As a wedding planner in the event industry, your tongue should be full of holes from you "biting" it so much! Oh how great it would be to let her rip! But nooooo, you have to stay in complete control at all times. You have to be professional and poised right? Yes and there are preventive measures you can urge your clients to take to make everyone's lives a little easier which means one less hole in your tongue by the end of the night.
One wedding reception scenario that becomes an issue almost EVERY time there aren't any seating arrangements at all is, "that guest took my seat and refuses to get up...."! And we are talking about the ADULTS here!
Imagine attending a friend’s wedding reception. There are no assigned tables or seats so you choose the perfect location. You are close to the dance floor but not too far from the bar. You have a clear view of the head table where the bride and groom are simply glowing with joy. Everyone at the table you chose seems to be pleasant and welcoming. Ahhhhh, such a nice wedding reception.
After you polish off your second helping of mac n cheese you decide to go shake a tail feather then mingle with other guests for a while. After an hour of the electric slide, cha cha slide, slip-n-slide and the tush push boogie you are ready to rest your feet and enjoy the rest of the reception from your "perfect" seat.
What is this?!!! Someone has planted their "fruit of the looms" in YOUR perfect spot. Ohhhh no no no they must find another spot! You politely explain how the seat is taken and you just stepped away to dance and so on and so on. You smile and wait for "fruit of the looms" to get up nicely but instead you get a, "Seats are not assigned! Sorry I have been here for an hour so please find another seat! Thanks!"
What Would Jesus Do?!!!!!!!
NOT what you would do and now there is an argument!
Now the wedding planner has to come play reception referee to try to defuse the situation. One of two things are going to happen here. You are going to convince "fruit of the looms" to find another seat OR you will have to escort "tush push boogie" to a new "not so perfect" seat. Either way you are going to have a very angry guest who will talk about how horrible the reception was. It is human nature to discredit an entire event or place due to one bad experience but no bride wants her reception to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth.
With that being said, please, please, please create some sort of seating chart. At the least, create name cards to assign all guests to a specific table and let them choose what seat they would like to sit in when they get to the table. The guest can t
ake their name card and place it in front of the seat they have chosen at their assigned table. You can always go the extra mile and assign each individual seat.
Either way..... GOOD LUCK!