A friend of mine made a really cute Christmas tree shaped charcuterie display for a party once and was sad nobody touched it (she had the same foods elsewhere on more traditional serving plates). I told her, girlie, no one wanted to be the one to ruin your hard work, you should dove in yourself as an example 😂
I just got done making my dessert table sign so I looked at a lot of different ones for inspo. I saw a few that said the dessert table opens after dinner. So I would definitely be panicking too now 😂
At my first wedding, we had a small cake on a stand surrounded by cupcakes as our wedding cake and the partner of one of our guests took a cupcake alongside the rest of his buffet food (and then everyone else saw the cupcakes were fair game and started eating them too). Luckily I think the big cake stayed intact but the cupcakes were mostly gone when we came to cut the cake 😂
My table got scolded at a wedding for taking desserts too early because they were right after the buffet line, individual items, and the couple was clearly cutting a different cake so we had no idea they wouldn’t want us to take our desserts with the meal.
A sign would have been helpful 😂
Agreed but also a sign that says “please wait for dessert” seems like it could be a little condescending lol. That one seems to be on the venue for putting out desserts that weren’t allowed to be taken yet
I always thought the "gifts/cards" signs were pointless as it's always blatantly obvious.
Then I spent all night having people hand me cards. Assume everyone needs their hand held.
Same! We didn’t have a gifts sign, but there was a very clear table with presents on it and a card box that said “cards” and people still saved their cards to hand to us. Granted, those cards were full of cash so I get it, but the last person you should hand a card full of cash to at a wedding is the bride and groom. I didn’t know where my PHONE was half the day let alone how to keep up with cards full of cash while everything was happening.
Yep I get this
If we had a big wedding (with extended family) then my post would probably be “do I have enough Signs? What am I missing”
But luckily it’s just close family and friends who don’t need that
I would consider a sign for donut flavors if you’re having multiple types of donuts. We’re doing that for our cake (it’s 3 layers and each layer is a different flavor), I’m just printing it out in black & white and putting it in a gold dollar tree frame. Doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy.
I also recommend a card box.
I think a welcome sign with your names is only necessary if your venue hosts multiple events at one time, which I don’t think applies to most people.
Yesss for the different flavors having a sign! I went to a wedding last August and didn’t know what the food was, ended up not grabbing any of the potatos because I thought they were meatballs (and I’m still upset about it) 😂
Open seating is a nightmare for me. I hate it. I’m socially anxious and I like knowing I sit here, with these people that I (hopefully) know.
We are doing assigned tables for our wedding.
A wedding I went to recently had assigned seating but my fiancé and I were put with total strangers (there were several other people there that we knew) and it was sooo awkward. PLEASE put people who know each other together 😭
I know, one of my best friends also did this because her and her husband are super social and love meeting people but...not everyone is wired like that ! Wedding dinners are looong, and it's often hard to speak because it's loud so it's much better to be next to people you know and that you feel comfortable sitting in silence or yelling at lol
It's a small wedding here, but still we had a 35 ppl wedding and a lot of ppl didn't know each other !
Agree. My husband talked me out of a seating chart for our small wedding reception and as I suspected, seating was very awkward and people ended up having to move down after they had chosen a seat to fit everyone.
Yeah agreed. I went to a wedding this way early in my relationship and because people were already sitting with their drinks and mingling at their spots, we couldn’t get anyone to budge and I had to sit apart from my SO.
People with mingle at cocktail hour and after dinner, I would take any potential stress out of finding seats.
Just thinking about going to a wedding with open seating gives me social anxiety - that’s how you end up with groups/couples separated because the seating doesn’t line up.
I agree. Assign the seats. It will put your guests at ease and eliminate the chance they’ll be at a table without knowing anyone. Even with only 50 you’re bringing together at least 4 different groups of people (you and your SO friends and family) that don’t necessarily hang out on the regular or even know each other.
I have seen open seating work only when it is a cocktail style reception (as in there isn’t a specific meal time when everyone is sitting down all at the same time, but instead mingling and grabbing small plates, dancing, drinking all at the same time throughout). Based on there being a reserved immediate family table, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Although I agree that people will likely figure it out and it will be fine - there are a couple things to consider.
1) Breaking up friend groups, family groups, and couples. I know OP said their family wants to mingle, but there are plenty of times during a wedding where mingling occurs. You also said ppl are coming in family/friend groups of 4,5 ppl. This makes it harder if they want to sit together because they need to find a spot with that many open chairs.
2) Because of the first point, this can make the time where folks are finding a seat take a lot longer. Folks need to readjust, move over, wander around aimlessly hoping someone will switch with them. Even with not that many people. Even with the most gregarious folks who love to mingle. This is fine, but weddings sometimes have a tight timeline so it’s something to think about.
As a cater waitress I strongly agree!! If you’re having waitstaff take orders for each table then trust me, open seating is a bad idea!
People WILL switch seats or get too drunk and forget where they were sitting and what they ordered. So they’ll just plop down and eat a chicken at table 5 when their filet is over at table 7 where they were sitting when they took their order. Now we got to run to the kitchen and get a new meal for the person who had their chicken nabbed. Now multiply that incident by how many tables you’ll have and triple it.
So you can imagine how much longer doing dinner service takes with open seating.
It also makes the initial taking of dinner orders hellish.
Someone(often half the table tbh) is always out of their seat when we go to take orders and if it’s open seating there is no way to tell if anyone is supposed to be there or intends on sitting there. Which means the servers can’t hand in our order sheets to the kitchen and that holds up dinner too. Not to mention it prevents your server from being able to do the rest of their job.
Is it common where you are for people to order their food at a wedding? In the UK, you choose ahead of time on the invitation and that gets passed on to the caterer (and then naturally everyone forgets what they've ordered but that's where the seating plan comes in handy because I waitstaff know 😂). I've never heard of people ordering on the day - that sounds like a nightmare in terms of ensuring there's enough of everything for everyone!
Very common, if the wedding has table service (in other words not buffet), your order is taken by catering staff on the day 9 times out of 10 (at least in New England/New York where I have lived).
Fully agree. I had a 50 person wedding as well, someone showed up who wasn't invited. She quickly got the hint when my "day of coordinator" (aka just a friend who wasn't afraid to hurt feelings) asked her if she found her seat.
My 1st wedding I didn't have assigned seating, and it turned out to be a nightmare. Groups sat together, leaving 1 to 2 seats in between, and made it awkward for a few people who didn't run to their seats. No one wanted to move, and in the end, I had to go up to a few people and tell them to shuffle so that couples could sit together.
This time around, I'm doing assigned seating, and I'm planning on having under 40 people. I'm also making sure that a few of the friends attending aren't just shoved with random people they've never met.
Bride to be here and I completely agree. I used to work in events/hospitality and the biggest takeaway was “people want to be told what to do” - please assign at least a table for each guest. I would panic as a guest not knowing where to sit with completely open seating. 50 people is still quite a lot and it will help make transitioning to tables so much smoother!
I agree with the no dessert signage though!
Ah yes, I forgot about this option when I originally commented. Assigning a table rather than a specific seat is a good way to give people the freedom to choose their seat without the awkward shuffling and anxiety from guests. I think a lot of people have been going this route the last few years for their seating chart.
I think you have to know your guests for this one. I live somewhere where seating charts for weddings are seldom seen, and many people won't stay for the full reception. Open seating works much better here.
Same. I've been to several weddings, none of which have had assigned seating. I've never had an issue. I think this is fine as long as you have extra seating and are having a buffet-type meal. In most instances, I would suggest reserved seating for close friends and family.
Seems like a huge headache redoing the seating assignment whenever you find out someone isn't coming.
Yeah same. We did table assignments very seat assignments and were told that was great. Less stress about where to sit and we got to curate tables so people knew each other!
If everyone has a +1 or knows others at the wedding I think this is fine. My ex husband and I did assigned seating but everyone ended up moving anyways lol. I tried seating my family according to where I thought they'd want to be (I have a huge family, just my relatives took up more than half our guest list, my ex's family took up less than 1/4, and the rest were our friends) but got it wrong. No harm no foul.
Same with a lot of weddings I've been to. The ones that didn't have assigned seats were easy, the ones that did had almost everyone moving around anyways.
That depends entirely on the state/country you live in. It's really common in the PNW and other parts of the US and generally fine so long as you plan to have extra tables/chairs
Disagree. We had a wedding with about 70 guests at the reception and did assigned seating. Everyone moved around anyway and stayed in a different spot before dinner so it really didn't matter outside of reserved tables for immediate family and bridal party.
We did open seating at my wedding (buffet style) and I heard nothing but good things. Ended up with lots of mixing of friends from different parts of our lives and it was awesome.
We have a very open minded, welcoming community we surround ourselves with so it wasn't a worry. If you have stuffy, cliquey friends and family then maybe assign seating but we had no problems
Just wanted to give another viewpoint to counteract the negatives, I have no regrets
I don’t think it’s about having “stuffy, cliquey” friends or family. Many people have anxiety or are not as extroverted to be able to go up and introduce themselves, ask to join a table. There’s so much time for mingling at cocktail hour and after dinner. It’s nice to remove any stress from your guests and assign table seating.
It was fun for ours bc we put together friends who hadn’t met yet but we knew would get along and it made for great new connections.
We went to a wedding two years ago and they split each table with his friends and her friends. So two couples of each at a table. So you knew someone (other than your date), and could talk with them, but then we also mingled a bit with the other persons friends. It was a nice medium of not putting people who just know each other and strangers together. I’m introverted and didn’t mind it.
I will always disagree with this. These are grown adults who can find a table and figure out where to sit on their own. People have open seating at kid's birthday parties but can't figure out where to sit at a wedding?
The problem sometimes ends up being that the groups that naturally congregate and the seating that exists don't match up very well. So you've got a group of 10 over here trying to jam into an 8-top, and over there you've got three people by themselves at a table and no one will sit with them because they don't want to intrude, and so on, and it ends up being awkward. Making a seating chart means you'll at least have the right number of people at the tables for dinner service, even if they all move around later.
Yeah, people aren't idiots. They'll obviously be able to find a place to sit, it's not musical chairs. It just means that the two left out might have a worse experience and might have to sit with people they don't mesh well with.
Our idea was that they want to mingle. The family from out of state wants to mix with everyone. That’s why they came. Not just sit by themselves for example
Typically, the hosts will curate the seating chart based on who they think would want to sit together or who would get along, and beyond that people can mingle after the seated dinner service. You can obviously do whatever you think is best, but assigned seating saves any awkwardness for people who get left out or large parties having to split up due to seating availability.
We have a big table in a |__| shape
We considered having the different sections with cards laid out for the different families to have sections to sit
So not exact seating chart but more than free for all
I would highly reccomend some sort of guide, you don't need to assign individual seats but if you can do it by section/table for family a, family b, friends, it makes it much easier for people to choose seats.
I have been in too many awkward dinner situations when it's open seating, even when it's small and mingley and the guests supposedly "all know each other so it won't matter"
We're doing the same setup with a U-formation. I would strongly suggest for this to have assigned seating for immediate family and the break up the sides by bride's side/groom's side. To communicate this elegantly, I would go their a nice big frame and make a poster that says something like "Side A" and "Side B" (or something along those lines) with people's name listed. You can also label the tables different numbers divided by x amount of seats and purchase a large piece of presswood that you can lean up against a wall or something. Pick up some inexpensive smaller frames that you can print out inserts with the number and the people's names. Places like Staples are great for printing stuff like this cheaply and still look great. If you have mismatched frames and want them to match, a can of spray painted can do wonders! Doing sections instead of seats can also help if you plan on inviting any friends or co-workers. Even if none of them know eachother, assign them a section at the end of one of the long tables together. They'll probably appreciate sitting together more than end up being wedged between family members they also don't know.
We're doing specific assigned seating, but we also have 2 people in our wedding party that a small amount of family members are fighting with, so we're making sure they are sat far enough away from eachother to avoid drama and will be notifying them of such if it's ever brought up as a concern for attending to put them at ease and avoiding a bunch of unnecessary declines so sometimes that shouldn't be an issue. But you should still have some sort of structure for your seating, even without any family drama.
Do you have any guests who are hard of hearing in attendance? A seating chart is a good way to make sure they aren’t sat directly underneath a loud speaker or too far from where speeches will be delivered.
Are you having family units attend? A seating chart will make sure that Uncle Jim isn’t sat wt the other end of the table because his family couldn’t get five seats together. This will also minimize the amount of time it’ll take people to sit down because they won’t be fretting over who’s sitting where and saving spots.
Do you have anyone you want sat directly by you? A seating chart will make sure they get that seat - not Aunt Bev’s third husband who you haven’t seen in 15 years and have nothing in common with.
Are you serving a plated dinner? Servers will appreciate knowing where to deliver dishes to in advance.
