Ceremony Guest Seating

Whether your wedding ceremony is in a church, synagogue or outdoors, friends and family of the bride, groom and parents are traditionally seated in different positions, you need a plan...

Often the first pew is left empty if someone from the bridal party needs to sit down during the ceremony.

Parents of both sides of the couple sit in the first or second pew on their respective sides.   Grandparents are seated in the next pew, next to the isle alongside siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles etc.  

Pews may be reserved for immediate family members of the bride and groom, or any other honoured guests such as the family of the flower girl, ring bearer or god-parents etc.  Pews may be reserved by marking them with flowers, reserved signs and ribbons, or the ushers may simply seat the guests behind the reserved pews. Consider including pew cards in the invitations of the guests who are to be seated in reserved areas. When guests arrive at the ceremony, they can simply present their pew cards to the ushers to be seated in the correct area.

Elderly guests should be seated near the front and guests in wheelchairs or on crutches should sit at the end of a pew near the aisle.

Ushers

Enlist a few of your groomsmen to be your ushers, or you ask some of your relatives or friends to seat your guests. Generally one usher for every 50 guests is sufficient.  If you are having an intimate ceremony, you may not want any ushers at all.

Let your ushers know on which sides of the aisle to seat the bride's and groom’s family. Consider preparing a map of which family members are to be seated where and print it out for them to have on hand.

Ushers will ask the guests if they are a friend or relative of the bride or groom to determine the correct seating. If guest are friends of both the bride and groom, they get the best available seat.

If female guests arrive without partners, male ushers may offer their right arm to escort them to their seat, however it is also acceptable for your ushers to greet guests at the door and lead them to their seats with a ‘please follow me’.  

If one family has many more guests than the other, guests may sit together without assigned sides to even out the seating and fill up the seating area from the front to back. The usher may let the guests know that both families are sitting together and then show them to the best available seats.

When seating guests, tell your ushers to comply with any requests by guests who specifically request to sit on bride's side or groom's side as there will be plenty of  other guests that will be ready to be seated without designating which side they prefer and even up the number of guests on each side of the aisle.

Christian Weddings

The bride's family and friends are seated in the first pew on the left side of the church facing the altar and the groom's family and friends sit in the first pew on the right. For churches that have two centre aisles, the bride's side sits on both sides of the left aisle; the groom's side sit on both sides of the right. The parents of the couple sit in the centre section; the bride's on the left and groom's on the right.

Jewish Weddings

For Jewish weddings it’s the reverse to Christian weddings, with the bride's guests sitting on the right (the side the bride stands on as she faces the rabbi) and all parents remain standing under the Huppah (a heavily ornamented canopy) throughout the wedding ceremony.

Divorced Parents

If the parents are divorced, then the seating becomes a little more complicated. If the divorced parents are still great friends, then they may sit together at the first pew as if they were married. Their new spouses or guests would sit in the reserved section behind the first pew. If there is animosity between the divorced parents (and unless the father has a closer relationship with the bride or groom), the mother sits in the front pew with her spouse or guest. The mother's immediate family members sit directly behind her and the father and his family sit behind them. If the mother is not close with the new wife, the new wife may need to sit even further back — outside the reserved section.

Widowed Parents

If a parent is widowed, he or she may have someone close such as a companion, a special friend, or family member sit beside them.

Latecomers

Guests who arrive after the bride's mother has been seated (generally less than 10 minutes before the ceremony begins) should not be seated by the ushers. The seating of the bride's mother signals that the ceremony is about to begin.

Late arriving guests can sit in an empty pew behind the other seated guests. If the procession is already under way, late arriving guests should remain at the rear of the seating area until the wedding party reaches the altar and then find a seat.  Consider having an usher at the back of the ceremony venue to help guests that arrive after the procession is complete.

After The Ceremony

Guests should remain in their seats until ushers have escorted the family of the bride and groom, including grandparents and other close relatives out. Ushers may then stand at each pew, beginning at the front, signalling guests to leave row by row.