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Creating your Wedding Table Plans
The parents of the bride are traditionally responsible for this task but this only makes sense if you are mainly inviting family and friends of the family.
The best person to draw up the seating plan will depend on your mix of guests. The bride and groom are often the best people to create wedding seating plans - especially as they are more likely to know everyone who is invited. If need be, why not split up the guests and take responsibility for seating your friends whilst your parents seat members of your family.
when to create the wedding seating plan
You won't be able to organise your wedding seating arrangements until you have your final guest list. Depending on when you send out your invitations - you may not expect to get final numbers back until three weeks before the wedding. Some caterers and venues expect a wedding table plan in advance 1-2 weeks before the wedding - giving you a week to draw up the seating arrangements.
To ensure you're prepared, find out in advance what the table layout will be and how many people can be seated at each table. You might be able to start an initial plan based on who has already confirmed - but if you're planning on mixing guests up, you may find yourself completely re-arranging it!
how to create a seating plan
There's no denying you'll spend a long time drawing up the wedding table plan as you try and work out who to sit with who. There are a variety of methods used to create your plan - some will take longer than others.
- Paper - the most manual method involves writing down the names of guests on separate pieces of paper and then moving the paper around to form tables. A lot of people find this is the best way for them because they can visualise the wedding seating arrangements. The disadvantage to using paper is that once you move people around; you forget your previous wedding table layout.
- Excel is a great option for the technically minded. You can create your table plan on Excel and cross off each guest as and when you have put them on a table. You can easily copy sheets so you can amend a new version whilst keeping previous versions to refer back to. Look on the web for free templates for wedding seating plans.
- Wedding table planning software is the easiest option allowing you to drag and drop names onto a table and move around as you please.
- Top Table Planner costs £10 for 6 months access. For this you can make unlimited changes, save your wedding table plan on line, import your guest list from Word or Excel and choose from different wedding table arrangements.
- Kooky Cards provide a table plan kit that allows you to create a professional table plan with no experience required.
nofreetime tips
- Find out when the caterers/venue need the wedding seating arrangements and ensure you allow sufficient time to do the table plans
- Ask for replies back no later than a month before the wedding