Fireplace separating tables/dance floor

solak

I found a great venue for cheap at a golf course. The banquet room is large and holds about 148 people. My wedding is about 135. The room is separated by a beautiful brick fireplace with large walkways on either side. The dance floor side has a bar and most likely will be our cake and gift tables too. The dining room has a huge window facin the greens which we'll most likely position the head table in front of. We need about 16 round tables 8people each for the rest of our guests. This basically makes our dinning room packed.
My concern is the "entertainment" part of the wedding aka first dance, cutting of the cake etc. There will not be much room if any for these activities in our dining room but if they are held in dancing room, very few will see due to the fireplace blocking most of the view.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to organize/rearrange the room in order to accommodate adequent entertainment viewing?
Sorry that was a terribly long description. Would photos help?

cwaggoner07

If it is a popular venue in your area, you might ask the girls on your local message boards (to the left) if any of them have gotten married there and what they did to accomodate the space.

Or maybe look at some online reviews, or type in 'xx venue wedding' and see if any photographers blog comes up of a prior wedding.

Your best bet is to try and recreate what another bride did that worked for her.

TheVirginians

The club catering manager should beable to answer that for you.

Peavy

If you do tables of 10 instead of 8, does that give you room for a dance floor?  Honestly, if you have the dancing and other activities in what is essentially a second room, you are creating two different parties.  If you can't make the bigger room work, I'd look for a new venue.

jessicabessica

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_fireplace-separating-tablesdance-floor?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:ca0db0d8-73b5-46f3-861b-d7c8494b342ePost:1ab8de61-e600-4426-aaa0-cedc5bb0095f">Re: Fireplace separating tables/dance floor</a>:
[QUOTE]If you do tables of 10 instead of 8, does that give you room for a dance floor?  Honestly, if you have the dancing and other activities in what is essentially a second room, you are creating two different parties.  If you can't make the bigger room work, I'd look for a new venue.
Posted by Peavy[/QUOTE]

<div>I agree with this.  Talk to the venue coordinator about ways to set up the room to accomodate the dance floor.  You could use the other room for the bar and some lounge furniture.  I wouldn't have the dancing in a separate room--I think that people will leave if they aren't into dancing.  At least if it's all in the same room, people can sit at their tables, chat, and watch the dancing.  Once the party essentially moves into another area, they might as well go home.  </div>