Wedding Blog
Are you frustrated with your seating chart? Is the endless seating “politics” driving you crazy? Are all of your erasers completely gone from writing and re-writing names? Do you fantasize about covering it in kerosene, lighting a match, and tossing it out the window in a flaming ball of firey glory?!
Put down the matches, my friend. I am about to be your saving grace. Well, Martha and I are, to be exact.
In recent months, Martha Stewart Weddings has gotten a major overhaul. There are now wedding planning tools available for your use, one of which in particular- the seating chart tool - is named, descriptively, “My Seating.”
My Seating is not your average seating-chart tool. Oh no dear one; My Seating has a drag and drop tool feature that allows you to physically take a little person from your list and drop them onto a little table that is sized to your specifications. Genius!
On the list of people who’ve RSVP’d over on the left side of the screen, you can see if their party has been seated or not, which is great. And you can even add a DJ booth or cake table onto your chart- awesomeness!
This chart has already saved me a lot of grief, and I can only hope it does the same for you!
Do you have any inventive tools that you use for difficult wedding tasks?
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Wait … you’re getting married in July, and already thinking about seating plans?!
Weddingwire.com has something very similar, for another alternative 
@kylydia: I think it’s a great idea! And can be wonderful if its done correctly. My friend had a “stations” wedding and everyone sat wherever they wanted. They had varying table sizes (some small and round, some large and round, some tall cocktails, etc.) My FI and I wanted to do the same thing, but our wedding is going to be much to large. We don’t want mass chaos! Good luck!
Hm … now that I look closer (and noted that it’s very familiar), it’s powered by WeddingWire. I’m just amused.
I think Martha powered with WeddingWire. And I would love to use all of Martha’s tools, but I find that her web site never works for me. It takes forever to load or just never loads. This is true for all parts of her web site; everyday food, weddings, etc. IT STINKS!
We’re not that worried about seating yet, but that’s mainly because, ahem, invitations have not even gone out, and I refuse to stress at all about where people will be sitting until I know who is actually coming (it doesn’t really matter that my mother keeps anxiously asking about it either, or that most of our guests will be local so we’ll likely have a higher confirmed guest number that many wedding….I swear, I’m not thinking about this yet:-))
Good for you for trying to get the seating plan of the way early! It is NOT a fun way to spend the night before your wedding day. Just trust me on that one.
I’ve used weddingwire’s and have loved it. I would seat people as they RSVP’d… Definitely recommend it!!
nowi am freaking out! how do you already have rsvps? isn’t your wedding in july?!?
@kylydia: I don’t think that is horrible, but just a little advise I would ask a few friends to “spread the word” at cocktail hour or sometime before the reception so people don’t wait until the last minute to find their chair, thinking there is one assigned to them. FH and I have been to a couple weddings where we’ve ended up nowhere near anyone we knew because we didn’t know we needed to go claim a seat
@rhodeygirl: OMG, I haven’t even sent out invitations yet! LOL!
I was just playing around on MarthaStewart.com, and thought this looked cool. Don’t freak out!
See, I’ve never even been to a wedding with a seating chart! I think they must not be a big deal where I live.
I used WeddingWire, it was great!! And the whole seating thing was really surprisingly easy to do - we waiting for all the RSVPs, took one pass and then a few hours later were done!
This looks like it will come in really handy! I’m totally stealing it.
what ever happened to just letting people sit where -they- want to sit? I still don’t see any concrete reasoning for a seating chart.
Seating charts are such a pain in the arse!! We had trouble with 50 people and I couldn’t imagine doing 150!! I’m glad to hear of another good tool to help!
@Allie.C: I used to feel the same way! Most of the MN weddings I had attended didn’t do seating charts. After moving to the East Coast I went to more weddings that did and I still thought it was a bit of a hassel. Then, I went back to MN for a wedding and I really missed having a seating chart. Everyone was scrambling for seats and I ended up a table away from most of my friends and with a bunch of strangers. It was kind of a bummer 
Thanks for the tip! I have at least 5 months before I have to think about seating and I am already dreading it!
@ES123: Have you tried using a different browser? When I try to use Martha’s site at home, it just freezes up my computer, but when I tried using it in FireFox, it works just fine.
I think all of Martha’s tools rock! We won’t have a seating chart, but it’s still a fun tool to use to get a feel of the room layout and where to put what decorations and such.
Even though we had a big wedding w/out a seating chart the reception wasn’t chaotic…. until we had some confusion with the reserved tables we set aside for us/parents/siblings/bridal party. We didn’t have a head table. The DOC acted as if she had no clue where people were supposed to sit and failed to help the situation. I was really flustered having to deal with it (tired/hungry) when I had paid someone to handle this stuff. If you don’t have a seating chart please make sure to communicate to the bridal party EXACTLY where to sit. We should have been more clear on where to sit… it was the one major goof up from the day and it bothered me for awhile because I am weird like that
Thanks for this review. Do you think it’s better than Perfect Table? Which one should I use?
@Miss Hot Cocoa: I’ve never used Perfect Table, so I wouldn’t really know.
I think this one is really user friendly though, and kinda fun! Yes, I am a dork.
We used this seating chart for our wedding and it was wonderful! All our vendors loved it. The only problem we had is that you can’t set the width of rectangular tables (we had mix of round and rectangle) and the seats and width scaled with the length/diameter of the table. Just don’t rely on this alone to tell you how well the tables might fit together!
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Mrs. Powder Puff, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 25, Preschool Teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Career Services
Engagement Date: May, 2008
Wedding Date: July, 2009
Blogging Since: November 12, 2008
Venue: Outdoor ceremony, banquet hall reception
About Me: I am your typical Midwestern girl attempting to plan a sane, budget-friendly, fun wedding to the man of my dreams. I love shoes, laughing at “Platinum Weddings”, crafts, inspiration boards, candy, and basically anything I can DIY. While weddings can certainly be all-consuming, I honestly can’t wait until the ceremony is over and I can finally call Mr. Powder Puff my husband!
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