Now that you have decided on assigned seating at your wedding, here is some helpful information to guide you through the process. Below are things to know about seating arrangements at the Monte Verde Inn:
- Our round tables seat 8-10 people. If you want to use our silver chargers (a decor plate that goes at each place setting), you can only put 8-9 people per table. If your guest count is over 160, you will need to seat 10 per table due space restrictions in the garden.
- Numbering tables is the easiest way to label your tables. The Monte Verde Inn already has pre-made framed table numbers for you to use (see picture of example above). If you do not like our framed numbers, you may provide your own. I have seen people name the tables in all different ways, places the couple has visited, wine varieties, classical composers, Disney characters, different trees…….If you do provide you own table identifiers, make sure that they don’t over power your centerpiece and the holder in which you use is wind proof. I have seen people use floral picks and have put the table names in the centerpiece……beware of flimsy paper and/or colors & styles that conflict with arrangement.
- Guests will need to know which table they are seated at so they don’t have to walk around every table to find their place. This is usually achieved by displaying a seating chart or escort cards (Escort card show the name/number of the table a guest is seated at) prominently at the entrance to the garden.
- Seating Charts can be anything like a typed sheet of paper in a frame listing tables with each person’s name below a table or you can have Kinko’s http://www.kinkos.com/ make your seating chart into a creative poster board where we can display it on an easel.
- Escort cards can be cute and fun, but beware if you have more than 100 people as the cards become too many to display. In addition, escort cards can get lost by a guest, so if you also need this to be a meal identifier, think about having those place cards at each place setting. If you decide on escort cards, think about a way to display them to keep them in place. Often times if cards are not secured on a board or weighted down somehow, the wind can carry them all over the garden.
Buffet Dinner: SEATING CHART
- When having a buffet dinner meal identifiers and place cards are not necessary. A seating chart nicely displayed at the guest book table is sufficient.
Plated Dinner: SEATING CART + MEAL IDENTIFIERS/PLACE CARDS
- As your rsvp’s come rolling in keep track of them the old fashion way. You can easily keep track of people and what they’ve ordered to eat by simply using two different color post-it notes i.e., blue=beef & yellow=fish with one name on each post-it note. Then take a piece of paper for each table, and start moving your people (post-it’s) around. When you final count is due, you can easily count blue (beef) and yellow (fish) meals. When you are ready to create your chart, just type it out according to your pieces of paper. NO MORE EXEL SHEETS!
- You will need a meal identifier for each guest. Once you’ve figured out who is coming and what they’re eating you need to have something in front of your guest letting our staff know which entrée they have chosen. You can simply do this by making place cards with a color ribbon, stamp, or different color ink, to indicate beef or fish. Remember that meal identifiers can do double duty with your favor. Example: a truffle box tied with different ribbon (stripes for beef & polka dots for fish) with your guest’s name attached.
- When bringing your meal identifiers to us, please divide them by tables clearly labeled, along with a labeled garden map (in your planning packet).
- PLEASE BLOG YOUR QUESTIONS THIS WEEK AND I WOULD BE HAPPY TO ANSWER! KELLY.
4 comments:
Could we use the frames you provide for the table numbers and print our own image? If so what size are the frames?
We’d like to use ‘Famous Art’ as our per-table theme. Monet’s Water Lilies for Table 1, Salvador Dali for Table 2, etc. We’d have a faded image of a famous painting in each frame with a bold number in black, so guests can see which table is theirs.
My mom made a good point about using table numbers rather than names...folks always know 1 comes after (or in this case near) 2, but trying to figure out if "Yosemite" is near "Washington" may be difficult for guests without a "map."
My hubby-to-be and I are using different coordinating colored bi fold cards to indicate different entrees. They're each stamped with a stamp that matches our invitation motif and as folks RSVP I'm planning on writing their name on the front.
I like the idea of using names and numbers - we are going to do famous couples. Kelly- For our placecards, I am wondering if just a folded card stock placecard will be ok or if we need a placecard holder of some kind to keep them from blowing away? And we would be interested in using the frames, too, with our own inserts if possible.
Unfortunately we can not remove our cardstock table numbers from our frames as they are permanently affixed to our frames. If you can bring your own though! I've seen attractive frames at Jo Anns Fabrics pretty inexpensive ($3.99)
Folded placecards can be tucked into the napkins to prevent them from blowing away.
Kelly
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