Bride and Groom Seating

Considering your intimate ceremony, I think sitting with your guests is fine.

Considering your intimate ceremony, I think sitting with your guests is fine.

You're doing exactly what we're doing! Small wedding, roughly 40 people. Yes, we're planning on doing just a sweetheart table. This allows our bridal party (2 guys, 2 girls) to sit with their partners which we think they will enjoy.

Plus I've read the other positive to the sweetheart table is it gives time for just you and the groom to be together.

We aren't doing a head table either. We are sitting with my parents and my fiancés parents for a little family time.

I've seen this--totally reasonable for you to sit with parents or close family members.

We only had 46 guests at 8 round tables. My immediate family at one and his immediate family at one. Rather than choose which family to sit with, we did a sweetheart table. But because of our small venue, I could basically lean over and talk to my family and he could do the same with his. We weren't up on a stage or on display. We also didn't didn't want too much fuss and this worked out really well. Just wanted to give you an option to think about since you will have a small wedding like ours.

My couple last week did exactly this; they had a table for 8 with their parents, their MOH and BM, but it was a 60' round like everyone else's.

Great feedback ladies. I think I just needed that reassurance that this idea was not impractical. We are planning all the tables to be the same size. We are thinking at our table we will sit with my mother and father, his mother and my grandmother(last of our grandparents). We will have 6 at our table and the other tables 8. Do you think that will look weird if they are not all even people at the tables?

Hi Bride2b, no I don't think that will look weird. What I'm doing is having our sweetheart table, and about 7 tables for guests. At each table I have 1 - 3 empty seats. We had to be considerate when planning out our seating plan because certain relatives wouldn't be comfortable sitting too close to one another.

My mother suggest having the empty seats rather than trying to pack everyone in because then you can face people to have a view of the bride and groom (no one with their back to you) and then later in the evening people can get up and sit at other tables if they wish to talk to other guests. She got a lot of compliments doing this at her wedding, so I will do the same thing.

Hope this helps!

No

Thanks again ladies

I think it would make sense, if you sat at a table with both of your parents. However, your parents might want to "host" their own tables so you should check with them.

We did that. At the luncheon after the ceremony, everyone sat at one big table. At the at-home reception, we sat at a table that was just like all the guest tables. We invited people who had been helpful with setting up the reception to sit with us.

At my son's wedding, the couple sat with both sets of parents.

That is great to be able to sit with your parents. I think that having empty seats at your table is fine. Our situation was different. We each have 2 grown children and he has 5 grandchildren. Only my parents are living. So my immediate family filled one table and his filled another table!

Another option would be to have a large U share table, like a King's table but attached. I have been to a semi formal dinner with this seating and it was great.

We are expecting 60-65 guests and will have eight 60" round tables at the reception. We will sit at one of the tables with our parents and siblings. We aren't royalty, we just want to hang out with our family and friends.

We did a head table. All the BM and GM and their dates. So glad we did!

We did the same thing. We sat at a table with our BP, their dates, and a couple other close friends. Then we put each set of parents at a table with their closest family members. It worked out great. We didn't want to be by ourselves because we wanted to chat with our guests and we find it really rude to separate the BP from their dates. Esp since the only BP member with a date was my MOH who is married and her husband is a good friend as well but wouldn't really know anyone else. I would never have stranded him like that!

The tables don't all have to have the same number as long as it's close. Once there's a bunch of people in there you won't even be able to tell that the tables aren't even. Plus, keep in mind if your dress has any volume to it you may need a bit more room than an average guest.

FH and I both feel like a sweetheart table is kind of a waste of space and we decided not to separate our BP from their dates. All of the rectangle tables are going to be used for buffet and our guest book. So, we are sitting with our parents and siblings at a round table.