XP: Ceremony Seating Arrangement

ShadeofGreen816

Ok, I'm having a seating dilemma! I am getting married on the beach and will have chairs set up. However, my mom and I are not 100% in agreement about how they should be arranged. I have two parts to this question: 

1. Is it better to have longer rows or more rows? For example, I am considering having 6 rows of 20 (10 on each side of the aisle) seats. She's worried that's going to be too many seats across... but I'm worried that no one will want to sit in the back where they can't hear anything we're saying. 

2. Our guest list as it stands now (just a few RSVPs outstanding and we THINK we know what they'll be) is 92 adults and 10 kids. Do you think 120 seats will be enough? I know people tend to leave empties sometimes, but this is mostly at movie theaters, I feel like... not at weddings? Or in a pew obviously. 

P.S. As an FYI to lurkers... I'm having a DW where the closest guests are 100+ miles away, most are 600-800 miles away and some live literally across the country and we are at approx 70% "yes" RSVPs. WAAAY more than we anticipated, but obviously not more than we're willing to host... don't think that people wont travel to your wedding!

holyguacamole79

SarahRN87 said:

Ok, I'm having a seating dilemma! I am getting married on the beach and will have chairs set up. However, my mom and I are not 100% in agreement about how they should be arranged. I have two parts to this question: 

1. Is it better to have longer rows or more rows? For example, I am considering having 6 rows of 20 (10 on each side of the aisle) seats. She's worried that's going to be too many seats across... but I'm worried that no one will want to sit in the back where they can't hear anything we're saying. 

2. Our guest list as it stands now (just a few RSVPs outstanding and we THINK we know what they'll be) is 92 adults and 10 kids. Do you think 120 seats will be enough? I know people tend to leave empties sometimes, but this is mostly at movie theaters, I feel like... not at weddings? Or in a pew obviously. 

P.S. As an FYI to lurkers... I'm having a DW where the closest guests are 100+ miles away, most are 600-800 miles away and some live literally across the country and we are at approx 70% "yes" RSVPs. WAAAY more than we anticipated, but obviously not more than we're willing to host... don't think that people wont travel to your wedding!

I personally say more rows because I'd rather sit closer to the aisle where you can more easily snap a picture.  I also think the chair count sounds good.

penguin44

With rows that long, I would worry about people walking all the way down the row to sit. It's like in a movie theatre, when you have to go around the people in the middle to get to your seat. 

I hope that makes sense. Basically, I think more rows is easier. 

wrigleyville

More rows, definitely. It's easier for seating (you don't have to climb over six people), looks better in photos, and guests will be able to see you better.

If you're concerned about the guests in the back, perhaps you can look into a wireless mic system? The officiant could wear one on his/her lapel, and if you both speak clearly (and it isn't super windy), it should pick you up just fine.

wrigleyville

Another option is to arrange your chairs in circles or semi-circles:

I think it looks really neat, and it ensures everyone gets a good view. It reminds me of auditoriums.

tigersgirlgv

I don't really think that ten on one side of the aisle is too many, especially if you could enter the row from both sides as you could at the beach. You wouldn't have to walk past more than 4-5 people at most. I think your plan is fine.

Nymeru

We were married outside and the officiant had a mic on him.  Pretty much no one could hear us past the first row even though there was no wind and we had been assured that a single mic had always been fine in the past.  No matter how you arrange the seats, be sure you have a good sound set-up.

ShadeofGreen816

Thanks for the heads up @nymeru. I have talked a little about this with my DJ (who will be handling the audio at the ceremony) but will make sure to reinforce it. We were discussing having officiant and FI each wear mic's since my dress doesn't lend it self easily to that. 

huskypuppy14

You could also have a hand held mic; that's what we did.

melbenso

Re: sound, if you don't have some sort of speaker system, no one will be able to hear you past the first row or two, no matter what configuration you are in.  We also had an outdoor wedding.  We used a wireless speaker and mic system that my dad had, similar to this (CLICK). You may want to invest in purchasing one (if transporting it to your location would work) or renting one (if it wouldn't). 

Though my dad had purchased it previously, it wasn't very expensive.  If he didn't have one, we would have purchased our own, especially since it is something we could use again for outdoor parties, etc.  (Which is why he bought it in the first place.)

Other than for the sound issue, I think rows of 10 on each side would be ok, but something slightly shorter with 2-3 extra rows would also work.

Number wise, you probably want to have at least 10% more chairs than people.  We had more than enough seats for every butt at our wedding, and a few people still stood in the back. A few did so because they got there just as the ceremony was starting and didn't want to get in the way of the processional by looking for a seat.  But I don't know that this was true of everyone.  I think some people didn't want to move up front and take seats they thought were reserved for family.  In retrospect, I would have asked the venue to put out one more row of seating.

novella1186

wrigleyville said:

Another option is to arrange your chairs in circles or semi-circles:

I think it looks really neat, and it ensures everyone gets a good view. It reminds me of auditoriums.

This, absolutely. No one has a crappy seat that way. Even though the rows are long, everyone is fairly close. Can't emphasize enough what an awesome idea this is.

casey8784

chair count sounds good. I was recently at a wedding where there was the same number of seats as guests, and my group of friends, and even my FI and I, had to split up in different rows to sit. Then, some guests came late, and the venue workers had to go into the storage room and bring out more chairs and place them at the end of the aisle...was very awkward and tight.