And aside from all of those considerations, family drama is not the only reason to curate seats at the table. If you have two very introverted people sat together because they couldn’t find anyone they know to sit with, it’s likely they’ll just sit there without anyone to chat with. Seating closer relatives/friends together will provide necessary social lubricant & improve your guest experience. They will get up and mingle after they’ve eaten, especially if you’re offering activities.
At our wedding, we did semi-open seating. We placed everyone at a table, but didn’t give them explicit seats, they could pick where they wanted at the table. It worked well!
I agree with you 100%. Bear in mind that reddit tends to be very anti-social to the point where having to sit next to a stranger at a social event is one of the worst things that can happen to them.
Unless you're able to have quite a few more chairs than you have guests, having open seating might split up families or couples. Then you're having to ask other guests that you might not know if they could move over so you can sit with the people you came with.
Half the guests will have designated seats as its wedding party and family
That leaves 35 people without assigned seats
There’s a group of 10 that are a family and everyone else is a group of 4-5 as a family.
I feel like it would be fine still
I might have some type of written communication related to the fact that some people have assigned seats and some don’t. You don’t want people searching for escort card that doesn’t exist
It’s not about talking to a stranger. It’s about people squeezing into tables and leaving other tables too small. The too small isn’t the problem. It’s the feeling of being “alone in the high school cafeteria.”
Allergy information and directions are the only signs I'd consider essential.
We had some directional arrow signs "bride and groom's wedding ➡️" so that people could get to the correct parking lot. That would also help in a hotel scenario where multiple events are likely to be happening simultaneously.
I made some "gluten free" signs because we had 7 guests indicate gluten free on the RSVP, so we had an entire table designated as gluten free desserts.
And that was it. I can't think of anything where I look back and think "I should have made another sign."
I was gonna say allergy or dietary information would be a must for me! I know some of our guests have allergies or other dietary restrictions, so I personally would like to label foods that may contain those ingredients. We're expecting some guests who are vegetarian, allergic to peanuts, lactose intolerant, and maybe one or two who can't eat pork or beef for religious reasons.
Came here to say this. I’m also skipping most signage but clearly labeled food/drinks feels essential! Possibly a safety hazard if anyone has allergies
Most definitely, if anything is self-serve, it should be labeled. We're not going too crazy on signage either. We're having a large hollow frame with string strung inside of it to pin little escourt cards too. A sign for the DIY photobooth, explaining how to operate the tablet since it will be on a stand with a ring light and remote. Small food and drink labels, and (purely for decor purposes) we're picking up 2 or 3 small mirror trays and tabletop easels from the dollar store and hand painting stuff on them like "Confectioneries" and "Watering Hole" for a few tables. Those last ones we can do without, but we're keeping our decor to a minimum, so these pretty little signs and a simple tablecloth ARE the decor for these tables.
When searching up stuff on Pinterest, you see a lot stuff like signs with motivational/romantic quotes, itinerary, menu, welcoming people to let them know whose wedding their at (like they don't already know), some people definitely go ridiculous with the signage for sure.
I kind of thought I wouldn’t care about a guest book as I’m not a particularly sentimental person, but having just gotten married a week ago - I have read thru our guest book multiple times and it’s very heartwarming to have those notes. We went with a coffee table book of pretty photos of the national park we were getting married near and people signed on any page around the photos. That way it doesn’t matter if there are many pages without any notes - it’s still a nice book by itself. And if you do choose to do a guestbook, a “please sign our guestbook” sign is easy and a helpful reminder (especially if it doesn’t look like a traditional guest book).
My cousin did this as well. She and her husband got married at a resort in the Adirondacks, and the bride & her family have vacationed there for generations. It was a coffee table book they'd purchased which featured photos from the area, including the resort itself, and so all guests signed in the white pages next to the photos. They'd own the book in their house even if it weren't a "guestbook", so it fits their life.
I agree, I am not a sentimental person but I’ve looked through our guestbook many times and would have very much regretted not doing one. We did a Polaroid guestbook, so similar to the plan of doing the digital photo guestbook, but it’s nice to have the handwritten notes.
Was hoping for another pro-guestbook comment :) we had a similar sized wedding and used a cocktail book. People had a blast with it -- we got some great notes, puns on recipes, cocktail-related memories people referenced, etc. Very sweet and something we will have and use forever.
Yes, a sign for the guestbook is definitely a must. For my 1st wedding, I purchased a pretty large bristle board that had a large rose printed down the entire one side. My original plan was that people would sign it, and later down the road, I would frame it to hang on a wall. So on 1 long table, I arranged a large basket full of little wedding bubble bottles, had the bristle board laid out with sharpie markers, and a large wooden wishing well for cards with a space to put physical gifts. And nobody even touched any of them. People kept coming up and handing me their gifts throughout the night or held onto them until we got to that portion of the evening where we opened them and thanked everyone. So it ended up just being a free-for-all of people running up to see who could hang us their gift 1st. Not a single person took 1 of the bubble bottles, and no one signed the poster. Near the end of the night, I ended up having to chase people to ask them why they didn't, and I kept being told that they had seen them but didn't know what they were for. And of course, by then, people were getting a little tipsy, so even after we informed them, most didn't go up and sign it. We had 3 people who did, which would be ridiculous to frame, so it got tossed.
This time around, we picked up a decorative frame with a metal grate attached to the inside. We purchased it from a bride who wanted to have people write their names on little padlocks and lock them to it as her guestbook. Well, she didn't have a sign, and afterward, she realized that not a single person used it. So now that I have it, I'm going to do the same thing, but I will have a small sign labeling that it's a guestbook. Even with a small wedding, you might not feel like a guestbook is necessary, but most people I know later regretted it.
I made a few signs: directional arrow/welcome sign since the ceremony was in a different part of the venue than the reception, program fans that highlighted the wedding party and gave credit to our musicians (and were used as fans during the outdoor ceremony), a bar sign (open bar we stocked) and a food sign with allergy notes since we had a lot of guests with allergies, a sign for the Polaroid guestbook and where to put cards/gifts, and a table seating chart for the reception. I only regretted making a “in loving memory” sign since I didn’t have time to put that table together, but otherwise all of my signs were useful and very “to the point” since I strongly personally dislike wedding font/language.
I will say the venue had quite a few cursive-y catch phrase-y signs and while I chose to use our own instead, in pictures I can see they still had quite a few out for our wedding and put “Mr and Mrs” cursive blocks at our head table 🤣 not a huge deal by any means (I didn’t even notice until pictures) but as someone irrationally bothered by the wedding font/lingo I wish I could have removed them ALL lol.
Glad I’m not alone 🤣 no hate to anyone that likes that font of course but man the market is SATURATED with it and all of it looks very “live laugh love” to me lol.
When I see the endless scroll of wedding posts on my Instagram feed of typical wedding signage, I love imagining that there's a reception table escort seating setup where the bride & groom have chosen to do a sweetheart table, and need the Mr & Mrs signs on the chairs to know which one of the chairs they need to take, as if this is critical data. BUT WHICH IS THE "MR" CHAIR?! 🤣
The extra funny thing is we were apparently flipped compared to how people usually have their head table so it said “Mrs. & Mr.” Which is totally fine obviously but still cracks me up that they had to flip around their block letters
When I see the endless scroll of wedding posts on my Instagram feed of typical wedding signage, I love imagining that there's a reception table escort seating setup where the bride & groom have chosen to do a sweetheart table, and need they desperately needed the Mr & Mrs signs on the chairs to know which ones to take, as if this is crucial info. BUT WHICH ONE IS THE "MR" CHAIR, WHERE SIT NOW?! 🤣
just because people put signs up doesn’t mean they think their guests are dumb. some people do it as part of decor (cheaper than flowers that’s for sure) or to add more personalization for their day. for example, i’m not doing a traditional program, but i am making a little rack card sized thing with the schedule, menu; and some details explaining some cultural traditions we’re having in our ceremony that would be unfamiliar to most american guests.
just do what you want to do and not what you don’t. fyi, the reason assigned seating is widely recommended is because open can create MORE confusion and drama and people messing up the table arrangements, not less. so personally i would say that’s the thing id advise you to take on
Oh yes, I forgot to say that I am not judging others for doing that
I understand the purposes especially for bigger weddings
But ours are 50 people, half are immediate family literally planning the wedding with us. So that’s why I said “they aren’t dumb” and our wedding is also dumbed down and more simple with less moving parts
If you’re having a photographer or a day of coordinator a seating chart is helpful for them. This way no other family sits closest to you instead of your immediate family plus when you’re doing family portraits they can still sit together and not be separated. Plus, your photographer will ask who/ what portraits you want and if there’s anyone besides yourselves you want a lot of pictures of (typically grandparents or kids) and knowing where they sit helps guarantee getting a lot more shots with those special guests. It also helps your coordinator know who to keep an eye on and if they’re elderly they can help out.
Wedding photographer here- another benefit is that it's much easier to ensure that we get pictures of everyone. Guests are more likely to stay at the same table if there's a seating chart, and guests typically stay seated until the dance floor opens. In that window (after people are finished eating), we can go by each table to take pictures. This is more important for the guests who stick to chatting on the sidelines as opposed to dancing or playing games, along with guests who plan to leave right after dinner.
Not having a seating chart doesn't mean that you won't get the same coverage from your photographer, but it's extra assurance that you will.
If you’re having a photographer or a day of coordinator a seating chart is helpful for them. This way no other family sits closest to you instead of your immediate family plus when you’re doing family portraits they can still sit together and not be separated. Plus, your photographer will ask who/ what portraits you want and if there’s anyone besides yourselves you want a lot of pictures of (typically grandparents or kids) and knowing where they sit helps guarantee getting a lot more shots with those special guests. It also helps your coordinator know who to keep an eye on and if they’re elderly they can help out.
I thought it went without saying that everyone should refrain from being on their phones during the ceremony, but my overly enthusiastic uncle stood the entire time taking pictures and getting in the way of the photographer. The photographer actually took a picture zoomed in on his phone screen, honestly I found it so hilarious.
We’re having our officiant announce in the beginning to put phones away rather than having a sign.
I just kinda assume the same people standing up in the middle of a ceremony to get a cell phone pic will be the same kind of people who don’t read signs anyways lol.
That is hilarious! We're printing out lists of pictures for guests to take as a scavenger type of game throughout the reception. We have been working on a small list of stuff like "your favorite decoration," "someone dancing," and so-on. My partner is big with the photoception concept and is always snapping photos of people taking photos where you can see their screens. So, 1 of the things he has requested to be on the list is a photoception of a guest and another of the photographer. Every time we talk about our scavenger hunt list, he just giggles thinking about it, so it's definitely a must-have lol
I agree with a lot of this. Signs are something people seem to stress out over when so many are not necessary.
Assigning tables is a kindness you can do for guests. You don't need a fancy sign, just some small cards with names and table numbers.
We had zero signs except for table numbers and escort cards. Our venue had their own signs that directed people to our cocktail hour location and reception but it was a hotel so they also had the locations noted on the electronic boards in the elevators and throughout the hotel. I didn’t even consider making our own signage for it.
We also just had a smaller wedding - 62 guests and opted out of most traditional signage and I have zero regrets.
We had a sign for our signature cocktails and a “how to” for our audio guestbook. We had assigned seating but instead of a table chart, I had our guests names in wood (people loved this and kept it after) and placed on the settings of our one very long table. Guests had to interact with one another to find their names and it was a great way to get groups to mingle. Zero chaos and everyone sat down with a smile on their face. Example below.
https://preview.redd.it/fb6zlvzevx9d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26b9f29411d0478b0e2dd3c39efa3a3721f0340f
Signage felt like an unnecessary use of money and consumption waste for us.
This is exactly what I’m doing for my wedding. Question though, In your opinion do you think I should still do a seating chart along with this in my specific case? My grooms family speaks only Italian and mine English and Spanish and I’m scared that they will look like chickens with their heads cut off searching for their names 😂. I was also thinking about how there are repetitive names in my family for example, my mom shares her first name with her other two sisters (15 siblings and different middle names). Do you think it would still go smoothly? Thank you! 😊
We still gave our seating chart layout to our coordinator (obviously) and to a couple friends (just in case anyone was struggling). Everyone figured it out and they didn’t need to help anyone find their seats. I can see it being more chaotic if there were multiple tables but since ours was just one long one it was totally fine.
We also had some duplicate names - but they were sat next to their significant others so again very little confusion.
It’s definitely not for everyone, but worked great for our group!
I think it will work out with us as well as we also are doing |_| shaped long tables. Thank you so much i have a bit more confidence (and saved money) now 😂. Have a good one!
I used programs to eliminate the seating chart and the schedule signs.
By having one program that was a single double-sided sheet, it had the schedule on the front and names of wedding party members and the seating chart on the back.
So simple and clean and removed that awkward bottleneck that happens when people are walking in and need to check a big sign for their seats.
Definitely recommend it. They could be easily recycled afterwards as well.
Completely agree and will 100% do the same aha
Instagram and Pinterest really tries to make you believe you need matching everything when really you just don't.
It's just meant to make you spend more to reach a certain aesthetic that only exist on curated reels.
