Sign by Morgann Hall on Etsy

A few years ago, when one of my university friends was planning her wedding, I checked in to see how things were going. “We’re doing things a little differently,” she said. “You might think it’s weird.” I doubted that – after all, I believe couples should do what’s right for them. “There are no groomsmen or bridesmaids,” she said. Makes sense, I thought, if that’s what you want. “There aren’t formal speeches – but there’ll be periods where we’ll have an open mic.” I wondered how that would work, but thought it was a fun idea (it was). “And we’re not having assigned seating.” Wait, say what now? I mean, I’d been to plenty of events where you weren’t assigned a specific seat, but you did get assigned a table, but she was talking about no direction at all. A seating free-for-all. Table anarchy! How would that even work? Would it be like a game of musical chairs or (shudder!) the scramble to get on an Easyjet flight? I’ll be honest, I was kind of dreading it, and I totally made sure my friends and I had done some strategising about nabbing seats together. I worried about getting stuck on my lonesome. The funny thing is, that when the day came around, it turned out to be so not a big deal. A table had been reserved for the family and a few close friends, and everyone else just made themselves comfy. In fact, it was kind of brilliant and really in keeping with the laid back vibe of both the couple and their wedding. So since then, I’ve been a lot more open to the idea of unassigned reception seating, which I’m noticing a few more couples choosing these days. You only need to Google it once to find out this is kind of a controversial wedding etiquette topic, so today on SBB we’re rounding up the pros and cons, and helping you with top tips and wording for if you do decide that unassigned is the way to go for you.Read More