What do I mean by marrying form with function?

It’s pretty straightforward — your seating chart has a very important purpose: Corral your guests and tell them where to go to avoid a chaotic dining experience. It’s also an opportunity to create an interactive design focal point that wows your guests while getting the job done.

Before we get started, a few tips on putting together your seating plan:

• Order names alphabetically by last name, not by table number!

• Ask your parents to help figure out their friends’ seating

• Do away with the singles table

• Whether you assign people to tables or to specific seats at tables, make it all REALLY clear

One more general piece of advice that seems common sense until you start going deep into design and you start to lose common sense: make it legible. Thin script fonts, clear acrylic or glass backdrops, too many mirrored elements all make it hard for your guests to actually read.

And now, let’s get into the pretty and inspirational! These are all from weddings I’ve designed the florals for in the past few years, and each was amazing for different reasons. Read on for more (And PS — if you’re newly engaged, congratulations! If you’re new here, welcome! I share a deep look into my real weddings, along with sharing planning advice and tips!).

Looking for more? I’ve also created a Pinterest Board rounding up some seating chart designs that recently caught my eye. Check that out right here!

Fun Colour Use

Oh my goodness, I absolutely LOVED the way this bold seating display came together for Jess and Donny’s wedding a few years back.

Emily from Feast & Festivities is very detailed in her design planning, and she’s definitely not afraid of colour. Using this orange acrylic is just SO MUCH FUN, right? It also helps to make the names legible, as clear acrylic can make it pretty tricky to read.

The florals were all repurposed from the ceremony, and the staggered plinths takes this design from basic to extraordinary, while also being cost-effective!

As featured on Carats & Cake.

Arches and A Little Disney

This seating chart is simple but impactful. The repetition of the arched elements makes a big statement, pairing the seating chart (hung from a black arched frame) with an arched backdrop displaying their name a touch of Disney. Note that the names are arranged alphabetically! Woo!

There’s almost always an opportunity for some florals, but I definitely prefer a statement floral piece as opposed to “just a little something added to the sign.” If you’re not going to go big, then just go home — as in, don’t bother adding florals to your seating chart if the budget doesn’t support it. Adding a “little something” just adds up quickly without making an impact to the design and often just feels like unnecessary fluff.

See more from this wedding here!

Enter in Style

One of my design goals for Tiff and Steph’s tent wedding was to really bring the outdoors in, which was especially good as it rained most of the day. We designed this lush, delicious tent entrance and then nestled my seating chart base into it. Feast & Festivities put together the seating chart itself, and I just ADORE the magenta. It’s an unexpected colour pop, which really grabs everyone’s eyes and makes sure they can’t miss it.

Modern Base with Florals Added

I had this modern, clean white base custom-made for this wedding that I provided both florals and event design for. The seating chart itself was printed on a large piece of foam-core, and slid right into the base.

We positioned the seating chart at the entrance to the room in SNAC, which served to bring a little more purpose and presence to the cards table while welcoming everyone in.

I then designed this all-white floral piece to place on the ground in front of the seating chart base, and I was lucky to incorporate a lot of locally grown white lilac, which is one of the bride’s faves. More to come from this wedding soon!

Big, Bold, and Creative

This couple’s wedding was inspired by their love for Big White, the ski hill where they first met and shared their first NYE midnight kiss (adorable). So for their seating chart, they took inspiration from the ski runs, using it as a graphic backdrop for the chart itself. And instead of a typical seating chart, each guest’s name and photo was printed to look like a ski hill pass, and then clipped onto a custom lanyard. It was so creative!

I LOVE a good colour blocked floral moment. While it’s not right for every wedding or couple’s style, colour blocking your florals can make a big design moment feel even more impactful.

See more featured on Green Wedding Shoes!

Go for the Wow (and Fill Space!)

Everything about Karleigh and Matt’s wedding was a designer’s dream, and this seating display was certainly no exception.

In many venues, you’re really limited by the amount of space you have to work with. But here, we had the entire 7th floor of the Fort Garry Hotel, with the dinner in one ballroom and the party in the other, so the entire hallway served as a welcome and cocktail area, and that left a lot of space to add in a statement making seating display.

The plinths were a combination of clear acrylic and mirrored gold, which felt very glamorous and also allowed us to design some florals inside the pedestals, some outside, some on top.

See the entire wedding here for some more jaw-dropping design elements!

Cottage-Core Influence

My dear bride Brenna planned and designed her wedding and every element was a perfect reflection of her personal style. They created this backdrop that served to guide guests in to their backyard, added a guest book on their adorable console table, and the seating assignments were added to the pegboard backing, too. Multi-functional and tres adorable. Oh, and it hid the wood pile behind it!

I cannot wait to share more from this backyard wedding. In the meantime, take a look at this cutie reel showing their romantic ceremony setting.

Define Your Tent Entrance

If you’re hosting a tent wedding in the summer, chances are pretty good that you’ll have the walls open to bring in some fresh air. And if that’s the case, then it can be tricky to get your guests to enter from the correct spot, which could interfere with the serving staff or bartenders, cause people to trip over electrical wires, and so on. So, integrate your seating chart into a tent entrance design that defines the entryway.

This particular seating chart was super simple — just individual names with their table number hand-calligraphed and pinned onto a linen-wrapped board, and topped with a little greenery sprig!

If you’re looking for more tent wedding ideas, I’ve rounded up my top 5 tips for designing a beautiful tent wedding right here.

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Call me biased, but I think flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. I would love the creative challenge of taking your wedding vision and spinning it into a reality that you never could have dreamed of.