Ceremony and reception in the same room with no flipping; what to do with extra space?

[Deleted User]

Hi, Knotties!  We are getting married in March and are paying for everything ourselves.  We are private people who only have a small circle of friends, so this wedding will consist of no wedding party and an assembly of about 40 adult family and like-family members.  Therefore, we have rented a "ballroom" at an Elk's Lodge that holds 225 people.  It is basically one large lunchroom type room where they hold their bingo games and other parties. 

Our idea is to have the reception on one side set up with tables and centerpieces and the ceremony area set up on the other side.  We will set everything up the night before.  Once the ceremony is over, we will remove the chairs from the ceremony area so that we can have photos in front of the altar.

Once the photos are done and cocktail hour is over, we will mainly just be utilizing the one side of the room decorated for the reception.  There will not be any dancing at the reception.  What should we do with the half of the room that will have been broken down from the ceremony?  Initially I thought we would remove the chairs and decorations, but then there will only be one side of the room decorated with a large open space left.  Will this be odd?

STARMOON44

I wouldn't bother moving the chairs. Set them up far enough back from the alter that you can take photos. I think it will look just fine

ShesSoCold

Jazzykins87 said:

Hi, Knotties!  We are getting married in March and are paying for everything ourselves.  We are private people who only have a small circle of friends, so this wedding will consist of no wedding party and an assembly of about 40 adult family and like-family members.  Therefore, we have rented a "ballroom" at an Elk's Lodge that holds 225 people.  It is basically one large lunchroom type room where they hold their bingo games and other parties. 

Our idea is to have the reception on one side set up with tables and centerpieces and the ceremony area set up on the other side.  We will set everything up the night before.  Once the ceremony is over, we will remove the chairs from the ceremony area so that we can have photos in front of the altar.

Once the photos are done and cocktail hour is over, we will mainly just be utilizing the one side of the room decorated for the reception.  There will not be any dancing at the reception.  What should we do with the half of the room that will have been broken down from the ceremony?  Initially I thought we would remove the chairs and decorations, but then there will only be one side of the room decorated with a large open space left.  Will this be odd?

I don't see anything wrong with that. H and I had a similar set up (large room, 33 people, ceremony on one side and buffet and tables on the other) and after the ceremony, the venue removed the chairs and added a few more high-top tables. I don't think anyone used them. I don't think it would be odd to have half the room empty as long as the other half isn't crammed, but it doesn't sound like it would be.

holyguacamole79

I wouldn't worry about that.

One question, though ... who will be moving the chairs?  

[Deleted User]

We will have two servers helping throughout the evening setting up and breaking down as needed, serving food, and bussing tables. So while we're at the receiving line, the chairs will be moved. At least, that's the plan.

[Deleted User]

STARMOON44 said:

I wouldn't bother moving the chairs. Set them up far enough back from the alter that you can take photos. I think it will look just fine

I think this would work well!

TNDancer

Do you have any budget for draping? You could kind of cut the room in half and then have the reception space be like a surprise reveal. This would work even better if their are multiple doors into the room and you can direct the flow of traffic.

[Deleted User]

@TNDancer:  Ah, draping! Something i fell in with love months ago but have been unable to make it fit in the budget. There are two doors to the room (entrance from lobby and exit outdoors) and the one from the lobby is off center.

cowgirl8238

I agree with some PP's just set it up so that there is room for photos and leave the ceremony chairs there.  It keeps the space full and allows your two helpers to focus on anything else that may come up.