Sweetheart table vs head table
Where the two of you sit sets the tone for the whole room. The choice comes down to a sweetheart table for just the couple or a head table with the wedding party, and each one changes the rest of your seating.
The sweetheart table
A sweetheart table seats just the two of you. It gives you a quiet moment together, a clean photo with no one behind you, and it frees the wedding party to sit with their own dates and friends.
The trade is that you spend the meal apart from the group, and the wedding party now needs seats out among the guests, which is where most of your seating work moves.
The head table
A head table seats the couple with the wedding party, usually along one side facing the room. It keeps everyone who stood up with you together and gives the room a natural focal point for toasts.
The trade is that partners and dates of the wedding party either squeeze in or sit elsewhere, and it is a longer table you have to seat in a deliberate order.
How each one changes the room
A sweetheart table pushes the seating work out into the guest tables, since the wedding party now sits among everyone else. A head table pulls it into one long table you seat in order, left to right.
Either way, label the table clearly on your list. Seatwright reads Head Table or Sweetheart as a table label just like a number, so it prints the right cards and lists the table on the chart, whichever you choose.
Related reading
Who sits at the head table
You have picked a head table over a sweetheart table. Now one long table has to be filled in a deliberate order, and a few plain conventions make it painless.
Wedding seating chart etiquette
There is no seating police, but a few common conventions make the room flow. Treat these as starting points, not rules you have to follow.
How to make a wedding seating chart
The RSVPs are finally in, and now a hundred names have to land at a dozen tables. Here is a straightforward way to build the chart without moving sticky notes around a wall for a week.
Keep going
Place cards
Place cards sit at the seat itself. Seatwright groups your guests by table and prints one card each, with the meal choice underneath the name if you added one.
Seating chart
One poster by the door lets everyone find their seat at a glance. Seatwright lays out your whole list alphabetically with each guest's table beside the name.
Wedding
The seating took weeks. The paper should take an afternoon. Paste your final list and Seatwright lays out the whole day-of set at once.
Micro wedding
Twenty of your favorite people around a few tables. Small does not mean unassigned, and the cards still make it feel done.
Questions
What is the difference between a sweetheart table and a head table?
A sweetheart table seats only the couple. A head table seats the couple together with the wedding party. Both are traditional and correct, so it comes down to your taste and the shape of your room.
Is a sweetheart table rude to the wedding party?
No. It is a common choice, and many attendants prefer sitting with their own date or friends over a formal head table. Just be sure to seat each of them somewhere they will enjoy the evening.
How do I set up either table in Seatwright?
Label the table Head Table or Sweetheart on your list. Seatwright treats a name as a table label the same as a number, so it prints the place cards and shows the table on the chart with the rest of the room.
Paste your list, see it laid out
When the plan is done, Seatwright turns your guest list into the whole day-of paper set in one pass.
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