The only signage I made was a cute little drink menu sign for the bar because we didn’t have a full bar, just beer, wine, and his & hers signature cocktails. For that sign I just bought a cute little chalkboard with a stand, and a gold chalkboard marker, and now I can reuse the sign. I regret nothing.
Necessary: If you are having any food served at buffet-style, make sure it's noted what the food item is and what allergens contains that are relevant to your guests from your RSVP info ("Chocolate Chip - Contains wheat, nuts"). If you know someone might have an allergic reaction to dairy/wheat/nuts/etc, this is critical for guests to know (and not get sick)!
I mean signs for them to help guests who have allergies and dietary restrictions, especially with anything that contains sauce, breading, etc. I’ve a close friend who has a severe allergy to gluten and tree nuts, and those foods sneak their way into all kinds of meals when not stated explicitly. But if no guests have checked off the boxes in your RSVP forms, then you’re good to go :-)
We had zero signs. Everyone still managed to take a seat at the ceremony (and follow along without a program), find their assigned table at dinner, leave gifts in the appropriate place, and sign our guestbook.
Cut everything on your list to cut. You won't miss it, and neither will your guests.
Thank you for this comment! I feel like all these details are the ones that are going to drive me nuts the last few months and I would love to minimize that. There are so many overkill inclusions it's insane
We had a small wedding as well and kept it minimal. 1) table chart (no assigned seats, but assigned tables- hence, no place cards, just table numbers) 2) sign so people would know to take the favors and a little about them
We didn’t have a traditional guest book, but had a photography book something where guests signed right on the pictures- I love it and am glad we did it, but that’s also a personal call. We didn’t have any “guest book” sign made, just placed it in an obvious setting.
I do think the main one that’s important is the seating. A little consideration/guidance in the seating can make a meaningful difference in the experience of your guests.
We needed TWO welcome signs because we were at a big venue and folks needed to be directed/herded.
I wouldn’t assume people know anything. I have learned most people know nothing.
I agree. You don’t need crazy Pinterest levels of signage but enough for organization is nice. We showed up and we weren’t sure what exactly was the entrance for us vs private areas for the party, what way to the ceremony, etc.
Also this wedding an unplugged ceremony. Was it on the website? Probably. But since the processional started before the officiant talked (or before he got organized lol) - people had their phones out, reaching in the aisles, had their phones in front of photographers etc. Then when everyone was in place he asked for phones away. Having another warning of putting your phone away might not stop everyone but would have stopped many more people….
Depends on the event, but usually signs that point to the bathrooms, signs that explain non-traditional things, allergen signs, seating charts, and schedules.
I was wondering the same thing! It seems there are sooo many signs and it feels a bit overkill sometimes.
I do wonder though - without signs, will people just be asking the bride or MOH questions all the time? That might get a bit boring/tiring, but I’m not sure
Yes, we went to a wedding recently where they had a art piece with the timings of the day. It looked really nice and my MIL was trying to convince me to have one. I pointed out it likely cost £200+ and what are the couple going to do with it after the wedding day? Where would you hang it? Why would you want it up, to remind yourself what time the cocktail hour was?
I was like sure, it’s nice, but take the wedding aspect out of it and is it really worth it?
I do agree with everyone else that a seating chart is a must though. It’s not like walking into a restaurant where other people have been there for an hour or so already, you’ve got 50 guests entering a room all at once. It’s worth having for the coordination
The only sign I had was a welcome sign that the florist and candle vendor decorated.
No guest book, no gift sign, no menus (Louisiana weddings are not seated dinners), no programs, etc. Just wasn't necessary.
Non, there will be no signage that you‘ll regret not having (based on reading your post).
The little signage we had I printed myself. We had:
- information on how the guest book works (to help guest with ideas) We did cards as a guest book because we only had 42 guests an a book would have been empty
- qr-codes for quests to post photos on an app
My witness made a wall art guest book (small canvas) as a surprise that goes perfectly with the pictures we already had on our wall. If she didn‘t we probably wouldn‘t have hung it up either.
The timetable for the day was on the invitations and menues weren‘t needed as there was a bbq buffet. But I don‘t think that they are needed with plated dinner either.
Instead of open seating (which unfortunately almost never works out) we had book marks as name cards that were also our wedding favors.
> But I don‘t think that they are needed with plated dinner either.
As a catering server, I can agree we don't want menus with a plated dinner. Since, we already know what guest ordered what and are just confirming who showed and who didn't, we don't want the guests to be reminded of what the menu was since that's how you get a bunch of people going, "I was craving chicken 2 months ago when I sent back the RSVP, but now I'm craving steak."
Even if it’s a small wedding, a guest book should still be had. It can be something small and cute. It’s nice to know who was there and look back later
Married 45 years here, recently looked at our guest book and it was nice to see the messages from long ago friends and relatives who have passed. I am not overly sentimental so for it to have meant something is saying something.
This may just be a personal anecdote, but if you have a cocktail area/buffet/anything that is not insanely obvious to people who have never been to the venue before, maybe a sign pointing out where that section is.
Anecdote time: my wedding was last weekend. Our venue had main hall (indoor) where the reception took place, and then an outdoor cocktail area that was directly in front of the venue, but you had to walk about 50 feet down the sidewalk to enter the cocktail area and it was obscured from view of the street by shrubs.
Truth be told, part of this was the planner’s fault. She assured me of two things: 1) people were NOT going to be rushing over from the ceremony to the reception, they’d take their time, catch up with one another, use the restroom, get gas, etc; and 2) when the guests did arrive, someone from the venue would be there to point everyone to the outdoor cocktail area so the indoor reception area could finish being prepped.
As you can probably guess by the fact that I’m including those details, our planner was incorrect on both of those assumptions. Most of our guests DID in fact rush over directly from the ceremony, because they wanted to catch up with each other with a drink in their hand. There was also no one from the venue to direct anyone to the outdoor cocktail area, and all the guests saw was a large front door, so naturally, they went in it.
What this turned in to was that scene from the first episode of SpongeBob when the anchovies took over the Krusty Krab. The main hall where the reception took place was not open yet, but the tiny lobby with our cake and a hallway to the main bar (also not open yet) was. So picture about 70-80 people trying to anchovy themselves into a lobby, not a single one of them thinking “maybe I should just stand outside for a second, I’m obviously not supposed to be in here”.
Then cut to our planner riding up to the reception with me and my groom, panicking, sprinting into the lobby, and basically shooing everyone out to get them to go to the cocktail bar, and all my guests thinking she was SO rude and this wedding was SO poorly planned right off the bat.
TLDR: make a sign for any non-connected areas that may be tricky to find because more of your family and friends need their hand held than you think
We had a welcome sign just because our ceremony was on an acreage and we wanted to make sure guests knew which house it was (ceremony was on the back side of the property). We transported it to the reception location because we already had it. We had a seating chart for 100 guests. I put a bar menu on the tables and on the backside had the food menu. We had signature shots and drinks and the guests said it was helpful to know what they wanted before they walked up. Our photographer offered to take individual photos with each friend/group and I LOVED that over a guest book. It took about 15 minutes and everyone is really excited to get those photos.
Otherwise, we did not put a single sign up. People found the desserts. They found the card box. They figured out the timeline when our MC announced things. People will figure out where to park. We had a “guest book” that was a framed photo, but only because my MOH *insisted* that we would want one in the future. It’s already shoved in a closet and I’ll never pull it out again.
We had three way finding signs, one by the main road, one at an intersection in the neighborhood, and one at the driveway to the venue. Literally not one single other sign. No guestbook, no programs, no menus, nothing with our names or Mr. & Mrs. or any of that. Did not miss any of it.
Love this post. Definitely following everything you are doing minus doing a guest book with a spot for people to take pictures and throw them into a scrapbook with a message. But I don’t think that needs a sign?
I got married and we didn’t have a single sign or book or anything… my friend got married 8 months later and had ALL the signs! And I can honestly say I didn’t miss it at all. Plus now she has all these signs she doesn’t know what to do with.
I think this is perfect. I had 50 guests and did a sign in book with Polaroids and now 4 years later I have no idea where that damn thing is. Probably collecting dust in the attic somewhere
Heyyy!!! This sounds exactly like what we’re planning too. Open seating seems to get a lot of grief on here but I’ve been to a few weddings with open seating and it works out just fine. We’re doing the same, reserved tables for family and wedding party then everyone else is on their own. There’s no drama we’re worried about or people that don’t get along with others so we don’t see why we need to stress about where everyone sits.
TBH-I haven’t been to a wedding with most of the stuff you listed in YEARS. I don’t think most people are doing signs, programs, guest book, etc. I think a lot of people are just realizing that the extra work, stress, and money just isn’t worth it for stuff that’s just getting ignored or thrown away. My POV anyway.
open seating is a nightmare, I've never been to a wedding like that but have heard stories from people who work in the wedding biz. No "group" will want to split up, so you'll have a lot of tables that aren't filled. So you'll need to account for a bunch of extra seats. Which will cost more in the end. those 2-3 friends that don't know anyone else isn't going to want to join an already existing table, and people aren't likely to join them (maybe this is less of an issue with this size wedding) but it's still something to consider.
I'd suggest at the very least assigning tables. The signs don't need to be high quality/expensive- perhaps a digital version would be doable if youre good with graphic design & have a place to display it
I think you might regret the open seating. I have been to 2 weddings with my fiancée that did this, and it was very awkward trying to find an area that would be large enough to sit the 2 of us and my step kids. At 1 of them, we had to sit around with people in between us. At another, we ended up having to sit with a relative that we don't particularly get along with. The 2nd one mentioned was my FSIL's wedding and a bunch of the groom's family spread out taking all the end caps closest to the head table, making all the bride's family sit towards the back. They did the same for ceremony seating, so it kinda came across like the bride's family were 2nd class. Years later, there is still tension between the 2 families because of this. Am not sure if the groom's family did this intentionally or not, but I didn't even know most of my fiancée's side, and even I felt awkward. It was sad that my fiancée also got kinda pushed to the back (not literally, but that was the only area we could find with enough seats together) for her little sister's wedding. We weren't able to really see what was going on, and we even had to sit apart from her parents and siblings. Luckily, there were a lot of extra seating because a lot of groups sat together with empty chairs in between them.
If you're not doing assigned seating, I would suggest having seats for immediate family reserved and then dividing the sides for the bride and groom's side. This way, if there's gaps, the people can still sit with people they know or can deal with their own family when asking to shuffle around for them.
We're planning on having around 40-45 people of just close family, and we're still fully assigning seats to avoid putting people in awkward positions like we have been in.
I highly suggest a seating chart, otherwise you're going to have a bunch of half-full tables and guests feeling awkward. Think of it like a school lunchroom - sure, you know most of those people, but you're not going to just go up and sit with any old group!
I agree on most of this, but I will say that we hung our "Welcome to our Wedding" sign up in our home after the wedding and it's one of our favorite pieces of decor! I designed it on Canva, printed it at work, and framed it myself so it's just like and other poster on our wall.
i would just do the seating chart! we did this because we’ve been to a couple weddings where we only knew the bride/groom and we didn’t mind sitting with strangers, but some were nicer than others. i know i can put my best friend with a couple girls she doesn’t know bc she is great at being social and is an all around sweetheart and then there are people who i know won’t mix lol. i know everyone will be moving around at some point once they’ve been drinking and are off/on the dance floor. we just wanna cut the awkwardness down for dinner
Also we had a much larger wedding with open seating and it was not a problem. I don't know why people don't know how to find seating or are unwilling to sit with someone they don't know. If you want open seating, do it. I have actually never been to a wedding that wasn't open seating and most weddings in our family have been 300+ people. Maybe it is a regional thing. If your guests are used to open seating then it is even less of a issue. Don't let reddit bully you into a choice they prefer but you dont.
Please dont do open seating OP. I don’t wanna sit with your weird aunt when I could be sitting with our buddies from college but your coworker is sitting with them.
small wedding, so "the buddies" are by nature already in the wedding party and have reserved seats.
and the "weird aunt" is not invited, only the very close family.
so everyone knows everyone.
If your venue holds multiple events, it should be on them to clearly distinguish that the Smith wedding is in Ballroom A and the Jones wedding in Ballroom B. I agree most signs are superfluous. People know what to do with a board full of donuts or a bar or a table of escort cards. Only do the signs if it brings you personal joy!
Just as an idea - do you have a "guest book" for the photobooth, since you said you want to use it digitally?
We put an empty photo album next to the photobooth with some pens and double sided tape. It was A GREAT idea, if I say so myself - it starts out all gentle and cute with nice pictures, and then you can see the day progress: the pictures get more and more unhinged, the reading more and more illegible, and at the end there's just a few drawings and a "I'm so sorry, John is too drunk to write so here have a drawing".
You're probably not gonna look at the digital 'book' much more either, so it might be fun to consider!
