WHO SITS WHERE?

Know the Guests

Sure, between the Bride and the Groom, they may know everyone who is attending on the day and be able to recognise them from a country mile away, but will the Ushers be able to do likewise? The answer to this is sometimes ‘yes’, but more than often it is ‘no’. If, between them, the Usher’s don’t know all of the guests, one good way to help them out is to show them photographs of the guests they have never met prior to the day. Doing this will ensure that on the day the Ushers can correctly identify individuals and know what side to seat them on – this will make the guests feel more at ease, the Usher’s more relaxed about meeting people and will leave the couple safe in the knowledge that their guests will be seated where they want them to be.

Tricks of the Trade for Seating Guests

Unless the couple produces a fixed seating plan where each individual guest is assigned to a particular seat, then it will be down to the Ushers to us their best judgement as to where to seat people. To help them out, the following points are well worth remembering.

• Keep the first row on the left free for the Mother and Father of the Bride and the Bridesmaids.
• Keep the first row on the right free for the Mother and Father of the Groom and the Best Man.
• If row capacity is small, or if there are a lot of Bridesmaids attending, then reserve the second row on the left and seat the Chief Bridesmaid on the first row with the parents of the Bride and the remainder of the Bridesmaids on the row directly behind.
• Keep the next available row from the front (or seats that the scouting mission to the venue highlighted as some of the ‘best seats in the house’) free for ‘special guests’ such as grandparents and close relatives.