Wedding 
Reception Seating Chart

The Etiquette of a Wedding Reception Seating Chart

To help you in your planning, we’ve put together the most important wedding reception seating chart etiquette you should consider in the lead up to the big day.

Seat Yourself & Closest Loved Ones First

Whether you like it or not, your wedding day will be all about you, and your guests will all want to bask in your ‘newlywed-ness’! You, and your partner will be the center of attention, and it’s up to you to decide if you want to share that limelight.

For those who wish to steal the show, maybe opt for a sweetheart, or head table at your reception. This standalone piece of furniture will host both you and your partner, away from the rest of the wedding party. Romantic as it may be, this table set-up style can feel a little isolating for the married couple. Therefore, it’s wise to try to incorporate it into the overall shape of all the other tables. So as not to truly disconnect yourselves from the group.

Wedding Reception Seating Chart Traditions

If you decide, when playing around with your wedding reception seating chart, that a head table doesn’t feel quite right, then maybe you should seat yourselves with your closest friends and family. Traditionally, in heterosexual relationships, the groom would sit to the right of the bride, and the best man sits to her left. Then the maid of honor sits on the right of the groom.

If you’re sitting at round tables, rather than rectangle, this group of guests, along with their partners, may fill your head table perfectly. If not, either relegate plus-ones to another table to save space, or fill larger tables with your next closest family, or friends.

At the end of the day, don’t worry too much about tradition when it comes to a seating scheme. Instead, think about who you genuinely want to spend this massive moment with. Perhaps it’s everyone you’ve invited? There’s no rule to say you need to seat yourselves. And if you’d rather hop from table to table during the evening, why not just add an extra chair to each table. That way, you and your partner can seamlessly slot yourselves into whichever conversation you choose, without kicking anyone out of their chair.

How to Present Your Seating Chart Poster for the Wedding Reception

The wedding reception seating chart board your guests will use to find their seats is usually presented in list form. Alphabetically, or by table number/name. Loved ones should be able to easily, and quickly find their designated place via this large printed poster. Then, once they know their position, discover whereabouts on said table they’ll be sitting, by looking for their individual place card.

For us, we want the journey from putting together your guest list, right through to printing off your name cards to be as seamless and stress-free as possible. Which is why Wedding Planning Assistant has a tool to help you every step of the way. Using our free wedding reception seating chart template you can generate all the place cards for your guests. No need to mess around with other software, or start writing them out yourselves. Whether you’ve chosen to group by table, or individual, our system will quickly present your unique name cards, using the guest list information you’ve uploaded. We can even create table numbers for you too!