It isn’t always easy getting the attention of a large crowd, the phrase “herding cats” comes to mind. But these four methods of organizing your guests and their seating arrangements will help you keep your sanity and help your guests from winding up at the wrong end of the table.

In order of least amount of work to most amount of work for you, the couple, and the staff who are setting up for your reception here are four options to help your guests get seated for dinner.

Open Seating: A free-for-all if you will. Guests have the freedom to sit where they would like and with whom they would like, with the exception of the best tables reserved for family and the wedding party. This type of seating arrangement requires almost no work for the couple but could put stress on your guests. This form of seating also results in a lot of unfilled tables so plan on more than you will actually need if doing open seating.

A Seating Chart: One or two blown up copies of the seating chart on easels as your guests walk into the reception is an easy and cost effective way to guide your guests to their table. With this seating arrangement, only tables are assigned and not individual seats so your guests will feel like they still have some freedom to choose but will not be overwhelmed as they might be with open seating.  

Escort Cards: This seating method allows for the most creativity and is the easiest to cater to your wedding theme. With escort cards, you will need a large area to display all the cards at the entrance of the reception and they will need to be organized in a way that guests can easily find their name.

Place Cards: This option is the most work beforehand but the least work at the time of the reception. It also allows the couple to be in complete control of who sits where, which for some is extremely important.