The Best Reception Seating For Every Wedding Type

While the wedding ceremony is very special, your guests will spend the majority of the event at the reception. The format of the head table and the rest of the reception seating is a common problem for brides. Learn about the choices for wedding dinner seating, including relaxed, formal, or somewhere in between.

Informal weddings have become the trend lately. In many ways, a relaxed celebration can be one of the best ways to bring two families together. Another nice thing is that the couple gets the chance to make their wedding more personal. One seating style which is popular for casual weddings is family style. Almost like a family holiday gathering, guests sit together at one big table and pass platters of delicious dishes. The advantage to family style seating is that it promotes interaction and conversation among all of the wedding guests. The updated version of the head table is for the bride and groom to sit in the middle of the long family style table, flanked by their wedding party.

Traditional dinner seating is expected for a formal wedding. Round tables seating 8 or 10 guests are a good choice for an elegant wedding reception. Plated dinner service is more gracious than a serve-yourself buffet. There is something about seeing people in their best attire and opulent wedding jewelry trying to balance plates of food that just does not look right. A long head table is a good option when your bridesmaids and groomsmen do not have spouses that you need to squeeze in. The wedding party may be mixed in among the rest of the guests, which allows them to dine with their significant others. One idea is for the newlyweds to sit at a standard round table, along with their parents, the best man, and the maid of honor.

We are seeing more wedding receptions with open seating for dinner. Truthfully, some brides just don’t want to deal with the dreaded seating chart, so they leave it up to their guests to deal with table arrangements. Unassigned seating is not practical for anything but an ultra casual wedding. People want to sit with their families, so before dinner guests race around trying to block off seats for their groups. It’s not pretty to watch the frantic scene as guests try to reserve enough chairs for their families. Then there are the guests who do not know many others at the wedding – they never know where to sit for dinner. Making a seating plan is the job of a host, and it is no fair abdicating the job. A good seating chart is the best way to make sure that families are not separated..

Then there is the matter of where the bride and groom should sit for the wedding supper. As traditional head tables have become less popular, the sweetheart table has become more common. The idea of the sweetheart table is that it is romantic for the bride and groom to share their first dinner together at their very own table. And it certainly does place a spotlight on the newlyweds, giving all the guests a great view of the bride in her gorgeous gown and pearl wedding jewelry. The drawback to the sweetheart table – and it is a big one – is that guests do not feel like they can approach the bride and groom when they are isolated at their own table. The romantic moments are important, but so is the chance for all of the guests to spend a few minutes with the bride and groom.