Is anyone not having a top table or a seating plan?

lynnexxxo

Hi all.

I was wondering if anyone else has decided to not have a top table, or a seating plan?

I'm not that keen on the whole top table thing (all my guests are important). We went to a wedding a while ago where each one of the wedding party sat at a different table and it was lovely. However I'm not sure anyone else agrees with me, both my mum and MIL2B where a bit:eek: when I suggested it. I think they were quite looking forward to being centre stage.

My other though was to have a top table and them just let the guests sit where they like, instead of stressing about sitting so and so next to so and so and all that. But then I suppose there won't be all that much mixing going on and may end up kinda us and them, if you know what I mean.

Or am I trying to be different for being differents sake and should just go with a traditional set up. I don't want to be 'its my wedding, i'll decide' I'd much rather try and make everyone happy?

Idiophreak

I hated the idea so much, I'm not even having tables anymore

Seriously, couldn't be bothered with that at all...we've some sofas, some bar stools etc...people can mill around and sit where they want...the bride and groom will be centre of attention wherever they are...

RainbowDrops

It depends how many guests you're having.
If it's a small amount, then free seating will be fine, although it might be wrth adding a few extra seats so if people in odd numbers or whatever don't get split up.
If you've got over 100, a seating plan might help things run a bit more smoothly. You could make it semi casual by just assigning people to tables, then letting them pick their seat.

It also depends on your caterer's requirements - ours wanted to know the names & table numbers for people with special requirements (eg veggie, allergies etc).

Also bear in mind that even if you don't want a top table, if you don't hae a plan you might end up sitting away from people that you'd like to sit with.

Idiophreak

Double posted..darn!

curlylou1986

We didnt have a traditional top table in a line because my dad died when i was little and i didnt want to draw more attention to it as it was - so we just sat round the square table like everyone else did in the room with me and hubby facing the rest of the room.

What are you having for your food - does this allow you to not have a seating plan? if you have menu to pick from then that could get confusing when comes to the dinner being served.
You could always have a sweat hearts table where you and hubby sit on your own perhaps?

I remember some of the other ladies on here talking about having their table in different horse shoe shapes rather than seperate tables.

OH mum wanted us to mix the tables with members from both sides of family but it just wouldnt have worked that way with the younger members of our family etc, so we had the tables in family groups/friends and then as we did a quiz people mixed around a bit then.

Dowhat will make you happy, you dont have to follow tradition - just make sure what ever you pick will work with the flow if your day and wont end up with confusin for you or your guests!

trying_2_b_good

Finding the balance on this is hard. I want a top table, but I don't want my Mum's boyfriend on it - so we're just having our bridesmaids, best men & us (6 in total).

My OH wants to mix up tables, whereas I had planned to have my family, his family, friends fron uni & friends from home all on their own tables. I think I am going to mix up families: so my Mum & grandparents will be with his parents & grandma. It's not often they will see each other so it will be nice for them to spend time together. Not sure about friends though - some people have moved away and I know they'd rather spend the meal chatting to the friends that they rarely see anymore rather than getting to know people they've never met (and will rarely meet again).

I think I'm just going to say - these 8 people are on table 1. They can sit in whatever chair they want, next to who they want, as long as they're on that table!

LEJC

It is lovely way to eat ...not having a seating plan and letting people choose...however you may find that you need to allow some spare seats...
It does make it easy for guests to know where they are sitting and be directed by a seating plan...guests sometimes need direction else it can turn into a "what do we do,where do we sit situation"...so from that point of view then its good to have a seating plan

The other thing you need to consider is that potentially you may get a group of people head toward one table and sit on it not leaving an even number of places for a second group of people to join them on the table..therefore you get an odd chair between people and the possibliity of groups or families being split between several tables...a bit like when you go to the cinema and you leave one seat between you and the next person if you dont know them...then if the showing is full someone comes alomg and asks you to move along!

A lot depends really on how well your guests know eachother and how comfortable they will be choosing who they sit next to...it also depends what type of meal you are having if its a buffet style then it might work really well that people actually move round all the seats and it could create a lovely relaxed mingle between guests...

MoneySaver82

We had round tables and just positioned ours roughly in the centre of the room with others around us, Would have hated being set apart at the front of the room, you wouldn't have really known which was the 'top table', we made sure we had family/close friends that we wanted on the tables nearest to us and had family members/best man etc with us on our table. Didn't matter too much in the end really as we were wandering around for some much of the time as we wanted to see everyone!

MrsRadford_2b

We are not having a top table. OH parents are divorced and with other people now + have not spoken to each other in over 10 years. My mum is dead and my dad has remarried but I don't know his wife well. I and OH will sit on a table and all other guests will sit horse shoe around tables so no guest is backing us.

talulahbeige_2

we didnt have a top table or seating plan and it worked really well, We made sure there were only a couple of spare seats so people had to sit together wether they knew each other or not.
The only issue we found was that nobody wanted to sit with us! They thought that other people would want to so they found other seats!!!

Kittendreich

We had a giant E shaped table - it made it much easier to cope with odd numbered 'groups' and merge famillies a bit while making sure that everyone was near people they would get on with. We did have the traditional top table bit, but everyone else was close by down each of the 'legs'. Was handy on the day as we had one call off due to sickness and two stuck in Amsterdam on their way from Vancouver (due to the Volcano Ash cloud) - we could just move everyone up a bit and we weren't then left with odd gaps...