Seating Protocol

A seating plan is important to avoid confusion or an awkward scramble to seats at the table. Your goal is to seat compatible guests together so that they may enjoy each other’s company. Here are a few simple tips to follow:

When there is only one table set, the host and hostess usually sit either at opposite ends or, occasionally, in the center of the table facing each other.

Additional seating considerations include:

• The highest-ranking man generally sits to the right of the hostess.
• The wife of the highest-ranking man or the highest-ranking woman sits to the right of the host.
• The second ranking man usually sits to the left of the hostess.
• Subsequent seating, after the above, should be arranged so that no two women or two men sit side by side. (This will prove difficult when the number of guests is evenly divisible by four. Should this happen, to help balance the arrangement, the hostess moves one seat to the left, while the host remains at the head of the table. The man of honor should remain to the right of the hostess.)
• As a general rule, spouses are not to be seated side by side.

The ranks of guests attending formal state dinners or other similar events are usually determined by the President or highest-ranking official of the host country. Typically the President or highest-ranking official would sit at the head of the table with the host or hostess to his or her left.

Try to seat guests in a manner that best encourages pleasant conversation. By arranging seating ahead of time you generally put your guests at ease because they know where the host would like them to be seated.

For the convenience of all of your guests, seat left- handed guests at the end of the table so as to avoid the “bumping of elbows” with his or her right-handed dinner partner.