So I was thinking....

....in a conversation with my mom about applying for internships, my mind took an interesting turn to face this important question: When planning a wedding, does one determine the seating arrangments before or after getting everyone's RSVPs (I always forget what that means. It's French, 'cause apparently it was decided that invitation confirmations weren't cool enough and therefore needed some je ne sais quoi to them, and says répondez s'il vous plaît)?
If one does it before knowing who will actually attend (though I heard recently it's bad luck to cancel on a wedding. Or was it just bad manners? I'll have to check on that), the danger of either having to rearrange at the last minute or, even worse, having half-empty tables (in that case, I feel like that's the appropriate answer to the half-full/half-empty discussion). However, if one does it afterwards, you'll definitely have to have time left in the last quarter of your probably already busy planning process to make up some kind of decent seating arrangement and curse everyone who decides to show up anyways/forbid them to stay for dinner, because no way are you touching that seating chart on your freaking wedding day. You probably burned it already, anyways.

So, yeah, I'd really like to know what's the way to go here.
And no, I'm nowhere near getting married, as I already ensured my mom when I blurted this out at dinner.

Love,

Rosy Smith