Set another place at the table!

Ok, but where?

Dear future spouses,

if you have arrived here it means that you are well on your way to organizing your wedding reception.
If you then opted for a lunch or a dinner to sit, it is essential to think about the right arrangement at the tables of your guests.
This is a selection to be done carefully, to avoid unpleasant misunderstandings during the reception and to ensure a pleasant moment for your guests.

The first thing  to do is to start this operation only when you have the exact number of guests.
Then, divide the guests into 4 main categories:
Family members, relatives, friends, colleagues.

Being your guests, only you can know the personal relationships between the guests so, before forming the tables, separate those people among whom there are no good relations
Proceed by exclusion!

As for the type of tables, the most classic can be round, square or rectangular and range from 6 to 10-12 places.
I advice to choose all the tables of the same capacity (where possible!) or, in any case, to minimize the tables of different sizes.

A trick is to form jolly tables, where to place people who do not have close ties with other categories.
It will be a good opportunity for them to make new friends!

Once you have decided the categories, start by step, starting from your own table.

Here are the rules for the allocation of seats at the table according to the etiquette.

It’s up to the most important woman, the bride, the place of honour and, on her left, the groom.
At the wedding table, as in all the others, men and women must alternate.

On the right of the bride there are the father of the groom, a witness, the father of the bride and another witness.
On the left of the groom, however, we find the mother of the bride, the priest (or a witness), the mother of the groom and the other witnesses.

Alternating men and women in all the tables is also a good advice to encourage a good conversation among all diners, avoiding forming inappropriate groups of only women or men.

Today, however, many spouses decide to share their table only with witnesses and close friends.
I do not fell to recommend this choice, just because it is not correct to “exclude” the family members perhaps even thinking of doing them a favor thus having the opportunity to be more relaxed.
If you really do not want to share the table with your families (for many different reasons!) without doing harm to no one, opt for a romantic table for two!
So you can also carve out some moments of intimacy with your future partner-in-life and avoid giving birth to jealousy or misunderstanding.

A solution to everything could be a beautiful imperial table!
BE CAREFUL! A unique imperial table is recommended only if the guests are not more than 50, otherwise you would risk having a table so long that you do not see the guests sitting in the last place and make them feel excluded!

However, if you remain in this case, the imperial table can certainly give you a hand in the arrangement of the guests, especially if you decide not to assign the seats.
In this case, the spouses will sit in the middle of the long side to have a complete view of all the guests.

Another idea can be to form more imperial tables with the only exception of your romantic table for two!

Whatever your choice, remember to prepare a Tableau de Mariage to ensure that your guests know exactly how the reception will take place and how the meal has been organized.

However, the most important advice I can give you is to surround yourself only with the people you love to share with them one of the greatest joys of your life!

For everything else … there’s the Wedding Planner!

Veronica Ferrante