Seating Arrangements

We started making ours shortly after the invites were sent. We played around with table sizes and arrangements for a while. Then we started weeding people out and moving them around when the RSVPs came in.

Yes pretty much

I made my seating chart, so if changes happened, I was able to make adjustments. I had one person call to say they had to back out and then the day of there were a few people who just didn't come for whatever reason...so they were up on the seating chart either way!

I waited until I had all my RSVPs to make my chart, but I was doing it by hand so I wanted to avoid having to make tons of changes. I think I did mine a week before the wedding.

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Oh wow! I guess there's not much you can do after you've completed it though. Just some empty chairs here and there.

I misunderstood the concept and had 15% back out including the wedding day.

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I'm not so much worried about the seating chart, just if people back out at the last minute if I get it printed. Almost all my RSVPs are in now, so I'm going to start the rough draft and fix it up once it's done. My main question was how many people backed out after the RSVP deadline. I don't foresee anyone, but you never know!

Of your worried about the seating chart, create a layout and use. Sticky notes cut into strips with names put on and make a rough draft. When you get responses, remove those who decline and fix up with all accepted.

I went through a lot of printing due to family accepting and some friends declining. Notified my wedding cordinator with 3 changes as i went there often to make payments. Once is good enough to finalize your count for all vendors.

I have a rough draft of who I think will sit together and will revise it once I get my RSVPs

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Yes, definitely send out your RSVP note with the invites. We had everyone respond through a website so we put little paper notes that said to RSVP there by February 1st. I think I'll heed the advice of others and start my seating chart now that I've had 60% of my RSVPs back.

That was a good question! I had the same one because next week I’m sending the invitations and I already have a couple of cancellations. Then, do I send the RSVP note with the invitation?
Lot of planning! 🤯🤪

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Love the attitude! Definitely need to have that when going into the final few weeks!

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We didn't really have any changes to the RSVPs, maybe just a few?

Most of the changes to the seating arrangement were because my DH and I just kept switching a few tables around.

I finalized and made my actual seating chart two weeks before the wedding, and figured if there were any crazy changes I was just going to say, "c'est la vie!"

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Thanks so much! Did you find there were any last minute changes to the RSVPs or was it pretty much done after the deadline and phone calls?

I started a rough copy of my seating arrangement when I sent out my RSVP's

I used a large bristol board and drew circles in the same floor plan as the hall with everybody's name on small sticky notes.

I changed it so many times! I'm glad I didn't wait until the last minute though - it gave me time to play around with it until it was as perfect as I was going to get it

I have been using the seating chart on this website since I started adding my guests to get an idea of how many tables I need to plan for

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I'm going to be using the table planner on this website, so that's just as manageable! Thanks!

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Thanks, this is great!

I waited until after the RSVP deadline had passed and after following-up with all the guests who did not respond before I started making my seating chart. I didn't want to have to keep re-doing it!

It really wasn't too bad once you sit down to do it!

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I've heard many stories about the seating chart! It doesn't seem to matter when you start it-there will always be revisions. I think you can start as soon as you get responses. Some tables will come naturally (guests that are from the same "group") so you can start with those ones.

You could start to make a chart (or list) on bristol board and write each guests name on a post it so they're easy to move around or take off when you have their RSVP.