Table Assignments & Reception Timeline

Wow I am shocked by both of the things he is saying. Lots of weddings do seating charts or escort cards and I’ve never heard of the venue dictating what time or in what order you have to do your reception. I personally would be pushing back on both and doing what you had planned.

Thanks Cindy,

It’s definitely nice to hear another’s opinion. We will definitely be fighting him on everything.

He can go sit and spin on a cactus. You have assigned seating if you want. Is he going to come physically stop you? Ugh. Anyway, he should be taking money for the venue and then gtfo of your face. Unless he is doing everything for the wedding, I don’t see why his input is needed. At all.

No way, you’re paying him. You tell him what you want and it’s his job to accommodate you. Most weddings have assigned tables. I’ve actually never been to a wedding where there wasn’t. As for putting you somewhere all your guest don’t fit, did he know in the beginning how many guests you were having? Or did you go over the buildings capacity? If you went over, it’s within his rights to charge you a fee for moving outside. However, if he assured you you’d all fit in the building and is now saying you won’t, I would argue for him to waive the fee.

View Quoted Comment Heather,

That is good to know. We’ve rented the entire property for the whole weekend plus the entire campground which is why it seems insane to charge us when we plan to do all the setup. At least I’m not crazy about the seating chart thing!

View Quoted Comment N,

Agreed! I knew weddings were stressful, but didn’t realize it would this crazy!

It's normal to do table assignments but he shouldn't dictate what you do with your wedding in general. For me I had a venue manager do the same where they dictated things for my wedding that weren't supposed to be that way and it was very small stuff but it's still annoying

Do you have a contract? If so, refer to that next time he tries to demand something or asks for more money. If you didn’t agree to it in the contract, you’re not bound by it. Push back. You are the paying customer here.

I'm not doing assigned seating at mines. We all are family so everybody can get to know one another. No groom or bride side. But he is crazy trying to make you do things you don't wanna do. Do you have a backup venue just in case?

With that many guest you should definitely do a seating chart. otherwise you'll end up with spacey tables cuz so n so wants to sit by so n so or dont want to sit by so n so . as far as the wanting to move it outside if your renting the entire property you should have use of the entire property with how you see fit. push back. your a paying customer and he cant break the contract.

No, he is wrong! MOST weddings have assigned seating. Why can’t you do a first dance before dinner & cake???? We did our first dance after dinner but danced for at least and hour then cut cake (guests are full after dinner. It’s not necessary to serve right away). Ugh.

Nope. Just nope. You are paying them it is YOUR wedding!! My venue gave me push back about my assigned seat, seated buffet. Said he's always done mingling, buffet style where no one has assigned seats or the method where the guests choose their dinner option on the spot. I was fuming. I said absolutely not. Idc what he did in New York where he came from. PA we do things differently. I wanted seated buffet because that's what works and that's what all our guests like and what our friends who previously got married did. FH basically had to explain it to him because I was so mad and shut down. Also I am not sure at all why he is trying to dictate your wedding event timeline as if it makes annnny difference to him if you cut the cake before or after dinner.