Indoor/outdoor

I would definitely ask about moving tables around. Our wedding is in the fall in the Midwest and there’s no way we can predict the weather. I would feel better knowing I don’t have to worry about that.

I am getting married in two weeks in the northeast and will be having my ceremony in the reception area. They have a tulle divider so no tables are visible and then cocktail hour is in a different area so they can set up the reception. Honestly though I have been to a wedding where I was sat at my seat for dinner during the ceremony and it wasnt a big deal.

I went to a wedding last fall where we stood for the ceremony outdoors. It was a casual, short ceremony. I thought it was kind of cool.

I think that's a good idea to push the tables back and bring them out during cocktail hour

I’ve seen a number of weddings of 4 weddings where people have sat at their tables, it never goes over well. It’s impossible for everyone to have a good seat to see the ceremony and then once the ceremony is done it’s hard to get people up and mingling again for cocktail hour.
I’ve been to a wedding where they had enough chairs for like half their guests (outdoors) and all the friends stood. I don’t know if it was intentional but it made the wedding feel very casual. Everyone was talking about chairs, are more chairs coming? Why don’t we have a seat? Blah blah all the way up until our friend walked down the isle.
It’s all a tough call. I’m getting married in Chicago on May 2nd and we kinda plan to get married outside but I think it will be too cold. There’s no expense to change it last minute but I don’t like the idea of not knowing exactly what is going on. What is the average temp for where you’re getting married for that day? Look back a couple years and then make your best judgement call. If i decided outside and I had to pay extra for the chairs, then I’m getting married outside! Yeah if it’s snowing ok we will go inside, but a little chilly? Let people know it’s outside and they will come prepared.

We are doing an outdoor ceremony but not at our venue. We are only renting a small number of chairs for the ceremony as it will be quick (likely 15 minutes or less) so only our immediate family and a few that we know won't be able to stand up for 15 minutes will be having a chair. I put a note on our wedding website that we are having a SHORT ceremony outdoor with limited seating but plenty of standing room. I also included a note for the ladies that they may want to reconsider heels if they will be at the ceremony site.

As for your plan B-as long as the reception venue has a place for the guests during the switch from ceremony to reception, I think changing it around would be fine. It might be awkward, though, if the guests are still present for the switch. If that is the case I would just have the guests sit in their dinner seating for the ceremony.

Hi ... We are doing our wedding outside as well. We doing a very short ceremony on the beach and we are not going to even have chairs for it . the entire ceremony should only be a 15 min and the beach is directly across from our venue . We are such a tight budget trying to save more for the down payment on a new house then spend so much on a wedding . Are you having a theme ? We are doing rustic for ours . I found a lot of really cute decorations for cheap

https://rusticbridalsupply.com/collections/rustic-collection/products/vintage-jute-burlaps-with-lace-roll

Found these cute little bows to dress up the boring rental chairs and this really cute donut board for our desert table .

Happy planning

donut holder

https://rusticbridalsupply.com/collections/rustic-collection/products/rustic-wedding-donut-wall-decoration

My aunt had her wedding and ceremony in the same room. Everyone sat at the tables they were eating at and it was a really nice wedding. No one complained about not being able to see and no ome said it was weird.
I've been to weddings where there were no chairs and that didn't seem to go over so well. People were wondering where chairs were, kinda confused about what was going on, and even though they were short ceremonies, people who showed up before the start time started complaining about standing for so long-especially women in heels

We are having an indoor/outdoor wedding next year. We are incredibly lucky because our catering vendor has a good working relationship with the chair rental that we can cancel the morning of and get our money back.

That being said, if we do have to cancel the outdoor portion we'll need a room flip which will also cost money. So if you do end up doing a room flip, keep in mind it might be a similar cost to the outdoor chairs

I don't think it's tacky. I love in the Midwest and my outdoor wedding is in October. However, if the weather is too bad, we are having it at the reception site.

My venue automatically suggested this for indoor ceremony and would do it for zero cost. After the ceremony they would coach people to the cocktail hour on the deck outside while they swapped the room around.

Yes like Amy said they can move the tables back during cocktail hour.