Which side do you put your families on?

I never even thought about them being able to see our faces so I’m interested in hearing some answers lol.

View Quoted Comment Yeah neither had I, which is why I’m wondering if this is actually a Thing or if our coordinator just made it up hahaha

We are not making anyone sit on a particular side. We are just reserving the front rows for family. I never thought of the opposite side thing though, that's pretty interesting.

We're doing open seating during our ceremony. We figured we're all going to become family so there's no need to have sides; we also aren't religious.
What your coordinator recommended does make sense: I've never thought of it that way. I would recommend speaking to a family member and getting their input as to which side the family would sit on.

I’ve attended dozens of weddings and never seen the parents on the diagonal side. I guess what your coordinator is saying makes sense though about being able to see faces.

I never heard of this, but I consider myself a fairly "old school, traditional" sort of bride. In non-Jewish ceremonies, bride is on the left and groom is on the right, with their "guests" lined up behind them (bride guests left, groom guests right). I knew that it was switched for Jewish weddings, so my assumption is like yours, bride guests on right, groom guests on left.

Having said that, I know a lot of couples nowadays are going with open seating for the ceremony, allowing the guests to choose which side they sit on. I'm not doing that. So, I guess you're free to do whatever you like. Perhaps your coordinator isn't as familiar with traditional Jewish weddings?

I would go with whatever makes you most comfortable. I'm doing the traditional seating.

View Quoted Comment That is good to know, I haven’t been to many traditional weddings (the last one I attended was in the private room of a restaurant and people just sat at their tables during the ceremony lol) so I have no idea what is typically done 🤷🏻‍♀️

View Quoted Comment Yeah regardless of who is on the right and who is on the left I feel like it makes sense to have our respective families on our respective sides. I mean, we are doing open seating for everyone else and sides don’t matter for that, but just for the front row which is assigned I do feel like it is weird to have his family behind me and mine behind him...

I've always seen the bride's family sit on the side she stood on, and groom's family on the side he stood on. I've never heard of them being opposite, but it does make a bit of sense. I'd still sit your family on the right though.

I guess that makes sense, but I've always seen the family sit directly behind whoever they're related to.

View Quoted Comment

Yep that's what I assumed! But it was never something I put much thought or paid much attention to so I wasn't sure if I was wrong in that assumption haha. It seems not

We are doing exactly what your coordinator said. Our families will be opposite of the way we are standing that way we can each see our parents and vice versa.

We will have a sign telling people they can sit anywhere except the first two rows(they’re reserved for close family). But brides side usually sits the left and grooms on the right.

In our cultural traditions, the families sit or stand to the sides, B family behind her, G family behind him, as bride and groom stand facing each other, not side by side. And guests not family sit to one side of B and Groom. The person marrying them stands on their other side. This comes from old traditions where families present the child they as a family raised ( not just parents) who is now ready to marry ( not given away.) At the end they step to a dwelling, symbol of home of husband and wife, now their own family. . . . My husband was raised in an Italian Catholic family, but we did not marry in church. There was a mantle and fireplace in the Inn. Chairs were set up with 2 aisles, so we did the walks from one side to meet in center. Still the question came up, which side B and which side G. My mom, FMIL, Justice of the Peace and grandmother were present to talk set up. My MIL said, as far as I am concerned, the woman of the household are always right about everything, so that is where the bride should be. We all laughed, agreed with her. Never told that to my hubby til after the wedding. He is of the, stand where I am told group, as he has been in a huge number of weddings, mostly Catholic, Jewish, and secular. And as far as he knows, everyone tells him different at every one. So, I was right. As usual. 😊

Our families will be in front and everyine else will sit wherever, because we are joining families and don't want to segragate people to one side or the other

My guest can sit any where for the ceremony we are not divding sides. Do the one you like best

Due to not being Jewish, I googled.
The Knot says she's wrong.

I'd agree with her on sides but not faces if this was a non-Jewish wedding.

I tried to attach a screenshot. But it wouldn't attach. Here is a link instead.

https://www.theknot.com/content/jewish-wedding-ceremony-seating

At my future brother-in-law’s wedding (a Jewish wedding), the families sat on the opposite side of the bride/groom for the reason your coordinator gave: to see their faces. That was the only wedding I’ve been to where it’s been a “thing”. However, I think that’s what I’ll do at our ceremony because I’d rather have my family look at my face than the back of my head.

Mine sat on my side and couldn’t see me, so I learned the lesson— At my brother’s wedding a few weeks later I made us switch sides last minute so that we’d be able to see his face.