@LockdownDowner - well thank goodness she's agreed to be sensible with your family, even if it was so ungraciously done!
Honestly, I can't think why she would have ever considered that seating your recently widowed aunt away from all her family would ever have been a good idea - what an utterly insensitive and fuckwitted thing to have tried on!
The first wedding I went to after my split with my own fiancé (his doing) was incredibly tough, and if I'd been seated with strangers I would probably have left. As it was, I was with all my friend who were all very understanding and kept an eye on me. And that's not NEARLY as bad as losing one's loved husband forever!!
I'm still heavily shocked at some of the fuckwittery on this thread too - never mind all the lack of comprehension of the needs of your son, but the fact that YOU are expected to have a complete nervous wreck of a time keeping him in check, just to accommodate your niece's braindead "concept" - with your family seated all around, you have a chance to relax and perhaps enjoy some of the wedding yourself, rather than being constantly on hot coals waiting for the inevitable.
Some people seem to think you should just completely martyr yourself to the bridezilla's whims - I disagree entirely.
At least now you can relax and hopefully the wedding will be an enjoyable event for all of you!
I'd still get the bride's mother to check the seating plan the morning of the wedding though, in case she goes rogue and fucks you over at the last minute, knowing that you're coming so can't get out of it.
Someone asked why people who wouldn't like mixed tables feel that way - well personally it's because I also like to catch up with friends whom I may not have seen for some time, ditto family. I don't want to be making boring small talk - I HATE making small talk anyway - with people who likely couldn't care less about me. But even that would be marginally better than just being ignored completely, which has also happened to me before. I'm one of those people who seem to fly under others' radars - they just don't notice me.
At our wedding, we had a table plan with people who knew each other on each table, except for the "outliers" - but even then, they all knew someone else, so they were on a table with the people they did know. What I didn't do was arrange seating - I left that to them to decide on each table. And you know what, if they'd decided to change table, that would have been ok with me - honestly, who could summon the energy to care about that?? (thinking about the Christeningzilla here)
Madness.