Weight capacity of wooden ceremony chairs

How heavy are they? At my heaviest, I was 320 and I never broke a chair.

Do they need special chairs or seating because of their weight, or is it because of your vision of a wedding ceremony (the words "uniform" and "gorgeous" are leading me to think this)? I understand the former, because that's just trying to be accommodating and quite thoughtful, but the latter? No. People are not props and your wedding is not a theatrical production.

Please clarify before everyone starts going at it trying to figure out what you mean.

If the weight of the guests really is a concern for the chairs and all the overweight guests really are VIP guests (and really truly obviously VIP guests, like FH's brother) I think this could be ok. But if you end up putting a random friend of the family in the "VIP" section because they need a bigger chair, everyone will know why and it will be just as bad as singling them out.

I'm really hoping the "uniform and gorgeous" is referencing the difference in chairs and not the people in the photos.

I will tell you: We also had garden chairs and two guests over 400lbs. The chairs didn't break.

I would really just talk to your venue about this. You probably aren't the first person to have this concern. If you do end up using different chairs though I would use them for the whole crowd, not just the first few rows

I think it would be easiest to just rent chairs that can accommodate the weight. If all the chairs can hold the weight then you get the uniform look you are going for and no one feels singled out.

Until you guys have lived daily life with a bigger person (around 400 lbs) and have experienced first hand how difficult it is to just fit into a booth at a restaurant, or how stressful it is to sit in a white plastic lawn chair (he declines a seat to save embarrassment), or what it's like to find a seat in a waiting room when they all are narrow chairs with arms, or figure out sitting in a tiny airplane seat (he buys an extra seat)...

I think she's being kind to think of this

@K&D I think it would be kind if she got seating that would accommodate all of her guests. I think making "special" seats in a "special" singles people out to make them feel even more uncomfortable.

... i can't imagine how mortified and pissed off id be if i arrived at a wedding, only to be escorted to some 'vip fat people' row. do you think your guests wont notice? they will, and they will be uncomfortable as hell.

banquet chairs are no more sturdy than white wooden chairs.

Oh my goodness... I can see how my verbiage has been taken completely out of context. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. And I definitely don't want to offend my guests. Please allow me to explain...

My FH's brother is overweight and has knee problems. We were concerned about him being comfortable in the wooden chair as well as its capacity to hold him. It's a genuine concern...we're not jerks folks. Also, my FH's aunt has the same problem and she can't sit in chairs that are too low. The venue has informed us that the weight capacity for the chairs are 400 pounds. Both of these family members are over that limit. So, again, we were considering their safety and comfort. And they would definitely sit on the "front row" regardless. Does that make sense? I sure hope so...you guys went in on me.

@TuRhonda I recommend adding "update page 2" to your title.

For a genuine concern for people who are already sitting in the front row - I recommend (like it seems you may have been alluding) the whole front row both sides being special seats if you can't make all the seats the same. Just don't pick two seats for the overweight guests of course. ETA, words are hard

Lifetime folding chairs are rated for use up to 500 lbs, and look fairly identical to other folding chairs if you have the right color. They're sold at costco, though you may also ask your rental company. I imagine you're not the first to have this concern.

I kept reading that as 'overnight' guests in wooden chairs and could not figure out why that mattered ...

It still doesn't matter. The venue chairs will be fine, they've seated all sorts of bodies through the years for their events I'm sure. Non issue.

@BlueEyeSmile thanks for the suggestion!! Yes, we were considering adding banquet chairs (which the venue says are more stable) to both sides of the front row. Both the brother and aunt would sit on the front row anyway, so we wanted to make it comfortable for them. We were seriously more concerned about them being embarrassed if we used different chairs. Wow! I didn't realize how rude my original question came across. I'll update the title.

Thank you for the clarification!

OP, I understand and appreciate your concerns and think you have a good solution. You could even space them out a little more to accommodate everyone comfortably.

Your update makes much more sense! If they are already sitting in the front row, I don't see how this would be an issue*. Have you talked to your venue about the situation?

ETA: Having more sturdy chairs for the front row*

@Kari thanks for your comment

@Niki, that's exactly what I thought until I called the venue and they said its 400lb max.

@TuRhonda you're welcome! honestly this is what it sounded like to me at first. But I'm glad that's not what you were saying. I'm glad you are trying to make your guests as comfortable as possible. I do recommend trying to make the chair difference as inconspicuous as possible. Best wishes!