Wedding Banquet Planning

Prepare the Seating Chart - Family Groups or Mixtures?

You can either plan the tables so that only one family group uses a single table or you can mix them up. It all depends on your own personal preference. You can consult your friends and family for a more informed decision. But as general rule would have it, you should arrange a mixture.

You can create groups according to ages and shared interests. This way, you can guarantee that the wedding banquet will be a lot of fun. Still, your primary goal should be that everybody, or at least most of the participants in the banquet are comfortable with the set-up.

Be Visual with Your Plans

You should make your plan visual and detailed so that you don't miss small yet important details. You should design the seating arrangement in a way that would ensure that everybody is comfortable. For one, you would not want to have your older guests seated somewhere near the speakers. Also, if you have pregnant guests, you must try to have them seated somewhere near the restroom.

For you to notice such minute details, prepare a visual planner so that you get a good picture of how the venue will look like. Where are specific guests seated? How are the tables positioned? Where is the band or the DJ located? Where would you put the cake table? Where should you place the bar? You should be able to answer all these questions for an effective wedding banquet planning.

Review Your Response Cards

You must make sure that all your guests are properly accounted for. Review your response cards and try to recall everyone who gave you their verbal response. You don't want to insult anybody by forgetting to designate a seat for him or her. Of course, you must not forget the members of your wedding party and their accompanying spouses and children.

Don't worry if you get confused at first and would have a problem designating seats. You can make a temporary plan, write them down, and make the proper adjustments later.

Don't Bother with Unnecessary Details

You don't have to worry about unnecessary details. Don't bother assigning specific seats. What is more important is that you assign tables so that your guests know where they should go. Then it's up to them to decide who sits beside whom.

Your Dais or Head Table

If you have a dais or head table, make sure that you are well-informed of who would sit there. You want to make sure that their partners or spouses are seated at a nearby table. If you wish to have each family seated together, you should be ready with a list of couples and their children.

Family Tables

Make sure that you have the small children seated next to their parents. Older teens may be seated just like any older guests. They don't need to be with their parents.

Sensitive Matters

You must be aware of some sensitive matters. If you have guests who are in a same sex relationship, you would not want to humiliate them by having them seated next to people who are clearly against the arrangement. Also, you must not force divorced people who are still not comfortable with each other to be seated in one table. You must also be sensitive of who sits next to the bar.

Labels

You should choose a labeling scheme that would make it easier for your guests to locate their designated seats. You may want to number the tables or label them with names. Either way, make sure that it is convenient and that the labels are easy to read.

The seating arrangement is not as easy as you thought it would be, right? That's why you will never get through without a decent plan, not when reception and wedding trends have become more complex than ever.

Guest Lists are Bigger than Ever

As survey reports would have it, the number of wedding guests couples choose to invite average at 167. Gone is the era when couples chose to have a more intimate wedding, with only the special people in their lives invited. The age of fairytale-like weddings where just about everybody is invited to the grand celebration is back.