Table Plan - How many to a table?

I have seen plenty of venues were I have thought things look a bit cramped both in terms of how many on the table and how many tables in the room.

As you don't need the full capacity I would say go for 5 tables of 9

You may find the numbers on tables won't be quite so uniform - we've ended up with a mixture of anything from 8 to 11 on each table, depending on family/friendship groups

Most place say tables can fit 10 but its usually recommended to sit 8 people on an average size round table

im having 48 guests and planning on only 6 per table (8 guest tables + a spare table for suppliers that need feeding and then the top table so 9 centerpieces for us) we found that just fits our numbers perfectly without breaking groups/families up

Our venue has recommended 8 or 9 to an average sized round table but advised us 10 per table would be a bit cramped. Have you seen any pics of the venue set up for other weddings to get an idea of how it looked. I agree it may be worth considering having an extra table so that you can have 9 at a table to give a bit more room. We are looking at having tables of 8 and 9.

We are probably going to have 8 per table, as I think 10 would too squished. We took the below picture when we were at our venue looking at the room as it was being set up. This is set up for 8 which I think looks fine, people need to have enough elbow room lol I personally couldn't imagine another two settings around the table. Hope this helps!

We did too.

Looks like our tables will have between 8 and 11 on them- the one with 11 on will have several children on it- the one with 8 is all adults.

I too think that 10 adults on a 'standard' round venue table would be a little cramped, so would avoid it if you can!

Our venue said up to 10 people per table and we have 7 or 8 on most of them. There is one table of 9 which I'm not happy about but it was the only way we could seat all of the guests with people they know.

The tables at our venue say 10 to a table but that will be too cramped in my view. Its not nice sitting at a wedding where you can't use your elbows properly to eat.

Depending on how many your venue can sit may depend on how many you put to a table also. We have a similar number to you (we have 47 incl top table) so that leaves 39 people to sit in a room that can fit supposedly 100 people.

I am thinking 7-8 per table will be plenty for us as it will spread things out a bit better giving us a top table and 5 rounds or we would get everyone onto jsut four rounds giving a huge spaceto make it look silly. When we get planning though table planning politics may come into play and it all changes but we shall see.

I don't even see how you could add another two places to this table!

I see everyone's point.

In terms of adults and kids- we have a couple of under 1's who will be at the wedding. Do you think they really need a place setting, or can they just sit on people's knees or have a chair pulled up to the side of their parents?

Yes, they will also need a normal size place setting allowing for.

Whenever I go through pre wedding plans with my couples and I ask how many guests do you have they nearly always say it like this --"100 but 6 of those are small children" now I don't really need to know the small children part but right from the start the venue has been saying to them that a child - no matter the age is always counted in the numbers as a full place, even though not a full meal cost

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I agree give them a normal size place setting. That way parents can pull high chairs etc up to the table at the side of them.

We've been advised to let the venue know whether a high chair is required or even just a buggy space. No one is going to want to hold a baby throughout the dinner. This happened to me once at a wedding, I was holding my niece so I couldn't eat much - and ended up fairly sloshed by the end of the night because of it!

Ive seen question like this before and it still baffles me... as a mother myself why would anyone hold a child while attempting to eat ? surely even if people dont have children can see how awkward, uncomfortable and near impossible that is?

just imagine trying to eat while holding a cat or large-ish puppy in one arm (because most kids would wriggle and fuss) or even if its 'just' a sleeping baby as ive heard people justify before (even though you cant garantee a baby will sleep) then just try balancing a couple of full bags of sugar lying awkwardly on your arm while trying to eat

its a practical nightmare and quite inconsiderate to those guest with children to expect them to sit the meal out while holding a child, surely a seat per person is the basic expectation and children/babies are still people

I wasn't looking to offend or anything- I'm not a mother myself.

If anything I was thinking more of chairs just being pulled up beside the mothers- and if they're going to be in high chairs, then do I really need to have a place setting for them at the table, when they'll have the table on their high chair.

If they are too young to be eating a child's meal I don't think the venue need to set out cutlery, glasses etc just replace a normal chair with the high chair in but check with the mothers what each child needs. On the other hand the tables will look nicer if each place is laid and I'm sure if I gathered up cutlery and glasses out of my child's reach and said these aren't needed the staff would take it away once everyone was seated. So I shouldn't worry about that too much. It's more people will need the chair space as I doubt there will be room to force a high chairs or pushchairs between chairs if tables set at full ish capacity. So I would allow the children a full place at the table same as an adult.

Hi

If a venue recommends 10, stick to 9 at the most, better to have 8.

There is nothing worse than trying to eat and speak with people you might not know that well if your uncomfortable, and having to keep your elbows in, or knocking into the person next to you constantly.

It will make for a more relaxed experience for your guests.

This has made me panic a bit as we have 110 guests at which the max per table is 10 and we have to have 10...I am a bit worried that it may be cramped now but there isn't much I can do about it now!

I used to be a waitress at weddings and when setting up the tables, i always struggled to lay the cutlery for tables of 10+ whilst still ensuring that there is room to put the plate down. It is a nightmare. I am planning on stick to 8 and 9 at the most.

We have a few tables of 9 and not having a sit down meal (having fish and chips out of newspaper) so I am hoping it is all OK!

Our venue has max per table of 11. At the open evening the tables were set out with 10 places each and it looked okay. I don't see how they could fit 11 though. I'm hoping to have 9 per table. There are a few people we are inviting but expecting they won't be able to come due to travel and personal circumstances. If they do come, then we may need to have a few tables of 10. This is also assuming that everyone we think will come will come and that probably won't be the case. We're not sending invitations out for awhile yet though so still time to work it all out.

I think 8 in one table, thats will be good

8 for one table, thats will be good

We have invited to the venues capacity so think we'll be stuck with tables of 10 unless we get enough no RSVPs (we will definitely get some but we have a backup list of more people to invite which would replace the first few no's!) I only want 6 on top table too (us and both sets of parents) so that probably means it's even more likely there will be 10 on all the other tables... We'll just have to try and plan so that there is as much as possible a child on each table who should take up less room!

Me three

Thanks for the help guys- I have now re-jigged my table plan and have a max of 8 per table, but have different numbers to each table, depending on the people sat there.