The decision on whether or not to plan your guests’ seating arrangements for your reception takes a lot of thought; each side carries pros and cons. It’s a time consuming (and often stressful) task, but it shows your guests that you’ve thought about each of them individually, and value their presence at your celebration. If you do choose to plan the seating arrangements, there’s yet another decision to make: how to display those arrangements for your guests. But this doesn’t have to be the daunting task you might imagine it to be, when viewed as another opportunity to be creative and personal in your wedding celebration! We’ve seen several of these creative and personal ideas here at Castle Farms, and each started with the decision of picking between two options: either having individual seating cards laid out on a table, or a poster board with the seating arrangements displayed on an easel or frame. Either choice works well for any wedding; it just comes down to your personal preference, decorating style and wedding theme. Here are some options you might want to consider (including the pros and cons); we’ve also included photos of ideas we’ve seen here at The Castle!
Cards
Pros:
Guests have an actual card they can carry with them, making seating go quickly. They simply find their name, then move through the room searching for their table number. If they forget, they can always look down at their card!
You can combine/attach the individual cards to favors, ensuring each guest receives their gift.
With cards comes the freedom to be creative in how you display them.
Cons:
Time constraints involved (tedious printing/cutting/organizing tasks)
Extra table space required to display the cards
Cards can be blown away, knocked over, or rearranged once guests start searching for their cards, making it difficult for guests at the end of the line to locate their own cards
Poster
Pros:
More space efficient
No one’s name will be blown away or lost
Board allow more paper space to easily tie in wedding themes/designs or show off engagement photos
Cons:
You’ll need either a print shop or a professional computer program to design and print the poster, and eventually find a frame for it
Late R.S.V.P’s …there’s always one, and if a guest name needs to be added to the seating arrangements, there’s really no other option but to have the poster reprinted
Guests have to pause in line to see their table number; additionally, many of them take up precious time trying to locate the names of family and friends on the list and where they’re seated, thus creating a slow-moving crowd.
Not completely sold on either? Neither were these couples … so, they improvised and combined both of the above methods!