Need help with seating...

I need opinions!
FH and I have different ideas for seating.
He thinks we should mix up the people so everyone gets to meet someone new. (seating couple & guests together of course) Example; mixing cousins with friends and family with friends and so on.
I think we should keep like people together so everyone is comfortable. Each table would have a good time. Cousins together, friends together, family together.

I want everyone to have a good time.
I would feel awkward at a table where I didn't know the other guests.
How do you guys feel about this?
All opinions welcome!
Thanks
Deb

Re: Need help with seating...

Absolutely agree with you! Don't make your wedding a social experiment - some people may have fun with strangers but most people would feel awkward.

Re: Need help with seating...

I agree with you. I would feel more comfortable sitting around people I know.

Re: Need help with seating...

Me too ! I agree with you. It is so much more comfortable to sit with some people that you know.

Re: Need help with seating...

how about mixing a bit, making sure that each person knows a few people at the table... My fi's friend met one of his girlfriends this way...

Re: Need help with seating...

I totally agree. To give you an example, last year I was at a wedding and my fiancee was the best man so he was on the dias. I did know some of the people at the wedding but for some unknown reason I wasnt sitting with them.

The table that I was sitting noone talked to me even though I was trying to talk to them. I felt very uncomfortable. I finally had enough and went over to my friends table and told them what was going on and they said that I should just come and sit with them. Luckily my table was right next to them, so I got my chair and my plate and fork and moved to my friends table.

Re: Need help with seating...

We did our seating, by having people that knew each other to sit together..it made it so much easier. All the best

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I totally agree with the girls - do NOT mix people who don't know each other, unless you have no other choice - i.e., some extraneous people who don't 'fit' anywhere. It makes people uncomfortable, and more importantly, BORED!!! You are right!

Re: Need help with seating...

i agree with you 100%...and with whoever said your wedding should not be a social experiment...nothing could be truer...the point of a wedding is not an opportunity for guests to meet 'someone new' nor is it the time for you to set up your single friends...make sure your guests are comfortable, that's the trademark of a true hostess..

Re: Need help with seating...

Sonicstef said it best...no social experiments...in fact, most people (when they attend social functions) hope that they are seated with the people they know and are comfortable with.

Re: Need help with seating...

Definitely do not split up your guests. People are coming to celebrate with you and hang out with their friends, not get set up with new friends. You'll end up making people feel uncomfortable if you mix them up.

Re: Need help with seating...

I agree also...DON'T MIX. I hate when I go to weddings and I am seperate from my family and sisters. I have a much better time when we are all together!

Re: Need help with seating...

I agree. I am not mixing my guests nor would I like to be seated with people I do not know when there are people there I do know.

It is funny you bring this topic up. I was at a BBQ this weekend and we were discussing this very issue. I had never even thought about doing such a thing or been at an event where they did this (besides work type events and hated it.) My friend said for his wedding his wife's family insisted that they mix the guests. He was soooo against the idea. Her family was paying for the entire wedding and most things in the planning went in favor of the bride's family. Anyway, this one he would not have. They decided to compromise. His friends and family we seated with people they knew and her friends and family were mixed. Not sure if that is an option for you. Maybe you can ask a fw of his family members how they feel and that can help you decide.

Re: Need help with seating...

Definately not a good idea to mix. I went to my cousins wedding recently and they thought it would be fun to put me at a table with his dorky med school friends since I am interested in biology! Bad move...they were talking about nasty operations during dinner...my FH and I would sit to eat and then immediately get up and hang out with people we knew.

Re: Need help with seating...

Seems like everybody agrees that we should not mix it up! mixing it up never seemed like the right thing to do to me.
I haven't been to many weddings so I didn't have any experience to go on.
Thank you for your input.
Feel free to add more opinions, it's good to hear all the ideas and stories.
Thanks again,
Deb

Re: Need help with seating...

I agree with everyone else. I have been to weddings where I didnt know anyone, and it was very hard. I have to say, I didn't have such a great time, as FI is not much of a dancer so most of our time was spent sitting. Keep people who know and like each other together!

Re: Need help with seating...

I am plan on seating people who know one another together, i.e. work table, friend table, cousin table, etc.

And I am seating the bridal party with their dates.