seating and place cards: lessons learned

For the last wedding I styled, putting together the seating chart and arranging the placecards was a nightmare! A few thoughts that would have helped along the way:
1) ensure that you have EVERYONES Full Names (along with their correct spellings). Not just Aunt So-and-So or Cody's Parents....full names! Seriously, this will make your life soooooo much easier! Check out this article about simplifying the seating chart process via something turquoise.
2) Have an alphabetized list of all your RSVP'ed guests ( I would suggest one by first name and one by last name. Also, print out one by table, once you've gone through the process and established who is sitting where - THIS WILL BE IMMENSELY HELPFUL IN PUTTING OUT YOUR PLACECARDS, COME THE BIG DAY! )
3) On that note, if you are printing your own placecards, or are having them printed.....provide your list of guests in some semblence of order. Ensure your printer knows they are in a specific order, and that they need to be kept in and printed in that order (i.e. by table). Have them bundled and packaged specifically so there are no questions when they are to be placed.
4) Print extra BLANK placecards for those last minute surprise guests you were not counting on. For that friend who changed significant others since the invites went out or that family member who doesn't get the concept of returning the reply card.
5) Ensure you've left some room at specific tables for extra guests....unfortunatley, guests don't always realize that RSVPing really is a big deal and how much planning and prep goes into establishing your dream event. Plan for a few unexpected guests to show so no one is scrambling last minute to accommodate them.
6) Have MULTIPLE copies of your seating chart list available while you set up/the day of. The worst was going through a jumbled bag of placecards, trying to decipher who was who (as many names were incomplete (first only, or last only) or mis-spelled, and having one list to compare it to between 5 people. Learn from our mistakes! It's the difference between a job taking 30 minutes vs. 2 hours!