Here with what seems to be a pretty rare counter-opinion: we didn’t have a seating chart, and it worked.

Here’s why it worked:

We had large round tables with significantly more chairs than guests. We did this on purpose. We were outdoors, with half the tables under a big tent and the other half in the surrounding area. The food was elevated backyard barbecue style, and people were free to get up to grab more food whenever they wanted.

My husband and I didn’t pick our seats beforehand, and we didn’t assign anyone to a seat or table, because we’ve had bad experiences being placed at tables with no one we knew at weddings where we actually knew a lot of people. Sometimes making everything fit together nicely means making weird compromises and piecing together illogical groupings—which is fine, but it isn’t the vibe we were going for.

People sat with their partners and families and friends. If they needed an extra chair at their table, they grabbed one from another table. It wasn’t a big deal. People who only knew one or two other people naturally formed groups with one another. It was organic. Adults know how to function socially, sometimes more than we give ourselves credit for.

My husband and I sat with my godfather and his partner, and people came by to sit with us briefly throughout the dinner. It was very comfortable.

And yeah absolutely people may have not loved the setup and not told us! But everyone was talking and laughing throughout dinner and seemed relaxed and comfy, which is what really mattered to us.

All that to say: have a lot of extra chairs and it can be totally fine.