Seating Charts in the Time of Covid

I think place cards may be the way to go here. You can print/make them for everyone who might come, then just recycle whichever ones you don't use

Hmm are you having people sit in specific seats? If so, I’d just do place cards at each person’s seat. Otherwise, just escort cards to point them in the general area of the E that they’re supposed to sit.

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We are having place cards (our venue requires them) but figured we'd need the chart to tell people which table they'd be on, and how far along it/which end... are you saying just do away with it altogether?

Because our tables aren't round, there are about 30 odd people per table, so perhaps not so good to have people just wander up and down the table to figure out where they should sit, as this might create a bit of a traffic jam!

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Yes - specific seats!

Because the tables are long, and so many people per table, escort cards wouldn't help as much as they might if we had smaller, round tables, otherwise this would be good - so much easier to move people around last-minute with escort cards!

Also, weirdly, escort cards are not a thing here. So weird how different cultures just haven't taken certain approaches on - I've never gone to a wedding with them - People are given assigned seating and there's usually a chart!

View Quoted Comment Huh! It’s definitely interesting to see what some cultures do and others don’t! This may be a silly question, but would the seating chart be a picture of the E and guests names written literally where they’d be sitting? If that’s the case, maybe have the sign with a blank E diagram printed and use some cute paper to print guests names onto and adhere last minute with tape?
I saw that there’s be 30ish people per branch of the table - you could probably get away with table numbers and a seating chart by name with which number they can find their name - that way they’re only browsing through half as many names at the seats once they spot the table number!

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Right? SO weird!

And yes, the plan was to have something similar to the below (just not showing the bridal table, since there will only be 9 of us and we can tell them where they'll sit) and just have table numbers at the end of the table closest to the entrance for people to see, although it would be the same order as shown on the chart:

My daughter's wedding was in the thick of Covid restrictions last August, so the venue required a seating chart alphabetically with last names first so that people could easily find their names and not cluster. The seating chart was printed two weeks before the wedding. Although a few people cancelled last minute, we left their names on chart--no one notices any other name but their own. Best wishes that things open back up for you soon!

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Thank you so much, and super interesting to hear how it was approached by someone who actually experienced it! That's a very good point, I suppose people won't notice anyone but their own names! Fingers crossed that things do indeed open up

I'm not entirely sure who you were planning to order your seating chart with, but I would highly recommend using an online template and arrange to have it printed at your local officeworks. They have a pretty quick turnaround time and you'd be able to make last minute changes without worrying about how long it'll take for the prints to arrive.

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Thanks! That's a good idea. I've created it myself on canva, so we could definitely get it printed at officeworks!

I think place cards may be the way to go here. You can print/make them for everyone who might come, then just recycle whichever ones you don't use

Are you assigning seats or tables?

We assigned tables and used escort cards. I actually filled out the cards just two days before the wedding, and we were not able to finalize our table assignments until the week of the wedding due to cancelations/changes, etc.

We had six farm tables arranged in three rows, each two tables long and placed so that they were touching (so a long banquet style arrangement). Each of the six tables had a table number, and we just assigned people to a table, not a seat. The escort cards were organized alphabetically by name and had people's table numbers and meal choice labeled on them. The system worked really well for both our guests and our servers.

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We're required by our venue to provide place cards, but the issue is how to show people where they are to sit. If we are allowed to hold our wedding, there are likely to be restrictions on people grouping together, so we would ideally like a way for people to find their seats without having to wander up and down the table.

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That is an interesting approach! I think we are required to assign seating and provide name cards, but I like that you were able to do escort cards even though you did have longer tables!

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It worked out really well. I think as long as you number the individual tables (and each table sits between 6-12 people) it doesn't get too complicated. If you just number the row it ends up being a lot of people assigned to one general area and might not work as well.

Good luck with this!

I hope you and as many guests as you want to see/feel safe around are allowed to travel to your venue on your date.

If you're open to using escort cards (in place of OR in addition to place cards) you might be able to make it work be using envelopes. You print each guest's name on the outside of a small (like business card sized) envelope and write the table number and a small map on a card on the inside.

Something like this where the guest is seated in the green area, with, "you are seated at table [#]," and any other information you want to add. That way you would only have to display the envelopes for people who actually attend. Also, if your guest list changes in a way that would result in a weird distribution of seats (like everyone from the middle table was able to come but no one from another table and half of the third) you could change them up to the last minute (or whenever your venue allows) without having to worry about printing time.

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Oooh what a fun idea, and I love the cute little map you've drawn, haha! Plus kind of exciting to get an envelope - mysterious!