Seating charts

It's definitely normal to have a seating chart although there are some people who opt out and decide to allow people to sit wherever they want. It can be a pretty sticky situation sometimes depending on your group.

Sometimes it can also be like school with open seating as well with people looking around for a place to sit or who to sit next to. Just be cautious that it won't get too chaotic. By no means are they mandatory but sometimes it helps keep structure. Just some pros and cons to think about.

Totally understandable. Just whenever you talk to your venue, let them know that you plan on having open seating and take it from there. I think it also helps for catering if you have plated service but you can always try and work that out later on with them. You're very welcome. Good luck and happy planning!

I will always always always recommend having some kind of seating arrangement. You don't have to assign seats, just tables is great. No one expects their guests to stay in one seat the entire night, what's the fun in that? It's just where they will eat dinner and sit for the formal dances. I understand the appeal in skipping the seating cart; less work for you and your guests have more freedom. The issue is that guests will not seat themselves efficiently. On average, you will need to account for 20% more tables, seats, place settings, centerpieces, etc. to make up for it. Not having assigned tables also puts your guests in the awkward position of trying to find a table with enough open seats to fit their entire party. This often times results in families having to split up or people dragging chairs from one table and over crowding another. You're two years out so this isn't something you need to decide on now, but I would strongly encourage it.

As a guest, it is so much easier to have an assigned table. You don't have to scramble to get your whole group to sit together, people aren't moving chairs around, you dont' have half empty tables, etc. If you have open seating you will need to provide about 20% more seats than you do people to account for the above issues.

A table assignment really just provides a home base and makes things a little less chaotic in the beginning. Of course people will get up and dance and move around and chat later in the evening but at that point, it doesn't matter. I would highly recommend taking an hour or two to make a seating chart.

It definitely depends on how big of a wedding you have, whether or not everyone attending knows someone else, and how you're seating your wedding party. I went to a wedding with FH a year or so ago where I knew the bride, her family, and the wedding party, and other than maybe 2 high school acquaintances that I hadn't seen in 8 years, that was it. They had open seating with reserved tables for the wedding party and SO's and families, so I didn't really know anyone in the open seating area. Long story short, we did a quick lap with our food in-hand after going through the buffet line, and ended up sitting at a table by ourselves hoping someone would join us. No one did. Once people started dancing it was totally fine, but it was fairly awkward, and because of that I'll literally always recommend assigning people to tables.

In my personal opinion, I hate weddings without seating charts. The seating at the reception sets the tone for how fun or boring your reception will be, so it's pretty important. If guests come single or guests come from out of town and don't know any other guests, it's SUPER awkward for them to just sit down at a random table. Guests won't properly fill tables to their max so you'll need to pay for extra chairs & place settings. Large groups have a hard time breaking up into multiple tables so they end up moving chairs & readjusting.

I would highly recommend a seating chart. You do not have to assign actual seats to your guest, just tables. This will prevent guests couples/families from not being able to sit with one another. What if a group of 4 and a group of 3 sit at an 8 person table together? Then you will have 1 seat at that table that cannot be used. See this issue? Typically once dinner is over people begin to move around and the table assignments are done and over with. It is just to make dinner move more seamlessly.

Agree with everything that's been said about the benefits of assigning guests to tables, and, just to clarify, realize that there are some venues that will REQUIRE you to set your space up for 20%, or more, guests than guaranteed, if you do not do assigned tables because guests will not seat themselves efficiently in the space available. Those are tables, linens, placesettings, etc., that you would not otherwise have to pay for. Depending on your venue, that might be a pretty big price to pay because you don't want to assign guests to tables.