Once you’ve settled on a venue for your wedding, there’s a lot you can do when it comes to creatively decorating the hall so it matches the theme. You can also find creative ways to handle seating arrangements. Whether you have a small and cozy gathering of your closest friends and family members, or a large gathering, it doesn’t matter. There are plenty of different ways to handle the layout of your wedding reception.
How you choose to decorate the hall is going to be entirely up to you. There is no standard way to arrange your tables, but there are many tricks to make everything look unique and to make the hall feel more open and inviting. Let’s take a closer look at some creative ideas for seating arrangements at your wedding and reception.
How Can I Arrange the Tables at My Wedding?
There is no perfect wedding ceremony seating arrangement. While some couples want a very traditional look and feel to their seating arrangements, other couples love the idea of doing something unique. In fact, there are ways to make every seat in the reception hall the best one in the house. While some couples enjoy the approach of using long banquet-style tables that accommodate the entire wedding party, there are options for branching out in many other directions.
Take a few moments to review the confines of your venue, and think about how the space available there lends itself to creative seating arrangements. Likewise, if you’ve settled on an outdoor reception in a gorgeous locale, there are ways to let the beauty of Mother Nature contribute to how your tables get arranged.
Here are some ideas for how to approach the arrangement of your tables.
Banquet-Style Seating
A lot of couples enjoy the notion of a lengthy banquet-style table, where everyone dines together and there are no pre-arranged seating assignments — just find a place at the table that you like, sit down, and enjoy. For some couples, this takes the stress out of figuring out who to seat at which table, and who else to match them with. There’s an openness to the reception when everyone is comfortably seated at one long, family-style table.
Round Tables Seating
Round tables can typically fit 8-10 guests, so they’re a popular choice for creating a list of who you want to be seated at each table. Round tables are also ideal for large banquet halls, and you can decorate them with flowers or goodie bags for the guests.
Square Table Seating
Square tables can be popular in the opposite way: you can get intimate tables that seat between 4-6, but at the same time it gives your guests more arm room. Square tables are also popular if you have a larger wedding centerpiece, from special floral arrangements to a spectacular wedding cake, that you want to arrange the tables around.
Different Table Styles
It isn’t always necessary to have to settle on one type of table. You’re certainly free to mix them up, with round tables in some parts of the hall, square ones at others, and some family-style seating around the bride and groom. This is ideal for accommodating a large guest count, and visually it can be a lot more interesting for everyone who attends.
Where Should You Seat Your Parents At the Wedding?
You might want to give special consideration to your parents and grandparents and where they sit. You could choose to designate special parents’ tables or decide you want to mix them up into different seating arrangements. You know your family best.
The bottom line is it can be a lot of fun to think outside the box when it comes to your seating arrangements, and you could also create a seating chart that your guests can view as they enter the hall to determine where their assigned seating is. The seating chart can easily be integrated into your overall wedding décor in a way that pleases everyone.
Stunning Central Jersey Wedding Venue at Windows on the Water
At Windows on the Water, our professional wedding planners have years of experience helping brides plan every detail to bring their vision of a dream wedding to life. Our professional planners go above and beyond to create the wedding day that you’ve always envisioned.
Book an appointment online or call us today at 609-208-9474. See why Windows on the Water is the picture-perfect wedding venue for you.