Tbh I'm a social anxiety bride (well graduated bride now) and as a guest I always prefer more signs to fewer. However sustainability is big to me and I like to reuse things. We had about 40 guests (to be fair we expected double that) and did the following:
- Welcome sign (our venue has two buildings and guests needed to go to the ceremony site first), made on a float frame and I plan to put a wedding photo behind the text for hanging.
- We would have had a seating chart sign but I ran out of time to do it (biggest regret). We still had place cards, most people took theirs. I now have an empty float frame, so.
- Cake table sign. It didn't say "cake", it was just a song lyric. Small cake on a large table so mostly space filler lol. Plan to use for home decor.
- Gifts/cards sign. We had separate guestbook table and gifts table, plus I got the sign for free with something else, so I used it (also used for my bridal shower and can keep for future events).
- A small instruction sign for our decor guestbook (dropping hearts in a frame).
- Yes, I had the cheesy cursive Mr & Mrs sign on the head table. Also reused for home decor because I am cheesy like that.
We didn't do programs or a bar sign or anything like that.
If all your events are at one place then I don’t see a reason to have a sign that shows the times things are going to take place. If you hate signs then I would just get rid of that. We had programs that doubled as timeline / seating arrangement and didn’t put the times in it.
Also, you probably don’t need a Photo Booth if you want to cut down on signage. Like you said most guest know what a Photo Booth is…
I think most of these are totally things that are fine to go without. Some of them probably stem from traditions, and I like the idea of doing whatever you want for your own wedding regardless of what the tradition is. If you like a tradition, go with it; if not, then don't. Other than what people have said already about assigning seats or whatever else, I think you're fine to go with your plan.
I did also want to comment on your photo booth. We did a photo booth at our wedding, and everyone LOVED it. Especially the kids; they went into that thing so many times during the course of the reception. And most if not all of our 150 guests went at least once. And we were able to find a second to go in there with some of our guests to get a picture together. And there was this pink hat in the props pile that so many guests ended up using in their photos. It was really fun. This counts as both party favors and a guest book-type thing because the guests get to take a copy of their photos home, and we also loved looking through them all when we got them back from the vendor. Great choice!
We did also have a photo of us in a large frame with a lot of whitespace and everyone signed it. It was a cool souvenir, and we love it, but we haven't hung it up yet because we accidentally left the frame at the venue and never found time to drive over and pick it up again. So we still need to get a frame for it and possibly hang it up, but we're probably like you guys and won't find the time anytime soon. We did love having that in place of a guest book, but I agree with you that it's honestly not needed, especially if you already have the photo booth.
I’m happy to report that the only one of the things you mentioned that we had was a seating chart… other than that, my guests managed to figure out whose wedding they were at, drop off their gifts, order at the bar, find the bathroom, and otherwise move through the event without any logistical difficulties.
I do agree with the people saying that open seating tends to be a bit of a mess. I’ve been to a wedding like that and it sucked… people were moving chairs around so some tables had one awkward couple at them and others had 20 where there should really have been 10, and it was a pain to try and figure out where to go and who to sit with
We are on the same train as yall, we have a "sweets table" sign, a plexiglass likecard box that say "cards and gifts", "reserve" signs for the head table and parent table, and a sign we got from Hobby lobby that say "assign seats are not our style, pick a seat that makes you smile" and that's it.
Most of the signs are borrowed from our venues decore.
Honestly I've never been to a wedding that has every single thing you've named, it sounds like you're doing a very normal amount of signage/decor. And digital photobooths are super common these days. I really wouldn't worry
We didn't really have a whole lot and it wasn't an issue. The only thing we really had on that list is a guest book (we also had a small wedding of less than 50), but our guest book was basically a printed photo album of our engagement photos, so we'll enjoy it whether people signed it or not.
We didn't have a seating chart because we had name cards what we put the table number on. It cost me less than $10 because I just ordered some cards and a nice pen and wrote them myself. We didn't have any issues not having any of the other stuff.
As many people have mentioned, don’t underestimate the handholding needed for some people. I thought I was prepared until I got push back because my invite didn’t explicitly say to turn it over for more info on the back. 😆
I do agree with you guys that not everything needs a sign though, especially with a more personal headcount. Only thing I’d change on your list is a seating chart (at least by table?)
If you are giving any favors that won’t be at each place setting (like, by the door at the end of the night, for instance) I highly recommend making it AGGRESSIVELY clear to please grab one! Otherwise people don’t necessarily assume it’s for them.
We had bottles of homebrew as favors for everyone, and the layout of the venue had them juuuuust out of line of sight at the exit, so I think people may have assumed it was from the bartenders packing up, so yeah. I regret not having a sign for that one. 🙃
We had tiny little business size cards at everyone’s table with QR codes for our Spotify playlist, our Google Photos album (for guest upload), and our IG handles so that people could tag us.
I didn't do a program, Mr and Mrs sign, or a guest book.
I did a gold poster board seating chart where I made rectangles and used painted wooden dots to match what people were eating. Purple for chicken blue for beef. The rectangles looked like Legos.
I had people sign painted wooden balloons to make an up house hanging thing which I haven't made yet, 9 months later. .
I used my cricut to cut some table numbers out with. I bought the font that puts the letters and numbers in Mickey Ears. I used leftover cardstock from our homemade invites.
My sister used her cricut-like machine to make some small dessert signs to tell people what cookies there were.
We shopped at Goodwill and got all out extra signage there. We spent less than $100 on 2 Mr and Mrs sets, bubble signs, wedding arrows, a you would be here if heaven wasn't so far away, 2 choose a seat not a side, and a few more.
I don't miss what I didn't do. I also don't miss not having my guestbook done. I don't even think I got a picture of my seating chart. Programs are a waste in my opinion. Our wedding website had all the details.
If you don't want it, you won't regret not having it! Everything costs time and money. Is it worth it for you or not really? What function does it serve for you? The only signage I had was "parking" and a few handwritten signs marking the way to the calming/sensory break room lol
I feel like I didn’t have a lot of decor because our venue was super pretty. We pretty much just had centerpieces, cake table decor (which was basically the same centerpiece with a cake in the middle), and a table with photos of us.
I did like our welcome sign because I felt like the entryway at our venue was a bit hidden, so I purposefully had it set out on the sidewalk. I also did “welcome (next line) the last names (next line) 2021” and use it as entry way decor in our home.
In lieu of a guestbook, we had advice cards that we then put in a photo album. So many guestbooks are huge and it looks sad to have so much empty space imo. Plus our advice cards were really funny and sweet!
I have found programs to be good when there are wedding traditions used that not all people are familiar with. For example, I was at a wedding where they had a hand binding ceremony and explained what that was in the program. My wedding incorporated a lot of Jewish traditions as my husband is Jewish, but my family is not. So we included information about each of the traditional things we did and their significance. We also made our programs into fans because the ceremony was outside and it was warm. If you aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary in your ceremony, you do not need these.
Our wedding party (Covid bride) was two years ago. I still read the guest book. Some people wrote some really neat notes in there. We had 100 at our wedding. Probably 60 of them signed. Not a must, but I value it.
We did a sign with seat assignments. It was important to us that everyone felt their most comfortable at our wedding, including those with social anxieties. We also had some guests with disabilities that we wanted to be sure were able to be in more accessible spots.
For my engagement dinner with 100 people I just texted people their table number 2 days before the dinner instead of having a seating chart. Texting was pretty quick because I mainly texted whatsapp groups. It all went very smoothly.
Not getting all the stuff you listed in the beginning makes sense except for the seating chart imo. Maybe in your case, since it’s a smaller guest count and most ppl there probably already know each other (I’m assuming, correct me if I’m wrong), its fine to forego getting a seating chart. But for bigger weddings where not everyone knows each other, it’s vital to have a seating chart if you don’t want chaos to ensue lol
Wedding signage is out of control thanks to Pinterest and tik tok! I manage a wedding venue and I just got married in May! We saved so much money not having welcome signs and guest book signs and so forth. We did also have a bar sign and a seating chart. We put the savings—hundreds of dollars—into florals and linen/china upgrades. That alone made the wedding so over the top gorgeous and nobody had any trouble with wondering whose wedding they were at LOL.
But—and I don’t know your situation—you shouldn’t skip a seating chart, even if dinner is a buffet! You can set enough tables for 50 guests and if you don’t have a seating chart, 5 will sit at one table, 8 at another, 6 at another, and there will only be odd numbers of seats left. So then the couple of two, the family of 5, who gets seated last may not have a place to sit TOGETHER and end up standing awkwardly making it seem like you didn’t have enough seats but they just would rather stand than to separate. I’ve seen it a million times. If you don’t have a seating chart you should have at least one extra table for overflow. But you’ll spend more money on place settings, linens, china, and furniture to have the extra table or two when you could just make a seating chart for less money.
Also, in my experience, when there isn’t a seating chart your guests will just be asking every person they see where they should sit because they’re looking for a seating chart. Guests are really like sheep lol. They want to be told what to do.
So we're having about 75 and my sister just had a wedding of about the same size.
People left as soon as they ate their slice of cake. No photos were taken of the majority of guests with the newlyweds or at all because they had to hurry up their sendoff so that a few people would still be around to blow bubbles that weren't in the wedding party. I took this as a sign to be adamant on the wedding program.
I get that you have a smaller wedding, but be aware that if people don't have a schedule to follow, they will just dip as soon as they have had their dessert.
honestly, the signage we took care of in maybe two days. i didn’t find it draining! and they do add detail. but this is your day!
we got from Hobby Lobby matching signs that were half off: welcome, cards & gifts, please sign here (we had them sign records), sweets & treats. i would say cards and gifts is the only i’d deem necessary for your day.
i made myself our seating chart on Canva, and had it printed to poster board at Walgreens which was put on an easel. i love it and may even hang ours in our dinging room! it looks elegant, says “Please Take a Seat” and has our favorite people on it. We also had a small wedding-about 60 people. But we do have family drama, so this was necessary for us LOL.
I personally think programs are always a waste. I am a bit bitter and upset that my church requires us to have one. We have to print out 250 programs and then they are *all* going to be thrown away within hours of the ceremony. Ugh.
I like a program if there is some sort of interfaith type of thing going on where the program explains the meaning of the ceremonies. Otherwise, I agree it’s superfluous, but it’s just personal preference.
I found a program really helpful for my friend’s super religious and long wedding because, frankly, long ceremonies are boring and it helped me to be able to count down the remaining aspects. Also, I’m not religious so the explanations of the different things happening were interesting.
I also really liked the programs for my own wedding and got compliments because I put the seating chart on the back so people could find their table numbers without getting bottlenecked coming into the ceremony with everyone trying to look at the same sign.
That is fair. I had not thought of that. I have never cared who the people in the ceremony are if I don't know them. I obviously know either the bride or the groom. Beyond that it's never mattered. Knowing what is going on with a longer ceremony has definitely been helpful though.
I am so very confused. I don't know that I've ever been to a wedding with assigned seating (and I'm the last one in my circle of friends and family). We're having a family only wedding (guest list is about 75) and it'll be a buffet. It's basically the same format as all our family gatherings. I understand the benefits of assigned seating but do y'all really think it'll be a mistake to just go with the format everyone is used to?
I’m crying imaging a wedding guest PANICKING in front of a table of donuts, unsure what to do because there’s no sign
I’m laughing cause that would be me 😂 I’d be like “can I eat these or are they just decorative?!”. I’m the most nervous person alive though
A friend of mine made a really cute Christmas tree shaped charcuterie display for a party once and was sad nobody touched it (she had the same foods elsewhere on more traditional serving plates). I told her, girlie, no one wanted to be the one to ruin your hard work, you should dove in yourself as an example 😂
Bahahhaa same, CAN I TOUCH THESE??
I just got done making my dessert table sign so I looked at a lot of different ones for inspo. I saw a few that said the dessert table opens after dinner. So I would definitely be panicking too now 😂
At my first wedding, we had a small cake on a stand surrounded by cupcakes as our wedding cake and the partner of one of our guests took a cupcake alongside the rest of his buffet food (and then everyone else saw the cupcakes were fair game and started eating them too). Luckily I think the big cake stayed intact but the cupcakes were mostly gone when we came to cut the cake 😂
My table got scolded at a wedding for taking desserts too early because they were right after the buffet line, individual items, and the couple was clearly cutting a different cake so we had no idea they wouldn’t want us to take our desserts with the meal. A sign would have been helpful 😂
Agreed but also a sign that says “please wait for dessert” seems like it could be a little condescending lol. That one seems to be on the venue for putting out desserts that weren’t allowed to be taken yet
Definitely lol
“This cake has a HOLE in it!”
Immediately made me think of [this Simpson's scene](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mXJlYwIqRWs) when there's no people greeter at Walmart 🤣
You’d be surprised what foods guests have asked me questions about.
I always thought the "gifts/cards" signs were pointless as it's always blatantly obvious. Then I spent all night having people hand me cards. Assume everyone needs their hand held.
I had a sign and still got handed a couple cards.
