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.

Yup. I'm common and codependent. I've never been at a wedding where partners are not sat together. But then we don't shag each other's partners <ahem Rose ahem> so maybe we've less interest in meeting other people's partners.

It’s all so petty… The lot of them need their heads bashed together and told to grow up.

The monarchy has certainly lost its mystery… Can you imagine the history books… ‘by 2020 as the world was heading into a global pandemic and the political landscape of the UK was at its most fragile behind closed doors the Royal family were at logger heads over lipgloss, seating plans and funny looks’. Ffs!!

But if I'd swapped all the cards round before you'd even arrived.

How would you KNOW? And even if you saw a table plan at the front and got confused as to why it didn't match when you got to the table,
would you then make other people swap so you can sit next to your DH?

@ My comment was in response to someone insulting me for wanting to sit next to my husband. Just as you are insulting me now.
I usually post on tattle not here, and people are way nicer. So many insults.

He / they love to tell his / their truf

Really, it kind of depends who else was on their table. If it was family and William and Harry’s mutual friends, presumably everyone would have been absolutely fine with it, as they would have seen it as normal.

If it was the Hollywood guest list, they could easily have been delighted to increase their chances of sitting next to a Royal family member (it’s why they came to the wedding, right?).

I would follow the table plan. It is not up to someone else to change everything the couple whose wedding it is have organised.

@Serenster rather depends which member of the Royal Family. Would they really have been delighted to sit next to Andrew?

Harry and Meghan were married in May 2018. At that stage, yes, doubtless so. He wasn’t persona non grata for some time yet.

I go to quite a few formal dinners and spouses are always separated.

I don’t need to sit next to my husband as I eat most meals with him and would rather talk to different people. It mixes things up.

Does anyone know who Kate, Wills, Pippa and James were seated with?

I'm from another European country OP, and it's tradition to not sit next to your partner at formal dinners as well as dinner parties. But I'm not working class.

The whole book casts Meghan as a breezy, “take me as you find me” American - I have bare feet and ripped jeans no matter what, I hug people even if they don’t want to be hugged, I think it nuts that you’re formal behind closed doors, I don’t think it’s a big deal to share makeup etc etc.

But don’t you dare change up my table plans…

Or deny me immediate tiara access or my rights to say you have hormones going on

This
mov around later after the meal and speeches is different. Changing the place cards around and making the seating plan different is bad manners and rude

So, the table plan has you and dH together.

Someone has swapped then all round.

You walk up to table and find there are two separate seats left, one each for you and DH.

What do you do?

Insist everyone gets up and changes to "the plan"? ask someone to swap? What if they refuse?

Lots of weddings I've been to don't have the actual plan available, just a list of tables and names etc eg

Table 3
John and Jane Smith
Sarah and Frank Parton
Heidi Jones
Frank Peters
Katie Sharp and Gary Batterson

Maybe the singing seals told of great misfortune if the seating plans were not set in stone and people only allowed up for a pee.

Maybe a psychic told Willy and Kate to swap the seats

If we are making shit up - maybe William and Kate could not bare sitting next to each other.

But William was Best Man, surely he was on the top table?
When my DH was best man, he sat on the top table next to the Groom’s mum, and I sat on a table nearby with friends/family.

Because they did not agree with the American way of doing the seating plan?

It's not particularly American, but also it wasn't their wedding so it's not up to them to "agree" or not. I'd be fuming if someone changed all the place cards on a table at my wedding. People often put a lot of effort into working out who sits where.

You're right. William was manipulating the table plan so he could sit next to a prettier girl

After more than 30 years my DH still makes me laugh and we always have lots to talk about but are perfectly capable of sitting a few feet away from each other and- gasp- talking to other people.

and Kate joined in too as she's not from Bradford.

I think they call them irregular verbs.

She just wanted to sit next to the empty seat iyf the no-show so she could get double helpings, by pretending the guest had 'just popped to the toilet', she said she'll have the salmon....