I actually didn't realize exactly how important wedding seating arrangements were, and we weren't going to do them because we're having a buffet reception dinner.
But as people started responding and I was wondering about the reception seating, I knew I had to set up arranged seating for our guests.
Now, if you're having a rather informal, casual setting, like an outdoor garden wedding, you may not need wedding reception seating with table number cards.
But if you're having an indoor, seated affair with a specific number of seats at each table, then wedding seating arrangements is a Must Do on your list for several reasons.
When you think about it, not all of your invited guests will know everyone else who was invited or is going to attend.
Without seating arrangements some of your guests may want to "save a seat" for guests who they think may be coming but then that person doesn't show up at all and someone else could have been in that seat.
Or maybe you have some late arrivals who end up having to split up their party because there aren't enough seats at any one table for them.
In addition, some of your guests may arrive at the reception with three to five in their parties at a six or eight-person table, while some guests may attend alone.
And you may even have some guests who are actually going to be uncomfortable sitting at a table full of other people they don't know.
So you want to reduce this possible confusion and tension for your guests as soon as they arrive.
You don't want your guests going from table to table asking, 'Is this seat taken?' Instead, keep the reception arrival orderly and relaxed by showing your guests where they're supposed to sit and you'll be less stressed too.
So how do you figure out where to seat people? If you're expecting a large amount of guests where one side of the family hasn't met the other, you can try and mix it up a bit so the repsective families of the bride and groom get a chance to mingle.
However, that still could get a little tricky so you can try to seat them by age, personality, similar interests or occupation, or whatever makes the best sense to you and your future spouse.
What's important is you want all of your guests to be comfortable and have a good time and if they're seated with people they can find something common to talk about, that makes it much better for everyone.
Not all of my guests have sent back their RSVPs? Can I still seat them? Wedding seating arrangements mostly rely on who has responded and how many people are in their party.
But sometimes people still forget about the RSVP, even if they've been sent Save the Date cards well ahead of time.
So, to get your seating arrangements set up definitely, you will have to get in touch those that haven't responded yet; give them a call, drop them an email, send them a Facebook or MySpace message, whatever is the fastest and surest way to get a response.
Explain to them that you're not trying to "nag," and you appreciate that they're probably very busy and it's just an oversight, but for the head count for the caterer, you really need to know if they're planning to attend and how many will be in their party.
Meanwhile, you can still go ahead and set up your seating arrangements.
Just assume for seating purposes only that those guests people are coming and assign them a seat.
If you're doing your seating in a software program, you can highlight their names in red or yellow so you know they haven't actually responded yet, but this way if they do attend, they have a seat.
If they end up not attending, you just have an extra seat if someone else shows up that you didn't know was coming, like the unexpected date of an invited guest; these things happen, or some people may just decide to move around during the reception and they won't be taking someone else's seat.
The bottom line is wedding seating arrangements will keep your guests feeling as comfortable and relaxed as possible from the time they walk in the door.
And after all, you know where you're going to be seated; your guests should know too.