Seating chart or open seating?

Hi Claire! I think you’re smart to do one. It guarantees the parents sit up front and that the seating is spread out. If it eases your mind, I went to 3 weddings this year and experienced no crowding at the seating chart. We did seating by household (covid precaution) and did individual escort cards to pick up and carry with them. By household is way easier!! Good luck ❤️

We went back and forth for a while and our guest count ended up at 118. We are doing a seating chart but just at who’s at what table not at individual seats. I read and my coordinator strongly recommended it based on families not being able to sit together. Extended family taking the reserved family seats so mom had to sit in the back etc. we just decided to play it safe and make one because it’s easier for everyone. If you have it where cocktail hour is people can take a look before hand so there isn’t a crowd around a sign and it makes it easier that way. It’s definitely more crazy with no direction than people just finding to find their table.

I've been to 2 weddings without seating charts and both were a total nightmare for seating. It keeps better order if you have a seating chart. You can list by table number with everyone at the table, I've also seen people suggest doing a list with people's names alphabetically to find their table number so that it's a little easier to find. We personally are going to order name cards so people can just grab theirs and go to their table.

View Quoted Comment I was JUST telling my fiancé about the name card idea! How many guests are y’all planning on having? I love the idea, but not sure where or how we’d be able to fit and display 100+ name cards 😅

View Quoted Comment I agree! I definitely think making one would be the better option. If you don’t mind me asking, are displaying your chart by table #, and then just listing who is at each table? Or alphabetically?

View Quoted Comment Escort cards are definitely the way to go. You can buy small tented Avery cards on Amazon for about $10, and they come with a free online template. You just print them out and arrange them alphabetically on a table. Guests can grab them and be on their way.

View Quoted Comment Will they fly away if it’s windy outside? 😅😅 that’s my only concern with doing paper ones, so I’m looking into personalized acrylic ones, but they’re so expensive!

View Quoted Comment Is there no indoor spot where you can put them? Especially in November?

View Quoted Comment We’re in Texas, so our November’s are “typically” (🤞🏻) mild 😅 but our plan is to have cocktail hour outside, and I was thinking it’d best to have the seating chart, however we choose to display it, our during cocktail hour to give guests more time to find their table number vs. rushing to do it whenever the indoor reception area opens up.

View Quoted Comment Is there any indoor area guests can go to during cocktail hour? If they're arranged alphabetically, it'll be very quick for guests to pick up the cards and go. I've also sometimes grabbed mine prior to the ceremony.

View Quoted Comment We are labeling it by table number and just listing everyone on there, not really in any order

Toss out the poster which is as much of a headache as open seating: they are difficult to read, they cause traffic jams and people forget their assignments on the way to the tables. They also have to be completely reprinted, and are very expensive each time, if you make a typo or need to move someone last minute. Do escort cards for each guest. You can order colored card stock tent cards on Etsy if you need to have a code system for the waitstaff. They are also easier to make last minute adjustments to.



Never do open seating unless you are doing desserts only. Couples and families always get split up and guests have ptsd from the high school cafeteria.

Our guest count was 100 people- my husband & I went back & forth on this. I wanted a seating chart (just tables, not individual seats) & he didn’t. We talked with our venue to get a professional opinion & they said with our numbers it’s good to have a seating chart. We did families, groups of friends etc. There was no crowding with people were looking at the chart.

100% do assigned seats or assigned tables! The weddings I've been to that didn't have either were complete nightmares trying to find a table/seat.

I think if you're concerned about crowding at a chart, you could always split it up into 2-3 signs so not everyone is crowding around one sign. You could also do escort cards with their name and table number on them so it's an easy 'grab and go' type of deal (we're doing this).

If you put the seating chart in alphabetical order, with their table number next to their name, they should be able to quickly find their spots so they aren't all crowded around the sign.

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We have 145 invited, but I'm estimating about 95-100 actually coming based on what RSVPs we've gotten so far! If your venue has a big table, they can be displayed there. I've been to some weddings that used big round tables or a rectangle table with tablecloths over them and they had well over 100 people, and they all fit!

We did assigned tables and listed the table names/numbers and guests in alphabetical order by last name on the back of our program. Worked great!