Head table

2. Our venue also showed us a set up with both sides of the head table set up for seating, except for directly in front of the bride and groom seats. Opinions on this? I don't think I'm a fan.

Forgot to attach the picture.

How many people/tables are you expecting? We didn't do a platform and everyone could see us just fine with 120 people and 15 tables.

It may be an UP but I only had my bridal party up with me, even though half of them were married/engaged. Their SOs were at one of the front tables together and my bridal party only sat for the 45min it took us to eat and do toasts, then they were up and moving around the room with their SO

@Kay, minus the bridal party, about 130-140, at about 16-17 tables. FH also is with the unpopular opinion that we don't need dates up there, and I kind of agree.... It's a very short time, and all of the dates know other guests except for potentially one (a plus one given to my MOH for a date of her choice as she is currently single, which may not end up even attending), which FH's very friendly and outgoing mom said could sit at their table. I was a guest at a wedding in which FH was a groomsmen and I had to sit alone, and I hardly knew anyone at the wedding and I wasn't upset and still enjoyed myself during the dinner and got to know some new people. So I don't feel like not seating the dates would be the end of the world.

ETA: Words

I'm against splitting up couples. I am a very social person but I like spending

time with my SO especially at something romantic like a wedding.

As far as the platform goes, I don't like it at all. Kind of seems like you are on a stage looking down at your guests. You can definitely skip it.

Don't separate couples. It's the worst thing everrrr. Speaking from experience.

Sounds like what you are going to have is a king's table, which are not on a raised platform and include everyone's dates. i think those are nice, you can just sit on the side facing the room. people facing the other way can turn around for the toasts or whatever if necessary.

Sounds like what you are going to have is a king's table, which are not on a raised platform and include everyone's dates. i think those are nice, you can just sit on the side facing the room. people facing the other way can turn around for the toasts or whatever if necessary.

Do you have to have the platforms? I think it looks kind of odd to have an elevated head table. I have never seen that at a wedding.

Definitely don't separate couples. As common as a wedding party only head table may be, it is never fun for the significant other. Also kind of crappy that if some of your party is married to each other they get to sit with their SO, but everyone else is separated.

Don't separate couples.

Also every time I go to a wedding with the couples table on a riser I think it's weird as hell.

Nope, platforms are completely optional, just looking for opinions on whether or not it would look okay without them. All of the pictures the venue showed us of the set up include the risers, but I can think of a lot I can spend $240 on elsewhere.

As far as the married couples, IF we didn't seat dates (not saying we won't), they wouldn't be seated by each other anyways because we would seat BM's on one side and GM's on the other, they wouldn't be intermixed. It sounds like there may be only one date that we really need to worry about (the other three members have said they most likely won't bring a plus one), so it shouldn't be a big deal to seat them, but then it will just be a matter of HOW we will seat the head table.

You don't need a platform. Just another thing for people to trip on. Don't separate people from their dates so that you can sit on a platform for cheaper

I think you can safely skip the platform.

If you want to do a traditional head table, have the wedding parties's dates at a table near the front with extra seats so the wedding party can join them after dinner. Being in a wedding involves spending a lot of time away from your SO, so I don't think being separate for dinner is a huge deal.

@OHP.. you bring up a good point. One of the GM's and their date has a 1 year old daughter that they will most likely bringing, and the other GM and his wife have 2 kids. Where do the kids sit?

...if only FH would just agree to the sweetheart table...

All the 15 or so weddings I've been to had head tables. None had sweetheart tables. Perhaps it's a regional thing, but no one I know sees it as rude to separate the BP from their SOs. It's the norm here. You're only separated while eating

Whatever you decide to do, I am so happy to see these pictures as opposed to the stress you were feeling with the other plan. It's going to be GREAT!

@Fall Bride FFS, this post wasn't even ABOUT whether or not they would sit by their SO's, it was about opinions on the riser and thoughts on a head table seated at both sides. If you see in my original post I specifically said " in order to accommodate the remaining members of our bridal party and their dates, we would need a head table that seats 16 people, or 17 if my daughter sits at the table with us. " So the attitude can go. I've been on here long enough to know that it's "rude" to separate couples.

@QueSeraSera, I love your username! i have that tattooed on my foot! Maybe it is a regional thing. I too have never seen a head table with dates or children seated at it.

@OGA, thank you for addressing my question. This is specifically the type of thing I was envisioning.

@Nonna, Thank you! I am very excited. It is inside of an old mansion and I think it is going to be just as beautiful! SO Much less stress!

Honestly not sure if this is a shit idea but here it goes... What about a modified sweetheart table, just MOH (and date/SO) and Best Man (and date/SO) then you still have honored BP near you and you can seat the rest of the bridal party with their families. I've seen this before at weddings, which is where I got the idea. That way you aren't having a ginormous head table and nobody is separated from their families. I'll be honest the risers aren't my favorite, I've been to a few weddings where the BP are all up on risers and like a PP said, it really does feel like they're looking down on you. Plus I would hate to have anything extra to trip over.

IF. If. Because the norm around here is just the bridal party at the head table.