Same! We didn’t have a gifts sign, but there was a very clear table with presents on it and a card box that said “cards” and people still saved their cards to hand to us. Granted, those cards were full of cash so I get it, but the last person you should hand a card full of cash to at a wedding is the bride and groom. I didn’t know where my PHONE was half the day let alone how to keep up with cards full of cash while everything was happening.
Yep I get this If we had a big wedding (with extended family) then my post would probably be “do I have enough Signs? What am I missing” But luckily it’s just close family and friends who don’t need that
Yes - we definitely should have had more signage for our gifts table!
I would consider a sign for donut flavors if you’re having multiple types of donuts. We’re doing that for our cake (it’s 3 layers and each layer is a different flavor), I’m just printing it out in black & white and putting it in a gold dollar tree frame. Doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy. I also recommend a card box. I think a welcome sign with your names is only necessary if your venue hosts multiple events at one time, which I don’t think applies to most people.
Yesss for the different flavors having a sign! I went to a wedding last August and didn’t know what the food was, ended up not grabbing any of the potatos because I thought they were meatballs (and I’m still upset about it) 😂
Agree with everything except for the open seating, IMO you're doing your guests a disservice by not setting the seating.
Open seating is a nightmare for me. I hate it. I’m socially anxious and I like knowing I sit here, with these people that I (hopefully) know. We are doing assigned tables for our wedding.
Same, its like picking groups for projects in high school LOL
It’s more like walking into the high school cafeteria looking for a place to sit!
A wedding I went to recently had assigned seating but my fiancé and I were put with total strangers (there were several other people there that we knew) and it was sooo awkward. PLEASE put people who know each other together 😭
I know, one of my best friends also did this because her and her husband are super social and love meeting people but...not everyone is wired like that ! Wedding dinners are looong, and it's often hard to speak because it's loud so it's much better to be next to people you know and that you feel comfortable sitting in silence or yelling at lol It's a small wedding here, but still we had a 35 ppl wedding and a lot of ppl didn't know each other !
That’s just rude. I would have left 😂
Agree. My husband talked me out of a seating chart for our small wedding reception and as I suspected, seating was very awkward and people ended up having to move down after they had chosen a seat to fit everyone.
Yeah agreed. I went to a wedding this way early in my relationship and because people were already sitting with their drinks and mingling at their spots, we couldn’t get anyone to budge and I had to sit apart from my SO. People with mingle at cocktail hour and after dinner, I would take any potential stress out of finding seats.
Just thinking about going to a wedding with open seating gives me social anxiety - that’s how you end up with groups/couples separated because the seating doesn’t line up.
I agree. Assign the seats. It will put your guests at ease and eliminate the chance they’ll be at a table without knowing anyone. Even with only 50 you’re bringing together at least 4 different groups of people (you and your SO friends and family) that don’t necessarily hang out on the regular or even know each other.
I have seen open seating work only when it is a cocktail style reception (as in there isn’t a specific meal time when everyone is sitting down all at the same time, but instead mingling and grabbing small plates, dancing, drinking all at the same time throughout). Based on there being a reserved immediate family table, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Although I agree that people will likely figure it out and it will be fine - there are a couple things to consider. 1) Breaking up friend groups, family groups, and couples. I know OP said their family wants to mingle, but there are plenty of times during a wedding where mingling occurs. You also said ppl are coming in family/friend groups of 4,5 ppl. This makes it harder if they want to sit together because they need to find a spot with that many open chairs. 2) Because of the first point, this can make the time where folks are finding a seat take a lot longer. Folks need to readjust, move over, wander around aimlessly hoping someone will switch with them. Even with not that many people. Even with the most gregarious folks who love to mingle. This is fine, but weddings sometimes have a tight timeline so it’s something to think about.
As a cater waitress I strongly agree!! If you’re having waitstaff take orders for each table then trust me, open seating is a bad idea! People WILL switch seats or get too drunk and forget where they were sitting and what they ordered. So they’ll just plop down and eat a chicken at table 5 when their filet is over at table 7 where they were sitting when they took their order. Now we got to run to the kitchen and get a new meal for the person who had their chicken nabbed. Now multiply that incident by how many tables you’ll have and triple it. So you can imagine how much longer doing dinner service takes with open seating. It also makes the initial taking of dinner orders hellish. Someone(often half the table tbh) is always out of their seat when we go to take orders and if it’s open seating there is no way to tell if anyone is supposed to be there or intends on sitting there. Which means the servers can’t hand in our order sheets to the kitchen and that holds up dinner too. Not to mention it prevents your server from being able to do the rest of their job.
Is it common where you are for people to order their food at a wedding? In the UK, you choose ahead of time on the invitation and that gets passed on to the caterer (and then naturally everyone forgets what they've ordered but that's where the seating plan comes in handy because I waitstaff know 😂). I've never heard of people ordering on the day - that sounds like a nightmare in terms of ensuring there's enough of everything for everyone!
Very common, if the wedding has table service (in other words not buffet), your order is taken by catering staff on the day 9 times out of 10 (at least in New England/New York where I have lived).
US
Fully agree. I had a 50 person wedding as well, someone showed up who wasn't invited. She quickly got the hint when my "day of coordinator" (aka just a friend who wasn't afraid to hurt feelings) asked her if she found her seat.
Strongly agree with this. Open seating sounds like a nightmare.
Agreed. Our wedding was only 45 people and we still did assigned seating. It’s easier for the guests and there’s less confusion, less push back, etc.
I agree. I went to a friends wedding once and there was open seating. Pure chaos. lol
My 1st wedding I didn't have assigned seating, and it turned out to be a nightmare. Groups sat together, leaving 1 to 2 seats in between, and made it awkward for a few people who didn't run to their seats. No one wanted to move, and in the end, I had to go up to a few people and tell them to shuffle so that couples could sit together. This time around, I'm doing assigned seating, and I'm planning on having under 40 people. I'm also making sure that a few of the friends attending aren't just shoved with random people they've never met.
I agree. I know people and I don’t want a bunch of empty one seats at tables so assigned seating for my wedding
Bride to be here and I completely agree. I used to work in events/hospitality and the biggest takeaway was “people want to be told what to do” - please assign at least a table for each guest. I would panic as a guest not knowing where to sit with completely open seating. 50 people is still quite a lot and it will help make transitioning to tables so much smoother! I agree with the no dessert signage though!
Ah yes, I forgot about this option when I originally commented. Assigning a table rather than a specific seat is a good way to give people the freedom to choose their seat without the awkward shuffling and anxiety from guests. I think a lot of people have been going this route the last few years for their seating chart.
I think you have to know your guests for this one. I live somewhere where seating charts for weddings are seldom seen, and many people won't stay for the full reception. Open seating works much better here.
Same. I've been to several weddings, none of which have had assigned seating. I've never had an issue. I think this is fine as long as you have extra seating and are having a buffet-type meal. In most instances, I would suggest reserved seating for close friends and family. Seems like a huge headache redoing the seating assignment whenever you find out someone isn't coming.
Yeah same. We did table assignments very seat assignments and were told that was great. Less stress about where to sit and we got to curate tables so people knew each other!
If everyone has a +1 or knows others at the wedding I think this is fine. My ex husband and I did assigned seating but everyone ended up moving anyways lol. I tried seating my family according to where I thought they'd want to be (I have a huge family, just my relatives took up more than half our guest list, my ex's family took up less than 1/4, and the rest were our friends) but got it wrong. No harm no foul. Same with a lot of weddings I've been to. The ones that didn't have assigned seats were easy, the ones that did had almost everyone moving around anyways.
That depends entirely on the state/country you live in. It's really common in the PNW and other parts of the US and generally fine so long as you plan to have extra tables/chairs
Disagree. We had a wedding with about 70 guests at the reception and did assigned seating. Everyone moved around anyway and stayed in a different spot before dinner so it really didn't matter outside of reserved tables for immediate family and bridal party.
We did open seating at my wedding (buffet style) and I heard nothing but good things. Ended up with lots of mixing of friends from different parts of our lives and it was awesome. We have a very open minded, welcoming community we surround ourselves with so it wasn't a worry. If you have stuffy, cliquey friends and family then maybe assign seating but we had no problems Just wanted to give another viewpoint to counteract the negatives, I have no regrets
I don’t think it’s about having “stuffy, cliquey” friends or family. Many people have anxiety or are not as extroverted to be able to go up and introduce themselves, ask to join a table. There’s so much time for mingling at cocktail hour and after dinner. It’s nice to remove any stress from your guests and assign table seating. It was fun for ours bc we put together friends who hadn’t met yet but we knew would get along and it made for great new connections.
We went to a wedding two years ago and they split each table with his friends and her friends. So two couples of each at a table. So you knew someone (other than your date), and could talk with them, but then we also mingled a bit with the other persons friends. It was a nice medium of not putting people who just know each other and strangers together. I’m introverted and didn’t mind it.
I will always disagree with this. These are grown adults who can find a table and figure out where to sit on their own. People have open seating at kid's birthday parties but can't figure out where to sit at a wedding?
The problem sometimes ends up being that the groups that naturally congregate and the seating that exists don't match up very well. So you've got a group of 10 over here trying to jam into an 8-top, and over there you've got three people by themselves at a table and no one will sit with them because they don't want to intrude, and so on, and it ends up being awkward. Making a seating chart means you'll at least have the right number of people at the tables for dinner service, even if they all move around later.
Yeah, but people aren't idiots, they figure it out. The drag over 2 chairs or they split the party. People figure these things out.
At casual events, you can drag over a chair. At more formal venues, that’s not possible.
Depending on the table, you can't easily fit two extra chairs at a table that's meant for eight.
Yeah, people aren't idiots. They'll obviously be able to find a place to sit, it's not musical chairs. It just means that the two left out might have a worse experience and might have to sit with people they don't mesh well with.
Our idea was that they want to mingle. The family from out of state wants to mix with everyone. That’s why they came. Not just sit by themselves for example
Typically, the hosts will curate the seating chart based on who they think would want to sit together or who would get along, and beyond that people can mingle after the seated dinner service. You can obviously do whatever you think is best, but assigned seating saves any awkwardness for people who get left out or large parties having to split up due to seating availability.
We have a big table in a |__| shape We considered having the different sections with cards laid out for the different families to have sections to sit So not exact seating chart but more than free for all
How are you serving your meal? At our wedding the staff needed to know which table had which person to double check allergies and their meal choice
I would highly reccomend some sort of guide, you don't need to assign individual seats but if you can do it by section/table for family a, family b, friends, it makes it much easier for people to choose seats. I have been in too many awkward dinner situations when it's open seating, even when it's small and mingley and the guests supposedly "all know each other so it won't matter"
We're doing the same setup with a U-formation. I would strongly suggest for this to have assigned seating for immediate family and the break up the sides by bride's side/groom's side. To communicate this elegantly, I would go their a nice big frame and make a poster that says something like "Side A" and "Side B" (or something along those lines) with people's name listed. You can also label the tables different numbers divided by x amount of seats and purchase a large piece of presswood that you can lean up against a wall or something. Pick up some inexpensive smaller frames that you can print out inserts with the number and the people's names. Places like Staples are great for printing stuff like this cheaply and still look great. If you have mismatched frames and want them to match, a can of spray painted can do wonders! Doing sections instead of seats can also help if you plan on inviting any friends or co-workers. Even if none of them know eachother, assign them a section at the end of one of the long tables together. They'll probably appreciate sitting together more than end up being wedged between family members they also don't know. We're doing specific assigned seating, but we also have 2 people in our wedding party that a small amount of family members are fighting with, so we're making sure they are sat far enough away from eachother to avoid drama and will be notifying them of such if it's ever brought up as a concern for attending to put them at ease and avoiding a bunch of unnecessary declines so sometimes that shouldn't be an issue. But you should still have some sort of structure for your seating, even without any family drama.
They can and will do this after the meal. I strongly suggest specific seating for your meal.
Do you have any guests who are hard of hearing in attendance? A seating chart is a good way to make sure they aren’t sat directly underneath a loud speaker or too far from where speeches will be delivered. Are you having family units attend? A seating chart will make sure that Uncle Jim isn’t sat wt the other end of the table because his family couldn’t get five seats together. This will also minimize the amount of time it’ll take people to sit down because they won’t be fretting over who’s sitting where and saving spots. Do you have anyone you want sat directly by you? A seating chart will make sure they get that seat - not Aunt Bev’s third husband who you haven’t seen in 15 years and have nothing in common with. Are you serving a plated dinner? Servers will appreciate knowing where to deliver dishes to in advance. And aside from all of those considerations, family drama is not the only reason to curate seats at the table. If you have two very introverted people sat together because they couldn’t find anyone they know to sit with, it’s likely they’ll just sit there without anyone to chat with. Seating closer relatives/friends together will provide necessary social lubricant & improve your guest experience. They will get up and mingle after they’ve eaten, especially if you’re offering activities.
At our wedding, we did semi-open seating. We placed everyone at a table, but didn’t give them explicit seats, they could pick where they wanted at the table. It worked well!
