list and there is no real family drama of people not liking one another, so it works for us.

Of course this is all in theory, and once we get RSVPs and put a draft together things might go crazy. But that's how it works in my "plan" for now.

We kept families together...my family members and his family members. We weren't worried about people not getting along or anything, but most of DH's family came from out of town in several different states so they don't get to see each other often and we though they'd appreciate being seated with other family members to catch up. From what I heard, everyone had a great time As far as my parents, they are divorced but also get along very well. However, I gave each of them their own table and asked their opinion on who they would like seated at their tables...it worked out well for us. DH's parents are still married and we also let them decide who they wanted seated at their table.