The Wedding's for You, but the Reception's for Your Guests

Everyone always says that a wedding is all about the bride and groom. While this is true, the reception is not. The reception is the party you are throwing for your guests to share in your wedding celebration. As such, keep your guests and their happiness in mind when planning your reception. While there are millions of ways to do this, the easiest is to create an atmosphere in which everyone feels accepted and comfortable.

Seating charts are an extra step in the planning process but can really make a difference to your guests. While you will want to share your big day with everyone close to you, these people may not be close to each other. Your high school best friend may not know your college roommates. Your college roommates may never have met your out-of-state cousins. Being the person who doesn't know anyone at your wedding will make your guest feel awkward and uncomfortable, rather than happy and welcomed. By creating a seating chart, you can help create new friendships between your family and friends from different social circles. Seating people together who have common interests will give them something to talk about and help everyone feel included in your celebration.

You could even go one step further to help people get to know each other by naming each table on place cards. If your Aunt Sue is a veterinarian and your college roommate Jackie loves dogs, print "Pet Lover's Table" under their names on their place cards. This will automatically give these two guests a common topic from which to start a conversation. Be creative with how you let others know the shared interests of the people you seat them with.

Also, keep your guests in mind when placing your head table. Head tables are designed to make the members of the bridal party the center of attention by placing them as the focal point of the room. However, this arrangement can also make the bridal party feel distant and unapproachable. Some couples choose not to have a head table, deciding instead to sit among their guests. While solving the problem of the bridal party feeling unapproachable, sitting among the guests could cause hurt feelings in those who's tables don't have a member of the bridal party seated at them.

An alternative option would be to have a head table placed in an easily visible and accessible area of the reception. For example, I attended a wedding recently in which the head table was placed along the side of the dance floor, overlooking dancing guests, with the D.J. set up on the opposite side. Guest tables were arrange along the opposite sides of the floor. The end result was one the created a community feeling around the dance floor where guests could enjoy dancing and conversing with the bridal party at the same time. Guest table areas then became places for conversation and reminiscing amongst guests. Guests felt free to move between both areas of the reception because neither space as clearly defined and both felt open and welcoming.

However you decide to seat your guests, remember that ultimately the wedding reception is as much about your guests as it is about you and your new spouse. You'll want to take steps to ensure that everyone feels comfortable enough to have a good time and remember your reception as fondly as you will.