Table Assignments

The word "assignments" has the smaller word "ass" in it for a reason, I'm convinced. That's because assignments are a pain in your arse.  When we sat down to create table assignments, wine was necessary for that endeavor.

We began by printing out the list of guests, in 3 columns.  The columns were to save paper but also because we didn't need the names to be humungous.  As I was cutting up the names I realized it was a good idea to keep couples together.  Logically they will sit at the same table, so no need to separate them.

(last names skewed to protect the privacy of our guests)

Then we separated the guests into groups: friends & family.  Turns out our spread is pretty 50/50, which was a nice surprise.  From there, we went into further sub-groupings. Family from each side (groom/bride) logically went with their respective relatives, then friends from college, friends from work, and family friends.  We took care to consider age groupings, because while Mike's cool cousin can hang with the best of them, I'm sure she prefers to be with her peers.

Then the inevitable happened. We got stuck. 

You might not believe the complexity of making perfect tables of 10. Or maybe you've been there, and you do get it.  Either way, not everyone comes as a couple and not everyone can just be thrown in with people.  We shuffled. We did some math (106 people divided by 11 tables...). We consulted the oracle.

Eventually we had this:

And while it's not perfect, it will do.

How long will people sit there, anyways? Maximum an hour?

I honestly can't worry myself perfecting the groups.  They work, and people will be having a great time (and drinking too).

Next task at hand: creating the table "numbers"!

(which, sorry readers, will not be revealed until guests have a chance to see it with their own eyes first!)