Seating charts and such

After attending many weddings where tables weren't assigned and having to go through that whole 'first day of school, where do I sit' feeling, I'm a big believer in designating where people should be seated for dinner receptions. I don't agree with the people who say that it's rude to tell people where to sit, because as a guest I ultimately want to feel comfortable and have a good time when I'm at a wedding, and getting stuck at the geriatric table or with a bunch of people I don't know (or even worse getting separated from FI because there's not two seats together at any tables) is not my idea of a good time. I'm not doing assigned seating with the individual names placed at every place setting, but I am going to have table assignments to guarantee that people who should be seated together are sat together and people who don't need to be anywhere near each other (certain members of my extended family!) are seated as far away as possible from one another. I think if I'm smart about placing people who know each other and who have similar interests together at the same tables, the night will be a lot more fun for everyone without all the awkwardness of guests wondering where they should sit. In my opinion seating charts add structure to an otherwise chaotic portion of the reception! Below is an example of the kind of seating chart I'm leaning towards. A framed seating plan seems much less time-consuming and more organized than coming up with cutesy individual escort cards for everyone. I'm going to be DIYing the table numbers using wooden craft numbers, a bit of stain, and brown glitter.