As wedding reception emcees, we see a LOT of different seating arrangements. There are a number of options to choose from with varying levels of planning necessary. Our friends at TheKnot.com said it best:“If you’re having 50 guests to a buffet, you may or may not want to give people specific seating assignments. But if you’re having 100 guests or more and serving a seated meal, you’ll want to make sure everyone’s got a specific place to sit. Why? For one, people like to know where they’re sitting — and that you took the time to choose where and who they should sit with. It’s also helpful if you’re serving several different entree choices, because the caterer and wait staff can figure out beforehand how many chickens, filets, or veggie dishes a given table gets because they (you) know who’s sitting there. Read on for tips on how to seat neatly.“From an entertainment standpoint, we also notice that the placement of the speakers is often something that gets overlooked. Depending on the way the venue is setup, often times, the DJ booth is placed in the last available corner. Us DJ’s are ok with being completely out of the lime-light as it is YOUR wedding, NOT ours. But, the placement of our speakers requires a little more thought. We want everybody to be able to hear the toasts, announcements and of course the music you’ve chosen but we absolutely do not want to blow anybody’s eardrums with too much sound.Sometimes, the venue is designed in a way that we HAVE to raise our volume a little higher so the guest on the opposite ends of the room can still hear. But all too often, the seats next to the speakers happen to be the grandparents or other elderly guests that may already have a tough time communicating with each other over the background music.Our suggestion: Contact your DJ when designing your seating arrangement. Chances are, (especially if you’re getting married on California’s beautiful central coast) we know the sound dynamics of your venue and can tell you where our speakers will likely be setup. Perhaps then you can choose to seat the younger kids, or your rowdier friends to sit closer to the speakers where they wont be as affected by the louder music. Hey, they may even enjoy it and be more likely to bring that energy out to the dancefloor once things really get hoppin’!
