Table plan at wedding

[BradfordGirl]

Apparently at Harry and Meghan's wedding reception the table plan followed the American protocol of sitting couples next to each other. William and Kate insisted on changing the table plan at their table and having couples sitting apart.

Poor, poor Harry. The unspeakable trauma of people changing the seating plan. It's a wonder how he managed to carry on with the reception. What fortitude.

@Alighttouchonthetiller William, Kate and Pippa were rude.
Of course they just got on with the wedding. What do you expect Harry to do? Attack William?

It’s an etiquette thing. Couples are always seated next to other people except while they are engaged or in their first year of marriage. IME it’s a ‘class’ thing and upper class people would be surprised to sit next their spouse and would think it naff and boring; more fun to sit next to different people - more sociable.

There's a bit of hypocrisy there.

We announced our pregnancy at Eugenie's wedding - aren't we wonderful!?

They changed their table round at ours - arent they evil swine??!!

It’s the UMC English way to split couples.

I have seen switching at a few weddings for a variety of reasons. Can’t get worked up about it

If it's true, I also think it's a class thing. As I said, technically it is correct etiquette even in the US, but other than the White House, I think very few people follow it.

I don't believe a word of it, anyway. He's unhinged and on his own planet. Astonished people are still defending the knob.

I tend to know what my husband is/has/will be up to, so we rarely sit together at a big table (we regroup and swap notes).

I think we might have sat together at a reception when DD was in a pram (so we could tag-team if she woke up).

At corporate do's, I would sit where we were put (unless other people wanted to swap).

Do you really believe every single thing that’s stated in this book?

Based on evidence on other threads, yes

I'm not sure what conclusion you want us to draw (if it is indeed true)?
I wouldn't do it but I wouldn't have announced my pregnancy at someone else's wedding either (and have been in that position not a hypothetical prediction).

I agree announcing your pregnancy at a wedding is also rude.

Exactly!!

Ignoring the topic, I find the whole idea interesting. I can’t think of anything worse than having to sit with people I don’t know, so find it an odd custom at a wedding

Tbh, I couldn’t get worked up about it. Plus, it isn’t clear whether the other guests at the table didn’t want to? If all in agreement, I don’t think it’s the crime of the century.

Surely they all know each other, and have been to each other’s weddings ad nauseam?

unless he mixed ap the Hooray Henries with rhe Hollywood lot but I can’t imagine it

So wouldn’t be sitting next to strangers, I mean

But they have denied it. It says in the book they denied it. So why do we think they have actually done it? Seems like a fairly baseless accusation tbh

I am more curious why we haven’t heard about the racist allegation made on Oprah. Because there wasn’t one? Or because it was the Queen or Philip and they knew it would be punchy to name them?

I would find it quite boring to be placed next only to people I knew, and particularly next to my DH who I get to talk to all the time (unless I knew everyone at the wedding obviously!). How else do you meet new people?
IME, it is a UC English thing - I went to a very high end wedding in the US and we were put on tables with our partners. The actual seating on each table was left to us and the Americans on our table were bemused when we decided not to sit next to each other (we only knew a couple of people at the wedding so it was a great opportunity to meet some more). I’m quite posh if that makes any difference 🤷🏻‍♀️😁

@HenryHooverIsMyDH It does not really matter our individual preferences, you don't go to a wedding and tell the whole table to rearrange where they are sitting on your table to suit your preferences.

My personal preference is to be seated next to a friend or my husband and then a stranger. It means if I am seated next to a dreadful bore I am not stuck only talking to them through the whole meal.

They have had to dig really deep to find negative things to say. Probably gone through the wedding album with a magnifying glass. I would have thought the free spirited hippie way would be to not mind at all where people sat as long as they were on the correct table. Or is only Meghan allowed to break the rules?

I think you can swap seats if others agree. It is reorganising the whole seating plan at your table to suit your preferences that is rude. That is not being free spirited, it is very controlling.

...I've never ever heard of this splitting couples thing....

Also, doesn't everyone just swap the cards around when nobody is looking? I know I did so I didn't have to sit next to a particular person.

I agree it would be rude just to rearrange the whole table (unless everyone agreed to do it perhaps), but did they actually do it I wonder?