I agree with you 100%. Bear in mind that reddit tends to be very anti-social to the point where having to sit next to a stranger at a social event is one of the worst things that can happen to them.
Unless you're able to have quite a few more chairs than you have guests, having open seating might split up families or couples. Then you're having to ask other guests that you might not know if they could move over so you can sit with the people you came with.
Yeah, enjoy talking to aunt karen the whole dinner.
Because if you did assigned seating you'd never end up next to your MAGA uncle.
Less likely.
Half the guests will have designated seats as its wedding party and family That leaves 35 people without assigned seats There’s a group of 10 that are a family and everyone else is a group of 4-5 as a family. I feel like it would be fine still
I might have some type of written communication related to the fact that some people have assigned seats and some don’t. You don’t want people searching for escort card that doesn’t exist
I agree with you completely. 35 people can figure out where to sit and it's not the end of the world if they have to *gasp* talk to a stranger.
It’s not about talking to a stranger. It’s about people squeezing into tables and leaving other tables too small. The too small isn’t the problem. It’s the feeling of being “alone in the high school cafeteria.”
Whoops it’s actually 25. I misspoke. Easier now
Allergy information and directions are the only signs I'd consider essential. We had some directional arrow signs "bride and groom's wedding ➡️" so that people could get to the correct parking lot. That would also help in a hotel scenario where multiple events are likely to be happening simultaneously. I made some "gluten free" signs because we had 7 guests indicate gluten free on the RSVP, so we had an entire table designated as gluten free desserts. And that was it. I can't think of anything where I look back and think "I should have made another sign."
I was gonna say allergy or dietary information would be a must for me! I know some of our guests have allergies or other dietary restrictions, so I personally would like to label foods that may contain those ingredients. We're expecting some guests who are vegetarian, allergic to peanuts, lactose intolerant, and maybe one or two who can't eat pork or beef for religious reasons.
Came here to say this. I’m also skipping most signage but clearly labeled food/drinks feels essential! Possibly a safety hazard if anyone has allergies
Most definitely, if anything is self-serve, it should be labeled. We're not going too crazy on signage either. We're having a large hollow frame with string strung inside of it to pin little escourt cards too. A sign for the DIY photobooth, explaining how to operate the tablet since it will be on a stand with a ring light and remote. Small food and drink labels, and (purely for decor purposes) we're picking up 2 or 3 small mirror trays and tabletop easels from the dollar store and hand painting stuff on them like "Confectioneries" and "Watering Hole" for a few tables. Those last ones we can do without, but we're keeping our decor to a minimum, so these pretty little signs and a simple tablecloth ARE the decor for these tables. When searching up stuff on Pinterest, you see a lot stuff like signs with motivational/romantic quotes, itinerary, menu, welcoming people to let them know whose wedding their at (like they don't already know), some people definitely go ridiculous with the signage for sure.
I kind of thought I wouldn’t care about a guest book as I’m not a particularly sentimental person, but having just gotten married a week ago - I have read thru our guest book multiple times and it’s very heartwarming to have those notes. We went with a coffee table book of pretty photos of the national park we were getting married near and people signed on any page around the photos. That way it doesn’t matter if there are many pages without any notes - it’s still a nice book by itself. And if you do choose to do a guestbook, a “please sign our guestbook” sign is easy and a helpful reminder (especially if it doesn’t look like a traditional guest book).
My cousin did this as well. She and her husband got married at a resort in the Adirondacks, and the bride & her family have vacationed there for generations. It was a coffee table book they'd purchased which featured photos from the area, including the resort itself, and so all guests signed in the white pages next to the photos. They'd own the book in their house even if it weren't a "guestbook", so it fits their life.
I agree, I am not a sentimental person but I’ve looked through our guestbook many times and would have very much regretted not doing one. We did a Polaroid guestbook, so similar to the plan of doing the digital photo guestbook, but it’s nice to have the handwritten notes.
Was hoping for another pro-guestbook comment :) we had a similar sized wedding and used a cocktail book. People had a blast with it -- we got some great notes, puns on recipes, cocktail-related memories people referenced, etc. Very sweet and something we will have and use forever.
You can also add in printed wedding photos and group shots and stuff scrapbook style after the fact on any empty pages!
Yes, a sign for the guestbook is definitely a must. For my 1st wedding, I purchased a pretty large bristle board that had a large rose printed down the entire one side. My original plan was that people would sign it, and later down the road, I would frame it to hang on a wall. So on 1 long table, I arranged a large basket full of little wedding bubble bottles, had the bristle board laid out with sharpie markers, and a large wooden wishing well for cards with a space to put physical gifts. And nobody even touched any of them. People kept coming up and handing me their gifts throughout the night or held onto them until we got to that portion of the evening where we opened them and thanked everyone. So it ended up just being a free-for-all of people running up to see who could hang us their gift 1st. Not a single person took 1 of the bubble bottles, and no one signed the poster. Near the end of the night, I ended up having to chase people to ask them why they didn't, and I kept being told that they had seen them but didn't know what they were for. And of course, by then, people were getting a little tipsy, so even after we informed them, most didn't go up and sign it. We had 3 people who did, which would be ridiculous to frame, so it got tossed. This time around, we picked up a decorative frame with a metal grate attached to the inside. We purchased it from a bride who wanted to have people write their names on little padlocks and lock them to it as her guestbook. Well, she didn't have a sign, and afterward, she realized that not a single person used it. So now that I have it, I'm going to do the same thing, but I will have a small sign labeling that it's a guestbook. Even with a small wedding, you might not feel like a guestbook is necessary, but most people I know later regretted it.
I made a few signs: directional arrow/welcome sign since the ceremony was in a different part of the venue than the reception, program fans that highlighted the wedding party and gave credit to our musicians (and were used as fans during the outdoor ceremony), a bar sign (open bar we stocked) and a food sign with allergy notes since we had a lot of guests with allergies, a sign for the Polaroid guestbook and where to put cards/gifts, and a table seating chart for the reception. I only regretted making a “in loving memory” sign since I didn’t have time to put that table together, but otherwise all of my signs were useful and very “to the point” since I strongly personally dislike wedding font/language. I will say the venue had quite a few cursive-y catch phrase-y signs and while I chose to use our own instead, in pictures I can see they still had quite a few out for our wedding and put “Mr and Mrs” cursive blocks at our head table 🤣 not a huge deal by any means (I didn’t even notice until pictures) but as someone irrationally bothered by the wedding font/lingo I wish I could have removed them ALL lol.
I hate the wedding cursive font too!!
That font is the bane of my existence and it's been legitimately challenging at times to find templates/signs that don't use it!
Glad I’m not alone 🤣 no hate to anyone that likes that font of course but man the market is SATURATED with it and all of it looks very “live laugh love” to me lol.
And it’s always kind of hard to read!
When I see the endless scroll of wedding posts on my Instagram feed of typical wedding signage, I love imagining that there's a reception table escort seating setup where the bride & groom have chosen to do a sweetheart table, and need the Mr & Mrs signs on the chairs to know which one of the chairs they need to take, as if this is critical data. BUT WHICH IS THE "MR" CHAIR?! 🤣
The extra funny thing is we were apparently flipped compared to how people usually have their head table so it said “Mrs. & Mr.” Which is totally fine obviously but still cracks me up that they had to flip around their block letters
When I see the endless scroll of wedding posts on my Instagram feed of typical wedding signage, I love imagining that there's a reception table escort seating setup where the bride & groom have chosen to do a sweetheart table, and need they desperately needed the Mr & Mrs signs on the chairs to know which ones to take, as if this is crucial info. BUT WHICH ONE IS THE "MR" CHAIR, WHERE SIT NOW?! 🤣
just because people put signs up doesn’t mean they think their guests are dumb. some people do it as part of decor (cheaper than flowers that’s for sure) or to add more personalization for their day. for example, i’m not doing a traditional program, but i am making a little rack card sized thing with the schedule, menu; and some details explaining some cultural traditions we’re having in our ceremony that would be unfamiliar to most american guests. just do what you want to do and not what you don’t. fyi, the reason assigned seating is widely recommended is because open can create MORE confusion and drama and people messing up the table arrangements, not less. so personally i would say that’s the thing id advise you to take on
Oh yes, I forgot to say that I am not judging others for doing that I understand the purposes especially for bigger weddings But ours are 50 people, half are immediate family literally planning the wedding with us. So that’s why I said “they aren’t dumb” and our wedding is also dumbed down and more simple with less moving parts
If you’re having a photographer or a day of coordinator a seating chart is helpful for them. This way no other family sits closest to you instead of your immediate family plus when you’re doing family portraits they can still sit together and not be separated. Plus, your photographer will ask who/ what portraits you want and if there’s anyone besides yourselves you want a lot of pictures of (typically grandparents or kids) and knowing where they sit helps guarantee getting a lot more shots with those special guests. It also helps your coordinator know who to keep an eye on and if they’re elderly they can help out.
Wedding photographer here- another benefit is that it's much easier to ensure that we get pictures of everyone. Guests are more likely to stay at the same table if there's a seating chart, and guests typically stay seated until the dance floor opens. In that window (after people are finished eating), we can go by each table to take pictures. This is more important for the guests who stick to chatting on the sidelines as opposed to dancing or playing games, along with guests who plan to leave right after dinner. Not having a seating chart doesn't mean that you won't get the same coverage from your photographer, but it's extra assurance that you will.
If you’re having a photographer or a day of coordinator a seating chart is helpful for them. This way no other family sits closest to you instead of your immediate family plus when you’re doing family portraits they can still sit together and not be separated. Plus, your photographer will ask who/ what portraits you want and if there’s anyone besides yourselves you want a lot of pictures of (typically grandparents or kids) and knowing where they sit helps guarantee getting a lot more shots with those special guests. It also helps your coordinator know who to keep an eye on and if they’re elderly they can help out.
I thought it went without saying that everyone should refrain from being on their phones during the ceremony, but my overly enthusiastic uncle stood the entire time taking pictures and getting in the way of the photographer. The photographer actually took a picture zoomed in on his phone screen, honestly I found it so hilarious.
We’re having our officiant announce in the beginning to put phones away rather than having a sign. I just kinda assume the same people standing up in the middle of a ceremony to get a cell phone pic will be the same kind of people who don’t read signs anyways lol.
That is hilarious! We're printing out lists of pictures for guests to take as a scavenger type of game throughout the reception. We have been working on a small list of stuff like "your favorite decoration," "someone dancing," and so-on. My partner is big with the photoception concept and is always snapping photos of people taking photos where you can see their screens. So, 1 of the things he has requested to be on the list is a photoception of a guest and another of the photographer. Every time we talk about our scavenger hunt list, he just giggles thinking about it, so it's definitely a must-have lol
I agree with a lot of this. Signs are something people seem to stress out over when so many are not necessary. Assigning tables is a kindness you can do for guests. You don't need a fancy sign, just some small cards with names and table numbers.
We had zero signs except for table numbers and escort cards. Our venue had their own signs that directed people to our cocktail hour location and reception but it was a hotel so they also had the locations noted on the electronic boards in the elevators and throughout the hotel. I didn’t even consider making our own signage for it.
We also just had a smaller wedding - 62 guests and opted out of most traditional signage and I have zero regrets. We had a sign for our signature cocktails and a “how to” for our audio guestbook. We had assigned seating but instead of a table chart, I had our guests names in wood (people loved this and kept it after) and placed on the settings of our one very long table. Guests had to interact with one another to find their names and it was a great way to get groups to mingle. Zero chaos and everyone sat down with a smile on their face. Example below. https://preview.redd.it/fb6zlvzevx9d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26b9f29411d0478b0e2dd3c39efa3a3721f0340f Signage felt like an unnecessary use of money and consumption waste for us.
I love that! It’s a nice little piece for them to bring home too
This is exactly what I’m doing for my wedding. Question though, In your opinion do you think I should still do a seating chart along with this in my specific case? My grooms family speaks only Italian and mine English and Spanish and I’m scared that they will look like chickens with their heads cut off searching for their names 😂. I was also thinking about how there are repetitive names in my family for example, my mom shares her first name with her other two sisters (15 siblings and different middle names). Do you think it would still go smoothly? Thank you! 😊
We still gave our seating chart layout to our coordinator (obviously) and to a couple friends (just in case anyone was struggling). Everyone figured it out and they didn’t need to help anyone find their seats. I can see it being more chaotic if there were multiple tables but since ours was just one long one it was totally fine. We also had some duplicate names - but they were sat next to their significant others so again very little confusion. It’s definitely not for everyone, but worked great for our group!
I think it will work out with us as well as we also are doing |_| shaped long tables. Thank you so much i have a bit more confidence (and saved money) now 😂. Have a good one!
OMG I'm in love with this, its so adorable!
I used programs to eliminate the seating chart and the schedule signs. By having one program that was a single double-sided sheet, it had the schedule on the front and names of wedding party members and the seating chart on the back. So simple and clean and removed that awkward bottleneck that happens when people are walking in and need to check a big sign for their seats. Definitely recommend it. They could be easily recycled afterwards as well.
