Spin-off: Seating Chart - mix 'em up?

If you're mixing people up, just try to keep a common thread between them (ie age). In June I was at a wedding where my cousins sat with friends of the bride and groom (also my cousin), and I sat with the bride's older relatives. It was not fun.

Yea what FutureMrsDrF said- i don't mind sitting with "strangers" but if there's anyone there i hadn't seen in a while that i'm good friends with i'd be annoyed i couldn't catch up. Definitely keep it within similar age. Also it sounds good but people will still end up usually only talking to people that they know. Iv'e been to a few weddings where i was sat with other young people and i just talked to my date the whole time

I was just talking about this with one of my friends, she actually requested to be at a table that had "family or someone from FH's side". I laughed at it at first but I talked to FH about mixing up our tables and he liked the idea, my family is EXTREMELY close, see each other all the time and have No qualms about meeting new people. His family is similar. I think it would be fun, but it totally depends on the group of people you have and I agree it would probably be best to do some people they know and some they dont.

I was planning on running this by my mom & FMIL before we did our table seating though in case there was anyone they absolutely wanted to sit with (or didnt)

@FutureMrsDrF - yeah, that's what I would avoid! I just figured since everyone is coming with the people they see all the time, it'd be fun to sit the younger people together instead of with their parents.

@e=mc2 - yeah, I kind of figured that would probably happen, but as long as it doesn't make anyone uncomfortable or whatever I don't mind trying. I just wanted to ask instead of trying it out and finding out after the fact that no one does that because guests hate it.

@jade - haha that's great! I mean I only just considered it as I was reading posts about it so I haven't given it too much thought, but everyone sees each other all the time so I think it'd be fun. And I think everyone is generally outgoing and likes to meet new people, but I'm definitely double-checking with our moms because I think some of them are shy.

Inevitably, people are seated with people they don't know. However, my friend was a bridesmaid in a wedding where the bride deliberately mixed everyone up because she wanted them all to be friends (including the bridal party because there was a sweetheart table instead of a head table). My friend said it was the worst and was terribly awkward and people just switched around seats, which made the bride cry.

When we had to mix tables we tried to put people with a common background. We put all of our college roommates that we've had over 4 years, and they all figured it out and made friends. So it does work sometimes.

We tried to keep people with people they knew unless we felt they would be happier at a different table. For example, only 2 people DH work with came (with their spouses; we only invited 4 people he works with). One of the people is a young-ish girl from HR and the other is a VP and in his 50's. We sat the VP with DH's father, step mother and grandmother (and another couple who were parents of BM). The HR girl (and her husband) we put with friends of DH that were close in age ("HR girl" and one of the DH's close friends had a blast together and both commented after to us that they were so happy to have met the other).

I think I'm on Team Mixing. Since you said it'll be like half people new and half friends, I don't think it would be too bad and like others said, it's literally JUST for dinner and then you can get up and mingle and dance. However, I guess just know your audience. Even though I kinda like this idea I know it would be a total disaster for our group, but if it works for your crowd, sounds fun

@Nicole - Haha oh god, that's awful! But I'm glad it worked out for you guys.

@Theresa - That makes sense. That's super awesome they actually liked each other that much!

@LizzyS - Yeah, I was thinking if I do it half and half and group them by common interests/ages that it would go pretty well. I just wanted to come here and make sure it wasn't a crazy idea

I've never seen it done in my family. Our family is on one side of the room, the other family is on the other side of the room. We always get seated with people we know. I have a very large family, so at one wedding it will be one group of cousins and at the next wedding it will be another group of cousins -- but it's always people in my generation. The aunts, uncles, and anyone older than that are usually seated together. Actually, that's changing. At this point, with the youngest of that generation being 75 and the oldest being 89, there aren't enough of them left to fill a table. Come to think of it, at the last wedding, my dad and his wife sat at our table while my mother sat at another cousin's table. OMG! I just realized we are are on the threshold of becoming "the old generation" at family weddings. Well, that thought made my day...

At my late FIL's wedding (the cheap millionaire), we were seated at a strange table. I remember sitting with the local jeweler, someone the bride worked with before they both retired, someone from a Catholic organization the bride was involved with, some person who never spoke, and my husband and two adult kids. It was awkward, stiff, and it bothered me because we traveled hundreds of miles and spent several thousand dollars attending this wedding. It would have been nice to sit with people we knew. My husband was his father's best man -- which made it even weirder. I mean, seriously...the jeweler?

@Centerpeice - First off, let me say I am honored that you're commenting on my thread! Lol.

Haha yeah, I think being seated with the jeweler is weird. And I'm definitely taking all of these opinions into consideration because that was why I asked, I wanted to see how people felt about it without assuming one way or another. Although no one will be sitting with our jeweler, it's all family and super close family friends. My family will be traveling far so I agree, I don't want them to come that far just to feel uncomfortable; but they will only know the people they traveled with and some are outgoing but I do think some are shy. Which is definitely why I'm consulting our moms to figure out the best way to do this.