I am having a semi-formal outdoor wedding on family land. My guest list is large (Inviting about 500) but I know most of the people very well: they are friends and close relatives, not like 5th cousins twice removed.
For budgeting reasons, and stress reasons, I decided I did not want to have to rent, cart and decorate like 30 tables in the middle of a field, so I am planning to have a tent with the food and cake under it, and the reception will be cocktail or the guests can go back and sit on the chairs from the ceremony (the groom and I will sit in the gazebo where we were married, so the ceremony chairs should provide a good view of us. We will have tables for the elderly, and we will be serving heavy hours d'oeuvres.
The plan is to release the guests by rows, allow them to get their food (and pie) then let them sit back down in the chairs, or mingle around the wooded area near the reception and within a border of tiki torches. Do you guys think this will work or be unacceptable?