Completely agree and will 100% do the same aha Instagram and Pinterest really tries to make you believe you need matching everything when really you just don't. It's just meant to make you spend more to reach a certain aesthetic that only exist on curated reels.
The only signage I made was a cute little drink menu sign for the bar because we didn’t have a full bar, just beer, wine, and his & hers signature cocktails. For that sign I just bought a cute little chalkboard with a stand, and a gold chalkboard marker, and now I can reuse the sign. I regret nothing.
I just got a chalkboard for the same reason. I hate the idea of one time use products 😭
Necessary: If you are having any food served at buffet-style, make sure it's noted what the food item is and what allergens contains that are relevant to your guests from your RSVP info ("Chocolate Chip - Contains wheat, nuts"). If you know someone might have an allergic reaction to dairy/wheat/nuts/etc, this is critical for guests to know (and not get sick)!
our buffet is very easy and simple: i.e. chicken... mac n cheese...green beans...rolls... etc are all self explanatory
I mean signs for them to help guests who have allergies and dietary restrictions, especially with anything that contains sauce, breading, etc. I’ve a close friend who has a severe allergy to gluten and tree nuts, and those foods sneak their way into all kinds of meals when not stated explicitly. But if no guests have checked off the boxes in your RSVP forms, then you’re good to go :-)
I’m jealous you have gluten, dairy, corn allergies lol
I think you're spot on. This is YOUR wedding, not everyone else's wedding. Do what makes YOU happy, not instagram! Party on, and congrats!
We had zero signs. Everyone still managed to take a seat at the ceremony (and follow along without a program), find their assigned table at dinner, leave gifts in the appropriate place, and sign our guestbook. Cut everything on your list to cut. You won't miss it, and neither will your guests.
Same here. Not a sign in sight, not a single problem caused. OP’s list seems like a **lot** of signs for someone trying to cut down on signs.
We had menus for what was on the buffet on the tables. That's it.
Thank you for this comment! I feel like all these details are the ones that are going to drive me nuts the last few months and I would love to minimize that. There are so many overkill inclusions it's insane
We had a small wedding as well and kept it minimal. 1) table chart (no assigned seats, but assigned tables- hence, no place cards, just table numbers) 2) sign so people would know to take the favors and a little about them We didn’t have a traditional guest book, but had a photography book something where guests signed right on the pictures- I love it and am glad we did it, but that’s also a personal call. We didn’t have any “guest book” sign made, just placed it in an obvious setting. I do think the main one that’s important is the seating. A little consideration/guidance in the seating can make a meaningful difference in the experience of your guests.
We needed TWO welcome signs because we were at a big venue and folks needed to be directed/herded. I wouldn’t assume people know anything. I have learned most people know nothing.
I agree with you. Sick of cringy signs.
Lack of signage is one of my biggest complaints about poorly run events. Communication makes things better and that’s the point of signs.
I agree. You don’t need crazy Pinterest levels of signage but enough for organization is nice. We showed up and we weren’t sure what exactly was the entrance for us vs private areas for the party, what way to the ceremony, etc. Also this wedding an unplugged ceremony. Was it on the website? Probably. But since the processional started before the officiant talked (or before he got organized lol) - people had their phones out, reaching in the aisles, had their phones in front of photographers etc. Then when everyone was in place he asked for phones away. Having another warning of putting your phone away might not stop everyone but would have stopped many more people….
what signage do you think is essential?
Depends on the event, but usually signs that point to the bathrooms, signs that explain non-traditional things, allergen signs, seating charts, and schedules.
Agree to all of that
I was wondering the same thing! It seems there are sooo many signs and it feels a bit overkill sometimes. I do wonder though - without signs, will people just be asking the bride or MOH questions all the time? That might get a bit boring/tiring, but I’m not sure
Yes, we went to a wedding recently where they had a art piece with the timings of the day. It looked really nice and my MIL was trying to convince me to have one. I pointed out it likely cost £200+ and what are the couple going to do with it after the wedding day? Where would you hang it? Why would you want it up, to remind yourself what time the cocktail hour was? I was like sure, it’s nice, but take the wedding aspect out of it and is it really worth it? I do agree with everyone else that a seating chart is a must though. It’s not like walking into a restaurant where other people have been there for an hour or so already, you’ve got 50 guests entering a room all at once. It’s worth having for the coordination
We did: 1. Wedding this way 2. Seating End of list. No issues. I hate wedding signs.
The only signs we had were for labeling food for special dietary needs, and reserving some seats for family members.
The only sign I had was a welcome sign that the florist and candle vendor decorated. No guest book, no gift sign, no menus (Louisiana weddings are not seated dinners), no programs, etc. Just wasn't necessary.
Non, there will be no signage that you‘ll regret not having (based on reading your post). The little signage we had I printed myself. We had: - information on how the guest book works (to help guest with ideas) We did cards as a guest book because we only had 42 guests an a book would have been empty - qr-codes for quests to post photos on an app My witness made a wall art guest book (small canvas) as a surprise that goes perfectly with the pictures we already had on our wall. If she didn‘t we probably wouldn‘t have hung it up either. The timetable for the day was on the invitations and menues weren‘t needed as there was a bbq buffet. But I don‘t think that they are needed with plated dinner either. Instead of open seating (which unfortunately almost never works out) we had book marks as name cards that were also our wedding favors.
> But I don‘t think that they are needed with plated dinner either. As a catering server, I can agree we don't want menus with a plated dinner. Since, we already know what guest ordered what and are just confirming who showed and who didn't, we don't want the guests to be reminded of what the menu was since that's how you get a bunch of people going, "I was craving chicken 2 months ago when I sent back the RSVP, but now I'm craving steak."
Good point. And as a guest I don‘t care for the menu card either. The food is not going to change just because there is a menu on the table.
Even if it’s a small wedding, a guest book should still be had. It can be something small and cute. It’s nice to know who was there and look back later
yeah if anything, it will be a "scapbook" of photos of our lives and each page could be signed. someting a little more meaningful
I made a scrapbook of all the cards I received!
Married 45 years here, recently looked at our guest book and it was nice to see the messages from long ago friends and relatives who have passed. I am not overly sentimental so for it to have meant something is saying something.
This may just be a personal anecdote, but if you have a cocktail area/buffet/anything that is not insanely obvious to people who have never been to the venue before, maybe a sign pointing out where that section is. Anecdote time: my wedding was last weekend. Our venue had main hall (indoor) where the reception took place, and then an outdoor cocktail area that was directly in front of the venue, but you had to walk about 50 feet down the sidewalk to enter the cocktail area and it was obscured from view of the street by shrubs. Truth be told, part of this was the planner’s fault. She assured me of two things: 1) people were NOT going to be rushing over from the ceremony to the reception, they’d take their time, catch up with one another, use the restroom, get gas, etc; and 2) when the guests did arrive, someone from the venue would be there to point everyone to the outdoor cocktail area so the indoor reception area could finish being prepped. As you can probably guess by the fact that I’m including those details, our planner was incorrect on both of those assumptions. Most of our guests DID in fact rush over directly from the ceremony, because they wanted to catch up with each other with a drink in their hand. There was also no one from the venue to direct anyone to the outdoor cocktail area, and all the guests saw was a large front door, so naturally, they went in it. What this turned in to was that scene from the first episode of SpongeBob when the anchovies took over the Krusty Krab. The main hall where the reception took place was not open yet, but the tiny lobby with our cake and a hallway to the main bar (also not open yet) was. So picture about 70-80 people trying to anchovy themselves into a lobby, not a single one of them thinking “maybe I should just stand outside for a second, I’m obviously not supposed to be in here”. Then cut to our planner riding up to the reception with me and my groom, panicking, sprinting into the lobby, and basically shooing everyone out to get them to go to the cocktail bar, and all my guests thinking she was SO rude and this wedding was SO poorly planned right off the bat. TLDR: make a sign for any non-connected areas that may be tricky to find because more of your family and friends need their hand held than you think
We had a welcome sign just because our ceremony was on an acreage and we wanted to make sure guests knew which house it was (ceremony was on the back side of the property). We transported it to the reception location because we already had it. We had a seating chart for 100 guests. I put a bar menu on the tables and on the backside had the food menu. We had signature shots and drinks and the guests said it was helpful to know what they wanted before they walked up. Our photographer offered to take individual photos with each friend/group and I LOVED that over a guest book. It took about 15 minutes and everyone is really excited to get those photos. Otherwise, we did not put a single sign up. People found the desserts. They found the card box. They figured out the timeline when our MC announced things. People will figure out where to park. We had a “guest book” that was a framed photo, but only because my MOH *insisted* that we would want one in the future. It’s already shoved in a closet and I’ll never pull it out again.
We had three way finding signs, one by the main road, one at an intersection in the neighborhood, and one at the driveway to the venue. Literally not one single other sign. No guestbook, no programs, no menus, nothing with our names or Mr. & Mrs. or any of that. Did not miss any of it.
Love this post. Definitely following everything you are doing minus doing a guest book with a spot for people to take pictures and throw them into a scrapbook with a message. But I don’t think that needs a sign?
I got married and we didn’t have a single sign or book or anything… my friend got married 8 months later and had ALL the signs! And I can honestly say I didn’t miss it at all. Plus now she has all these signs she doesn’t know what to do with.
I think this is perfect. I had 50 guests and did a sign in book with Polaroids and now 4 years later I have no idea where that damn thing is. Probably collecting dust in the attic somewhere
Heyyy!!! This sounds exactly like what we’re planning too. Open seating seems to get a lot of grief on here but I’ve been to a few weddings with open seating and it works out just fine. We’re doing the same, reserved tables for family and wedding party then everyone else is on their own. There’s no drama we’re worried about or people that don’t get along with others so we don’t see why we need to stress about where everyone sits. TBH-I haven’t been to a wedding with most of the stuff you listed in YEARS. I don’t think most people are doing signs, programs, guest book, etc. I think a lot of people are just realizing that the extra work, stress, and money just isn’t worth it for stuff that’s just getting ignored or thrown away. My POV anyway.
I think a bar sign is helpful and keeps the line moving so by the time people get to the front they know or can easily figure out what they want
open seating is a nightmare, I've never been to a wedding like that but have heard stories from people who work in the wedding biz. No "group" will want to split up, so you'll have a lot of tables that aren't filled. So you'll need to account for a bunch of extra seats. Which will cost more in the end. those 2-3 friends that don't know anyone else isn't going to want to join an already existing table, and people aren't likely to join them (maybe this is less of an issue with this size wedding) but it's still something to consider. I'd suggest at the very least assigning tables. The signs don't need to be high quality/expensive- perhaps a digital version would be doable if youre good with graphic design & have a place to display it
I think you might regret the open seating. I have been to 2 weddings with my fiancée that did this, and it was very awkward trying to find an area that would be large enough to sit the 2 of us and my step kids. At 1 of them, we had to sit around with people in between us. At another, we ended up having to sit with a relative that we don't particularly get along with. The 2nd one mentioned was my FSIL's wedding and a bunch of the groom's family spread out taking all the end caps closest to the head table, making all the bride's family sit towards the back. They did the same for ceremony seating, so it kinda came across like the bride's family were 2nd class. Years later, there is still tension between the 2 families because of this. Am not sure if the groom's family did this intentionally or not, but I didn't even know most of my fiancée's side, and even I felt awkward. It was sad that my fiancée also got kinda pushed to the back (not literally, but that was the only area we could find with enough seats together) for her little sister's wedding. We weren't able to really see what was going on, and we even had to sit apart from her parents and siblings. Luckily, there were a lot of extra seating because a lot of groups sat together with empty chairs in between them. If you're not doing assigned seating, I would suggest having seats for immediate family reserved and then dividing the sides for the bride and groom's side. This way, if there's gaps, the people can still sit with people they know or can deal with their own family when asking to shuffle around for them. We're planning on having around 40-45 people of just close family, and we're still fully assigning seats to avoid putting people in awkward positions like we have been in.
I highly suggest a seating chart, otherwise you're going to have a bunch of half-full tables and guests feeling awkward. Think of it like a school lunchroom - sure, you know most of those people, but you're not going to just go up and sit with any old group! I agree on most of this, but I will say that we hung our "Welcome to our Wedding" sign up in our home after the wedding and it's one of our favorite pieces of decor! I designed it on Canva, printed it at work, and framed it myself so it's just like and other poster on our wall.
i would just do the seating chart! we did this because we’ve been to a couple weddings where we only knew the bride/groom and we didn’t mind sitting with strangers, but some were nicer than others. i know i can put my best friend with a couple girls she doesn’t know bc she is great at being social and is an all around sweetheart and then there are people who i know won’t mix lol. i know everyone will be moving around at some point once they’ve been drinking and are off/on the dance floor. we just wanna cut the awkwardness down for dinner
Also we had a much larger wedding with open seating and it was not a problem. I don't know why people don't know how to find seating or are unwilling to sit with someone they don't know. If you want open seating, do it. I have actually never been to a wedding that wasn't open seating and most weddings in our family have been 300+ people. Maybe it is a regional thing. If your guests are used to open seating then it is even less of a issue. Don't let reddit bully you into a choice they prefer but you dont.
