Today is the day- all of your friends and family have come in from out-of-town. Now what do you do? Is the seating a free-for-all every-man-for-himself game or a sequential, organized wedding seating chart?

To minimize chaos at your wedding, go with a seating chart. Choosing a seating chart for a wedding does a magical thing-for one, the guests know what to expect. Secondly, it prevents potentially awkward situations.

Seating charts are useful for wedding caterers and servers. If a certain number of your guests prefer vegetarian meals, vegan, or gluten-free options for your wedding, they can sit to the left and the servers have a clearer idea of where to go-minimizing your time and saving some cash in your pocketbook. Having a dietary restrictions and a food-allergy section at a wedding minimizes the chance of cross-contamination.

Wedding seating charts are also a way to bring people together who normally wouldn’t have a conversation. Maybe you both have aunts who love to paint, or a younger family member could be paired with another family member who has their dream career. With a wedding seating chart, you can organize all of the small and older-aged children in one section. It could be a way of entertaining children at a wedding, by creating space for them to come together and play. The magic of weddings is not only the celebration of a couple’s union in public, but a joining of families, getting together to bond and get acquainted with one another.