Spacing a seating chart....

I just went with the floor plan my venue gave me, but bumping your post for you in case someone has an answer!

We are putting eight to a table.

Thanks Jules. My place seems to be kind of thinking my wedding is a convention and I just want to explore alternatives. They're 100% hands off, which is a blessing and a curse...

We're doing 8 people to a table.. I think squeezing 10 will bruise a couple elbows

8 or 10 tops are common, but I wouldn't try for a 12. Are you renting your own tables and bringing them in, or using the venues?

Hey ladies, thanks, truly. But I'm not asking how many per table, I'm asking how much space BETWEEN tables. This will allow me to play with different shapes/sizes of tables and my floor plan. After I know how many tables go in the room I can decide how many people per table.

Anyone know?

I think you need to ask your venue what they have and what they suggest. You want enough room between tables for servers to get through but that differs depending on the type of service. I would say 2-3 feet at a minimum, but that's just a rough guess. Make sure to leave extra room around the dance floor, bar, cake/desert tables, etc.

If your venue only has round 10 tops, you might be out if luck.

Lori, thanks for the spacing idea. My venue provides a huge variety of tables to choose from, but doesn't offer ANY help in the planning department...it is just a hall (the location is what makes it special). They don't consult on any details, and we have to provide EVERYTHING other than tables/chairs. Even coat racks!!! Just to illustrate how much I'm on my own here.

They have one stock seating arrangement, but will set up an alternative that I provide. I'm not particularly into rounds and would prefer long banquet...

Hmm banquet might be even easier to space than rounds. It's hard to know without being able to see the actual room.

Do they have a layout of their stock setup? Maybe you could see how much space they put between tables and make sure you have at least that much for your set up?

See if you can get a room measurement as well as the different tables. then go to the seating chart under the planning tab on here and you're good to go.

Lori - that is a great idea (duh, finding out how much space they leave)! And yes a banquet should be easier to figure out than the rounds, I think.

Tina, the seating chart plan here is great, but does not help indicate how much space is needed between tables, only how much space a table uses in itself. Unless I'm missing something...

The room is 23 by 44, with two other rooms for everything other than seating and dance floor. There is also a large amount of space outside. We intend to seat about 15 guests on the dance floor and then move the tables after dinner.

Here is a link, I can't figure out how to download and attach the seating chart. The second page is what they propose....

http://www.fortmason.org/assets/File/Firehouse_Wedding_Layouts.pdf

Maybe I'm just being fussy and it doesn't really matter....

I have never seen anything about the distance between tables. Most venues tell you the max # they can accommodate, and if you have less or whatever, they space it accordingly (to spread things out evenly). That's why you're having trouble finding an answer--each venue should know and advise you accordingly. Sucks yours isn't more help with this regard...

You need 24 inches per place-setting, and six feet between tabletops to allow chairs and still leave room for serving staff to do their job. 8-foot diametre tables have 8 x PI x 12 = 301.5 inches, or room for 12.5 diners. I do not recommend seating half a diner at any table, despite there being room.

Of course, each place at a round table gets narrower towards the middle, if you seat twelve people at each table you only have 6 x PI = 19 inches at the top of each place setting. If you are serving five courses with a separate wine for each one, you might have a hard time squeezing all the separate wine glasses into each place setting.

Aspasia, that is wonderful! Thank you!

I'm doing 8 to a 60" round table.

ETA: not my seating chart, but mine is similar.

I had a table rental place tell me that 10 people could fit around a 6 ft round table so I rented two for a thanksgiving dinner we were hosting only to realize that there was NO way 10 people would fit around that table unless a few of them wanted a table leg between their legs.

Oh and I found a website that says 18 inches between and at least 24 inches from a wall