by Sharon Auld

Seating Charts are one of the details that couples don’t always think about in the early stages of wedding planning. They are however, an important detail that shouldn’t be overlooked. A wonderfully displayed seating chart is not only a beautiful piece of decor, but a useful tool for your guests to find their seats.

Often times couples will say they prefer that their guests find their own seats. The couples are truly wanting their guests to feel comfortable in having a choice. While in theory this seems like a good idea, but in reality guests seating themselves rarely works out! There’s almost always guests that can’t find a seat with their own family and friends, and struggle to find a table that has room enough for their party. Many guests feel uncomfortable asking at other tables if they can join them. Inevitably, there are guests trying to squeeze in more at one table, while other tables are left sparse. Late guests are left scrambling to find a seat and are often placed as singles at various tables throughout the space.

From a venue and timeline standpoint, guests seating themselves is a nightmare! Seating 100 guests can often times take well over 30 minutes. Without a seating plan, this can extend to well over an hour! Consider also that the venue’s kitchen staff is working hard to prepare a wonderful, hot meal behind the scenes and any delay to the timeline can seriously affect the quality of food served.

There are many other reasons to have a seating plan in place as well. With a seating plan, the venue staff can identify where each meal is destined; this includes not only entree selections, but also special meal considerations (dietary restrictions, allergies, vegan and vegetarian meals, kids meals etc.). Again, without a plan in place meals could be delayed or even worse, guests could be served the wrong meal!

Your guests will appreciate you have a seating plan and knowing exactly where their little space of “home” is at your wedding!

Here’s a few Seating Charts we have designed and made for weddings!

This seating plan we engraved on maple wood veneer.

Maple wood veneer seating chart by Naturally Chic, photo by Orange Girl Photographs.

Dark walnut veneer wood seating chart by Naturally Chic, photo by Naturally Chic

This seating chart, engraved on walnut wood veneer has a “tree theme”. All the table “numbers” were named after various trees!

walnut wood veneer seating chart with tree theme by Naturally Chic, photo by Naturally Chic

We made this seating chart for a colleague’s wedding.

Dark walnut wood veneer seating chart photo via Bonner Photography.

Here’s a seating plan we engraved on a mirror!

Engraved mirror seating chart by Naturally Chic, photo by RW Photography

For more information on Naturally Chic wedding planning and design services in the Canadian Rocky Mountain areas of Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise, Jasper and Emerald Lake, call 1.888.679.9056 or email us at hello@naturallychic.ca

Happy Planning!