Xpost from 2010: Assigned Seating

Ok, so I am so confused. I originally thought that for the E-party, we were NOT going to have assigned seating. I did assigned seating for my Graduation Party and everyone just sat where they wanted to anyway.

However, I've started thinking more about it. Here are mine pros & cons:

The Biggest pro is this one: There are quite a few families of 4-6 people coming; the tables seat 10 each. I don't want them to show up and have to like split apart. And yeah, people could always move around, but what if there's no room left at ANY table for a family of 4?

The biggest con is this: It's time consuming, and if I'm going to do it, I want people to listen! Granted, the people know each other a lot better than at the Grad Party, so they might be more inclinced to sit where I make the settings for, but who knows!

We also want the E-party to be casual, so I don't know if assigned seating takes that up a notch. However, I really don't want families to be displaced!

If you think I SHOULD do it, I need to get place cards & table settings from somewhere. I'd like them to be island themed as well. I would like each table to be a different tropical island (since our party is Island themed) We already have centerpieces, so do I get like a sign or a stand or something?

Also, who do FH & I sit with? We couldn't fit me, him, his parents, my parents, and my siblings & their families at one table. So do we sit with the BMs and MOHs and their dates?

Also, there's a decent amount of kids 17 & under who I KNOW will want to be together. Do I make 1 or 2 kids tables or something then?? SO confused.
Help!!!!!!!

I don't think so, it gives people the chance to mingle and sit with who they want.

the E-party is more relaxed than the actual reception so IMO just let everyone do their own thing.

I would let ppl sit where they want. but if you are really worried about families...maybe you could put signs on certain tables that say 'Reserved for the Smith family' or something like that. Don't worry, it will all work out!!

I think you should not do assigned if it is going to be casual

We had about 50 people at my e-party and did tables of 10. But we didn't do assigned seating and it actually worked out perfectly. FH and I sat at the center table, and most of our BP sat with us. Then our families worked themselves out around the other 4 tables. Our e-party was all adults, so people were able to figure things out for themselves. I wasn't going crazy for my e-party. This way if people wanted to table hop too, they could. And they did. I think it got people mingling more. It worked out perfect for our party. Everyone had a great time, and there weren't any problems whatsoever.