The Great Seating Chart Debate

Many of my clients come to me adamant that they will not be using placecards to seat their guests. I politely but firmly have the same conversation with them that I do with many couples. Placecards are an absolute must, and I'll tell you why.

Why would anyone be opposed to using placecards to systematize where their guests will be sitting? The most common reason is that couples don't want to presume to know where their guests would like to sit and who they would like to sit with. Other reasons include unexpected guests not having anywhere to sit and, often, the basic hassle of putting together a seating chart.

Despite these arguments, the use of placecards paired with a seating chart is absolutely invaluable. The first reason placecards are an absolute must is that you want to guarantee that your family and dearest friends get to sit closest to you at the reception. Imagine your fiancé's old fraternity brother showing up with his new wife and 5 stepchildren and taking the table closest to you while you great grandmother is stuck over by the bar, barely able to see what is going on. When you create your seating chart, you can pick and choose those who you want to have seated closest to the head table.

Another reason I strongly encourage the use of a seating chart is for the sake of your guests' comfort level. It's a strong possibility that you or your fiancé are inviting several guests who don't really know anyone else who has been invited to your wedding. Imagine walking into a room full of people you don't know and having to navigate your way to an available seat, hoping you are not taking a seat that was meant for someone else. Take care of your guests and save them from this potentially awkward situation. This is just another way that you can show your guests that you appreciate having them at your wedding.

The final reason I will be sharing today as to why the use of seating charts is so important, is that the lack of one can actually separate families and couples. Perhaps a family had to make a pit stop for little Betsy and now they have arrived at your reception after everyone else has selected their seats. What do you think the chances are of this family of five finding a table containing open seats to accommodate them all? What typically happens in this situations is dad is at one table by himself, mom is at another table with the youngest, and the two older children are seated together at a third table. This is no way for a family to enjoy being at a wedding together. This is a terrible position to put any of your guests in.

Though your wedding day revolves around you and should be the most wonderful day of your life, you have a responsibility of making the guests you chose to invite feel taken care of. Employ the use of a seating chart. Along with making everyone's lives easier, it will be one more way to show your guests you care.

For more information on planning your own wedding, please visit our website at: www.enchantedaffairs.com

Jen Davis, Owner, Enchanted Affairs Wedding Planning http://www.enchantedaffairs.com

Save the Date!

A "Save the Date" is simply a notecard, letter, magnet, or pretty much anything else you can imagine, that lets your future wedding guests know to reserve that date and time for your wedding and have become a popular option for notifying your guests of your upcoming nuptials. This is especially helpful to those living out of town. They are much more functional, however, than a simple notification. They allow your guests to make travel arrangements in a timely manner.

Along with your Save the Dates, you should be sending accommodation information, indicating where you have blocked hotel rooms for your guests to stay. It is a common practice to select one upscale location as well as a more affordable option. Include an insert with the names, websites, phone numbers and prices of the blocks you have reserved. It's also a good idea to indicate the proximity of these locations to the venues where your wedding will be taking place.

When selecting your Save the Dates, be sure that they reflect your chosen design concept. This is the first taste of your wedding design that your guests will be seeing. Make sure to whet their appetite with something visually appealing.

Send your Save the Dates out as soon as you are able. DO NOT ENCLOSE REGISTRY INFORMATION! It's horrendously tacky and should never be done!

Save the Dates are well worth the time and effort. Think of all the time you will save by communicating time, date, location and accommodation information to your entire guest list all at once!

Creating Your Guest List

One of the first things you want to do after you get engaged and have a general picture of the way you want your wedding to look and feel is to start working on your guest list. You will most likely have four sets of guest lists: bride's, groom's, bride's family, and groom's family. Have each list organized as follows:

1) Those who must be invited

2) Those who should be invited

3) Those who would be nice to invite

This will make your job of consolidating all the lists into one, and deciding who will be invited, a much easier process. Consider creating a spreadsheet to keep track of your guest list. I recommend creating a one stop list including the following information as individual columns:

Last Name, Salutation, First Names, Children's Names, Address, City, State, Zip Code, Phone Number, Response Received, Number Attending, Beef, Chicken, Fish (or whatever entree choices they chose from, list how many ordered each entree), Gift Received, Thank You Note Written

If you would like to track other information as well, here is the place to do it. This way you can hand your complete list with addresses and appropriate salutations to your calligrapher when it's time to address envelopes. You can even use your summation function to add all the guests and their meal orders. This may seem like a lot of work, but trust me, it will be well worth it!

For more information on planning your wedding please check out our website: www.enchantedaffairs.com.