Hi Mrs. KimKim.....

Using an excel spreadsheet worked for me - it was just easier than writing it out on paper - making changes was fast.

Here are some suggestions:

First ask your parents and his parents who they would like to sit with.  They should be able to enjoy the day as much as possible with their best friends/closest family members.

Next, put all the logical groups together - friends who know each other/relatives/co-workers, etc.

Now you have the oddballs left over - the ones who won't fit at "their" table or who don't know other people.   With those, you just do the best you can.  Put similar ages together, fun people and quiet people, maybe 2 couples with kids together, etc.  If you can, talk to some of them ahead of time like I did.  "Jay, I"m sitting you with my friend Lisa and her husband.  They love Bruce Springsteen as much as you do." to help break the ice.

Remember, nothing is permanent until the wedding day.  Know that you will have to keep making changes until the last RSVP-ignorer is heard from.

It turned out to be easier than I thought.  Don't think of it with dread, make it a game like a jigsaw puzzle.  Vodka helps a lot!!!

(and I totally disagree with the above poster.  Open seating for a wedding of 315 people?   I don't think so!)

It does make it much easier on your guests to have assigned tables. Pretty much once the party is bigger than one or two tables, it becomes tricky trying to figure out where to go. Guests like to be told. The less you have to think about it, the happier you are (or, I should say, I am).

Whether you use Excel, response cards, sticky notes, whatever, depends on your personal preference. Cosmo's suggestions are all excellent.

When you sit back and look at your list objectively, I'm guessing it's not as daunting a task as it seems now. Natural groupings tend to work themselves out - let them. Once those are out of the way, you'll feel much better about how much more you have to do and you'll be amazed at how quickly it goes. Good luck!