Seated Dinner vs Extended Cocktail Hour

Anywhere from 25-40% of the ppl you invite will not show up, either by rsvp no or just not showing up....account for that. you might get 140 people or 100 people. Assigned seating is perfect. If you like chaos and mingling, go for it. If you like sedate and more organized and less movement, well then sit down! If you have a lot of older people, they like sit down. If you have a lot of young, party, merry, social people, well they like to talk and mingle!....It also depends on whether you want to be the sole center of attention and have everyone looking at you or concentrating on their food. ;p

Yum! Jenn you are making me hungry! We didn't do a seating chart and I guess we weren't there when our guests tried to find seats so I don't know if there was chaos or not. People seemed relieved though when I told them there would be no seating chart. I think my family would have just ignored it anyway LOL.

Oh I have to add we only had about 85 guests, I think for bigger weddings a seating chart is a good idea but for smaller ones not so necessary.

Oh, okay, they will have seats then! THanks for clairifying Jen! My only concern with the extended cocktail hour (if it's close to dinner time) is that guest will fill up on the horD'oerves and not eat a lot of the meal provided for dinner. That in turn would be wasted food=wasted money. However, if your ceremony is early, say between 12-2, and you are having cocktail hour right after, and supper is served between 6-7, then yes, the hor'Derves is a great idea. So, basically what I'm trying to say is, if there is little time from ceremony ending to cocktails and supper (Like ours, Ceremony at 3 cocktails at 5, supper at 6) The guests should be fine with out finger food. But if it's a longer wait between the cocktial hour and dinner, then maybe some light hor'derves is a good idea..gosh I hope this all make sense

I agree yada - if i go with extended cocktail hour i think i may do the seating chart anyway, but if I get less than 130, I may go with the sit down. But after hearing from everyone, Im not gonna let it bother me as much as it was....i was stressing over this...B/c i absolutely love the venue and everyone will be together having a good time. Thank you everyone for your input

Boy, I should really read better! LOL The hor'deroves are passed before and during supper, okay, I, personally, think that is going to be too much food, and a lot of money will be spent on food not eaten. I hope you find ALL my advice helpful..even though I didn't completely read your Previous post..

As a guest I prefer buffet. I like to be able to control what goes on my plate. If you get a bunch of picky eaters like me or people who eat light that can leave a lot of wasted food with a sit down. Also if you have hungrier folks they can get seconds after everyone else has gone to the buffet.

Jen, was your venue Whispering Pines? I wonder if you still follow this thread so many years later, but I'd love to find out what set-up you opted for!