Reception & Ceremony in same space

Your venue may not like this FYI. I would talk to them first and foremost. And if you're doing round tables half of every table won't be able see you. Plus as a guest, it's weird.

Combo was the best choice for us. They included food, drinks, chairs, tables etc. All in one place, less stress.

It's private property so I'm not concerned with that . and yeah we were planning on doing round tables.

We are doing this, our wedding is small no more than 55 (including 10 kids/babies) in a very intimate forest wedding. We are arranging the tables to give people good views and putting our family up front. Haven't worked it all out yet but have been to weddings that have done this and enjoyed it, I was able to find my seat socialize with my table and relax. Then for the ceremony we were in place and were able to enjoy it and then get back to enjoying the event after without awkward moments of finding seats and standing in uncomfortable shoes. For us it also helps with our budget and spend more on favors, food, and wine and less on two sets of chairs.

I'm doing both in one venue. But the chairs will be placed in rows then converted during cocktail hour. Keeping the tables there during the whole thing will be awkward and everyone will have to be further away because of the table spacing.

We're having a very small wedding in a big space at a restaurant so we'll have the ceremony at one end of the room and reception tables at the other. They're going to use the chairs set up in rows for the ceremony and then move them to the tables for dinner.

I've heard pros and cons about both sides and it's just hard to figure it out. the problem is , that we don't want to have to rent 2 sets of chairs because the area is so small and the other place we could do the ceremony is literally on the other side of the lawn , like you can see it from the reception space , so we were gonna have the guests move the chairs to the tables ( but I have heard good and bad things about this as well) . I just don't know .

I don't have pictures to share but I've photographed weddings where this was done. The guests seemed to be comfortable and enjoyed it! I personally like idea as well.

Best wishes.

Edited to clarify : guests enjoyed being seated at table for ceremony and reception ... Not moving chairs. Please don't have your guests move chairs!

Why are the guests moving their chairs? I would be not happy to carry a chair across a lawn as a guest at a wedding. Won't you have people working the wedding? Im sorry not trying to be negative nancy over here. But I can guarantee 80 year old grandma Ethel is not going to be fond of lugging her chair. People really like to be close to the ceremony. I'm only having 60 people and I wouldn't even consider doing this for a second (but that's just me!) I want everyone to be near and kind of a part of it and not stretched and backs facing me and craning their necks and moving their chairs or carrying them across the lawn.

Please don't have your guests move their own chairs.

I am doing this much easier for guest in my mind 1 place to sit and relax

No we aren't having anybody work the wedding, it's a private property and small, I mean 100 people small, if that.

We are doing a horse-shoe type setup so there is really no issue with people facing away. I didn't want guests to have to move stuff since most have kids or are our grandparents. Can't see it great here but good enough I guess. That's the same venue (my future in laws house)

100 is not small. Even if you do 10 tops that's ten tables. I thought when you said small

You mean less than 50. That would probably be doable.

I would ask your venue if they've had other couples do this before. My venue has, and this is actually our backup plan if we are unable to do our ceremony outdoors. They set up the ballroom for the ceremony, then the venue's staff flips the room during our cocktail hour, and cocktail hour takes place in an indoor area that is located just outside the ballroom. Then, guests would be invited back into the ballroom for the rest of the reception. Some venues have a lot of experience with this kind of plan. Yours may have suggestions or options you haven't thought of for making a seamless transition.

I went to a wedding like this couldn't see or hear anything.

Ours was at the same location just different areas of that location for the ceremony and reception. It was gorgeous.

I just had my wedding and reception all in one place. I was going to have guest sitting at tables until my photographer told me how much of a nightmare it would be for photographs. The pictures will look awkward and the making a proper aisle to walk down with tables is difficult. When I meet with my photographer at the venue the whole setup for my ceremony and reception changed. She advised against having the ceremony in front of the huge windows because of lighting issues and as I stood in one of the windows she snapped a picture and showed it to me. There was a city dump truck on the road in the picture and a used car lot. She said she could edit them out but if you have a bad picture from the start editing is just a band aid. So I changed the ceremony area and made had chairs for my guest to sit and then had a reception area in the other half of the ballroom with tables and chairs. The ballroom provided all tables and chairs for us so their wasn't any moving of chairs. I would suggest you meeting with your photographer and seeing what they suggest. My photographer visited my venue at the same time that our wedding would be and timed photographs to be taken out. So like by 8:30pm she knew she wanted us to be at the covered bridge to capture some really dusk pictures. She knew when Todd was an hour late what part of the garden she wanted us to do our first look because of lighting. My photographer was worth every penny I paid her. Good Luck.

We had that option, unfortunately Fiance did not like that at all haha.

Wait.. If you're not having people work your wedding, are you self catering?