Food and Cakes
mrbarclay
member
Seated vs. Standing Reception

I found the reception place of my dreams which is a historic mansion with tons of character between its 7 rooms on the main floor, all at our disposal. We will have about 150 in attendance. If we do a seated dinner, we will be packed in because of the seperate rooms, but we'd fit. I would prefer to do a standing reception with a buffet and/or stations setting random sized tables and chairs around the house and outside. Do you feel it is necessary to have a seat at a table for every guest?
Re: Seated vs. Standing Reception
I would want to have a place to set my food and drink at so I could eat it and visit with the other guests. You really need tables for everyone also.
I had looked into having my wedding at a historical house, but we have alot of kids in the family which will be invited, and it has been my experience that historical sites and kids do not always mix well.
Also, with all those different rooms, it will be difficult for you to do certain things: the cake cutting, toasts, etc., with everyone present. When my MOH got married, their reception was divided into two different rooms so alot of their guests ended up leaving early because they were not as close to the Bride and Groom and missed some stuff.
If I don't have a table to eat my food over, I'd be super annoyed.
Unless your venue is the streets of Manhatten and you're serving water dogs, I want a chair and a table to eat with, please.
Ditto this. If I'm uncomfortable, I'm going to stay just long enough to say congratulations and talk to a few people, then I'll skedaddle.
We are having our wedding at a historic mansion also. Similar to your description. We will have 135 guest. The mansion has a garden area. We plan to have a cocktail hour in the garden area. As for as Dinner, it will be served in the main house. We will use all the rooms. Each room will be set up for dinner. Everyone will have a seat. So, guest will eat in different rooms, but everyone will be seated. Once dinner is over we plan to move to another part of the property for dancing, cake cutting and etc. We will also supply more food to our guest, but it will small cocktail items. We will have counter height tables and stools set up for the guest. So some will be sitting and some will be standing. At this point we should be dancing and mingling so seating will not be as important. I hope this helps.