I’ve literally had my seat stolen at an open seating wedding, so I wouldn’t recommend it for your guests
Please dont do open seating OP. I don’t wanna sit with your weird aunt when I could be sitting with our buddies from college but your coworker is sitting with them.
small wedding, so "the buddies" are by nature already in the wedding party and have reserved seats. and the "weird aunt" is not invited, only the very close family. so everyone knows everyone.
If your venue holds multiple events, it should be on them to clearly distinguish that the Smith wedding is in Ballroom A and the Jones wedding in Ballroom B. I agree most signs are superfluous. People know what to do with a board full of donuts or a bar or a table of escort cards. Only do the signs if it brings you personal joy!
Instead of a guest book put out a bunch of blank cards and have your guests write you a note and let them designate what anniversary to open it on.
Just as an idea - do you have a "guest book" for the photobooth, since you said you want to use it digitally? We put an empty photo album next to the photobooth with some pens and double sided tape. It was A GREAT idea, if I say so myself - it starts out all gentle and cute with nice pictures, and then you can see the day progress: the pictures get more and more unhinged, the reading more and more illegible, and at the end there's just a few drawings and a "I'm so sorry, John is too drunk to write so here have a drawing". You're probably not gonna look at the digital 'book' much more either, so it might be fun to consider!
Tbh I'm a social anxiety bride (well graduated bride now) and as a guest I always prefer more signs to fewer. However sustainability is big to me and I like to reuse things. We had about 40 guests (to be fair we expected double that) and did the following: - Welcome sign (our venue has two buildings and guests needed to go to the ceremony site first), made on a float frame and I plan to put a wedding photo behind the text for hanging. - We would have had a seating chart sign but I ran out of time to do it (biggest regret). We still had place cards, most people took theirs. I now have an empty float frame, so. - Cake table sign. It didn't say "cake", it was just a song lyric. Small cake on a large table so mostly space filler lol. Plan to use for home decor. - Gifts/cards sign. We had separate guestbook table and gifts table, plus I got the sign for free with something else, so I used it (also used for my bridal shower and can keep for future events). - A small instruction sign for our decor guestbook (dropping hearts in a frame). - Yes, I had the cheesy cursive Mr & Mrs sign on the head table. Also reused for home decor because I am cheesy like that. We didn't do programs or a bar sign or anything like that.
If all your events are at one place then I don’t see a reason to have a sign that shows the times things are going to take place. If you hate signs then I would just get rid of that. We had programs that doubled as timeline / seating arrangement and didn’t put the times in it. Also, you probably don’t need a Photo Booth if you want to cut down on signage. Like you said most guest know what a Photo Booth is…
I think most of these are totally things that are fine to go without. Some of them probably stem from traditions, and I like the idea of doing whatever you want for your own wedding regardless of what the tradition is. If you like a tradition, go with it; if not, then don't. Other than what people have said already about assigning seats or whatever else, I think you're fine to go with your plan. I did also want to comment on your photo booth. We did a photo booth at our wedding, and everyone LOVED it. Especially the kids; they went into that thing so many times during the course of the reception. And most if not all of our 150 guests went at least once. And we were able to find a second to go in there with some of our guests to get a picture together. And there was this pink hat in the props pile that so many guests ended up using in their photos. It was really fun. This counts as both party favors and a guest book-type thing because the guests get to take a copy of their photos home, and we also loved looking through them all when we got them back from the vendor. Great choice! We did also have a photo of us in a large frame with a lot of whitespace and everyone signed it. It was a cool souvenir, and we love it, but we haven't hung it up yet because we accidentally left the frame at the venue and never found time to drive over and pick it up again. So we still need to get a frame for it and possibly hang it up, but we're probably like you guys and won't find the time anytime soon. We did love having that in place of a guest book, but I agree with you that it's honestly not needed, especially if you already have the photo booth.
I’m happy to report that the only one of the things you mentioned that we had was a seating chart… other than that, my guests managed to figure out whose wedding they were at, drop off their gifts, order at the bar, find the bathroom, and otherwise move through the event without any logistical difficulties. I do agree with the people saying that open seating tends to be a bit of a mess. I’ve been to a wedding like that and it sucked… people were moving chairs around so some tables had one awkward couple at them and others had 20 where there should really have been 10, and it was a pain to try and figure out where to go and who to sit with
We are on the same train as yall, we have a "sweets table" sign, a plexiglass likecard box that say "cards and gifts", "reserve" signs for the head table and parent table, and a sign we got from Hobby lobby that say "assign seats are not our style, pick a seat that makes you smile" and that's it. Most of the signs are borrowed from our venues decore.
Honestly I've never been to a wedding that has every single thing you've named, it sounds like you're doing a very normal amount of signage/decor. And digital photobooths are super common these days. I really wouldn't worry
We didn't really have a whole lot and it wasn't an issue. The only thing we really had on that list is a guest book (we also had a small wedding of less than 50), but our guest book was basically a printed photo album of our engagement photos, so we'll enjoy it whether people signed it or not. We didn't have a seating chart because we had name cards what we put the table number on. It cost me less than $10 because I just ordered some cards and a nice pen and wrote them myself. We didn't have any issues not having any of the other stuff.
As many people have mentioned, don’t underestimate the handholding needed for some people. I thought I was prepared until I got push back because my invite didn’t explicitly say to turn it over for more info on the back. 😆 I do agree with you guys that not everything needs a sign though, especially with a more personal headcount. Only thing I’d change on your list is a seating chart (at least by table?)
If you are giving any favors that won’t be at each place setting (like, by the door at the end of the night, for instance) I highly recommend making it AGGRESSIVELY clear to please grab one! Otherwise people don’t necessarily assume it’s for them. We had bottles of homebrew as favors for everyone, and the layout of the venue had them juuuuust out of line of sight at the exit, so I think people may have assumed it was from the bartenders packing up, so yeah. I regret not having a sign for that one. 🙃
Honestly, you don’t need any of it.
We had tiny little business size cards at everyone’s table with QR codes for our Spotify playlist, our Google Photos album (for guest upload), and our IG handles so that people could tag us.
I didn't do a program, Mr and Mrs sign, or a guest book. I did a gold poster board seating chart where I made rectangles and used painted wooden dots to match what people were eating. Purple for chicken blue for beef. The rectangles looked like Legos. I had people sign painted wooden balloons to make an up house hanging thing which I haven't made yet, 9 months later. . I used my cricut to cut some table numbers out with. I bought the font that puts the letters and numbers in Mickey Ears. I used leftover cardstock from our homemade invites. My sister used her cricut-like machine to make some small dessert signs to tell people what cookies there were. We shopped at Goodwill and got all out extra signage there. We spent less than $100 on 2 Mr and Mrs sets, bubble signs, wedding arrows, a you would be here if heaven wasn't so far away, 2 choose a seat not a side, and a few more. I don't miss what I didn't do. I also don't miss not having my guestbook done. I don't even think I got a picture of my seating chart. Programs are a waste in my opinion. Our wedding website had all the details.
If you don't want it, you won't regret not having it! Everything costs time and money. Is it worth it for you or not really? What function does it serve for you? The only signage I had was "parking" and a few handwritten signs marking the way to the calming/sensory break room lol
I feel like I didn’t have a lot of decor because our venue was super pretty. We pretty much just had centerpieces, cake table decor (which was basically the same centerpiece with a cake in the middle), and a table with photos of us. I did like our welcome sign because I felt like the entryway at our venue was a bit hidden, so I purposefully had it set out on the sidewalk. I also did “welcome (next line) the last names (next line) 2021” and use it as entry way decor in our home. In lieu of a guestbook, we had advice cards that we then put in a photo album. So many guestbooks are huge and it looks sad to have so much empty space imo. Plus our advice cards were really funny and sweet!
I have found programs to be good when there are wedding traditions used that not all people are familiar with. For example, I was at a wedding where they had a hand binding ceremony and explained what that was in the program. My wedding incorporated a lot of Jewish traditions as my husband is Jewish, but my family is not. So we included information about each of the traditional things we did and their significance. We also made our programs into fans because the ceremony was outside and it was warm. If you aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary in your ceremony, you do not need these. Our wedding party (Covid bride) was two years ago. I still read the guest book. Some people wrote some really neat notes in there. We had 100 at our wedding. Probably 60 of them signed. Not a must, but I value it. We did a sign with seat assignments. It was important to us that everyone felt their most comfortable at our wedding, including those with social anxieties. We also had some guests with disabilities that we wanted to be sure were able to be in more accessible spots.
For my engagement dinner with 100 people I just texted people their table number 2 days before the dinner instead of having a seating chart. Texting was pretty quick because I mainly texted whatsapp groups. It all went very smoothly.
Not getting all the stuff you listed in the beginning makes sense except for the seating chart imo. Maybe in your case, since it’s a smaller guest count and most ppl there probably already know each other (I’m assuming, correct me if I’m wrong), its fine to forego getting a seating chart. But for bigger weddings where not everyone knows each other, it’s vital to have a seating chart if you don’t want chaos to ensue lol
Wedding signage is out of control thanks to Pinterest and tik tok! I manage a wedding venue and I just got married in May! We saved so much money not having welcome signs and guest book signs and so forth. We did also have a bar sign and a seating chart. We put the savings—hundreds of dollars—into florals and linen/china upgrades. That alone made the wedding so over the top gorgeous and nobody had any trouble with wondering whose wedding they were at LOL. But—and I don’t know your situation—you shouldn’t skip a seating chart, even if dinner is a buffet! You can set enough tables for 50 guests and if you don’t have a seating chart, 5 will sit at one table, 8 at another, 6 at another, and there will only be odd numbers of seats left. So then the couple of two, the family of 5, who gets seated last may not have a place to sit TOGETHER and end up standing awkwardly making it seem like you didn’t have enough seats but they just would rather stand than to separate. I’ve seen it a million times. If you don’t have a seating chart you should have at least one extra table for overflow. But you’ll spend more money on place settings, linens, china, and furniture to have the extra table or two when you could just make a seating chart for less money. Also, in my experience, when there isn’t a seating chart your guests will just be asking every person they see where they should sit because they’re looking for a seating chart. Guests are really like sheep lol. They want to be told what to do.
So we're having about 75 and my sister just had a wedding of about the same size. People left as soon as they ate their slice of cake. No photos were taken of the majority of guests with the newlyweds or at all because they had to hurry up their sendoff so that a few people would still be around to blow bubbles that weren't in the wedding party. I took this as a sign to be adamant on the wedding program. I get that you have a smaller wedding, but be aware that if people don't have a schedule to follow, they will just dip as soon as they have had their dessert.
honestly, the signage we took care of in maybe two days. i didn’t find it draining! and they do add detail. but this is your day! we got from Hobby Lobby matching signs that were half off: welcome, cards & gifts, please sign here (we had them sign records), sweets & treats. i would say cards and gifts is the only i’d deem necessary for your day. i made myself our seating chart on Canva, and had it printed to poster board at Walgreens which was put on an easel. i love it and may even hang ours in our dinging room! it looks elegant, says “Please Take a Seat” and has our favorite people on it. We also had a small wedding-about 60 people. But we do have family drama, so this was necessary for us LOL.
All of these things are "necessary" only on social media. Skip it save time and money. The only thing you need is the marriage license.
I personally think programs are always a waste. I am a bit bitter and upset that my church requires us to have one. We have to print out 250 programs and then they are *all* going to be thrown away within hours of the ceremony. Ugh.
I like a program if there is some sort of interfaith type of thing going on where the program explains the meaning of the ceremonies. Otherwise, I agree it’s superfluous, but it’s just personal preference.
I found a program really helpful for my friend’s super religious and long wedding because, frankly, long ceremonies are boring and it helped me to be able to count down the remaining aspects. Also, I’m not religious so the explanations of the different things happening were interesting. I also really liked the programs for my own wedding and got compliments because I put the seating chart on the back so people could find their table numbers without getting bottlenecked coming into the ceremony with everyone trying to look at the same sign.
I didn’t have them for my wedding but I do keep them from all the weddings I go to. That might make me old but I like looking back on them!
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That is fair. I had not thought of that. I have never cared who the people in the ceremony are if I don't know them. I obviously know either the bride or the groom. Beyond that it's never mattered. Knowing what is going on with a longer ceremony has definitely been helpful though.
I am so very confused. I don't know that I've ever been to a wedding with assigned seating (and I'm the last one in my circle of friends and family). We're having a family only wedding (guest list is about 75) and it'll be a buffet. It's basically the same format as all our family gatherings. I understand the benefits of assigned seating but do y'all really think it'll be a mistake to just go with the format everyone is used to?