I am at the point of finalizing my seating chart so I can send it off to the print shop and I'm stuck trying to decide the best way to handle a family of 4 that may or may not come to the wedding and reception, I would love some opinions on what you all think is the best way to handle the situation.
So, this is about my aunt and her family. She has called me while very upset apologizing that she won't be able to make it (& if she isn't there her husband and kids won't be either). My grandfather is very sick so neither he nor my grandmother will be able to make it. Over the past few months my mom and her siblings have been essentially taking shifts staying with their parents to help out and make sure everyone is getting the proper care they need. My mom thinks that my aunt should be able to come but my aunt doesn't trust my grandmother to be able to properly look after my grandfather alone (they're both in their mid/late 80s) for around 6 - 7 hours. This has turned into a huge kerfuffle and I don't think anyone knows what is going to happen at this point.
My reception tables are 8ft farm tables lined end to end in two rows with the sweetheart table at the top. Both sides have family seated in the front half closest to the SH table and friends and family friends down the other half. If my aunt and her family ends up attending I don't want them seated with my friends/at the end by themselves. I also don't want a huge gap (each 8ft table seats 4 people on each side) in the middle of a row - I know eating at the end wouldn't be the end of the world because its just for dinner and the first dance so that's why I'm stuck.
So, should I suck it up and stick them at the end of the row because my gut feeling is that they will not attend or should I stick them with the rest of my family mid-row on the seating chart and day of if they are unable to make it just shuffle people up into their spots? Each seat is going to have a place-card with the napkin on each plate, so there shouldn't be much confusion since people will sit where their name is - this is what I'm leaning towards but I just though a few opinions would be nice! Thanks!
