Head Wedding Party Table?

Miss_Sophia

Ok, I have read a lot of posts on this site about the Wedding Party Table at the reception and how the WP dates/SOs/spouses were included in the seating arrangement.

I guess, I have never seen this done before... Any wedding I've been to the head table included just the wedding party, no dates.

Is this becoming a more popular trend? I guess it does make sense. There are some members of our wedding party that will not be bringing a date, would that be weird for them?

I guess I don't really know how our venue can set up the tables, if they could do one that large (5 BMs, 5 GMs plus FI and me). Also, where do the ushers sit if we were to do a seating arrangement like that? At the head table or whereever they sit (Aside from immediate family tables we aren't having assigned seating for dinner.)?

heyimbren

Ushers wouldn't be seated at a head table, I believe.

From what I've seen, a lot of people don't sit their WP with their SOs. But I do think it's rude to do that. You can assign people to tables or have open seating and just let people choose where they want to sit and do a sweetheart table for you and your FI. This way, everyone gets to sit with who they would like to have dinner with.

AutumnFair

In my area, the trend of the head table with just WP (no SO/dates) is thankfully starting to fade away. The past number of weddings I've been to and in the last 2 years I have seen about half doing the old way, and more of either sweetheart or head table w/ dates/SO. With the many weddings I've been to and in, you go back 2+ years and pretty much every head table was without dates/SO. 

There have two common ways I've see the head table done with SO/dates seated. One is that the head table is in front of the dance floor and is seated like the regular guest. The other is the head table is large enough that the WP member's SO is seat right beside them. I've also scene a couple varieties of head table being just Bride/Groom/MOH/BM/ and their SO/dates or Bride/Groom/Parents of the Bride and Groom. It really depends on how you want to set it up at your venue.

When I was in my best friend's wedding she did a head table w/SO. I did not have a date and was totally fine sitting next to other BM's SO (kind of got to know a few of them). I actually suggest talking to your reception venue and see if they have some ideas for you in regards to a head table layout. 

bablingbrooke

I have been seated at the WP head table before without a date.  It isn't fun.  First, you feel very self-conscious that people are watching you.  Second, it serves no purpose other than to make the bride and groom feel like royalty.  Third, it seems really dated to me--very 80s.

I think it's silly to call people your honored guests then separate them from their SOs for half the night.  Especially since, again, it really doesn't serve any purpose.  I'm a fan of the sweetheart table--that makes more sense to me.  Letting the WP sit with their friends and SOs made everyone happy.  Not only did the dates get to have fun, but the WP was more excited about spending time with us (dancing, getting us drunk, etc.) since we didn't make spending time with us an obligation.  It also freed us up to talk more to our guests; though DH and I did get to spend alone time during dinner, we got visitors every few minutes.  It was really nice to have relatives and old friends stop by our table to say hi, take photos, etc.  I don't think they would have been as willing to do that had we been up on a stage, and if we were sandwiched between the WP they wouldn't have been able to.

I just see no discernible upside from having a head table, but experienced lots of benefits from having a sweetheart table and letting the WP sit with their friends and dates.  The WP is a group of YOUR friends, but often people w/in the WP don't know each other very well, so it's not like you're always putting a group of friends together.  Know what I mean?

aerinpegadrak

When I found out that my sister was doing an old-fashioned head table at her wedding, I cried.  I couldn't help it.  I had spent a long weekend (at a time when DH and I only had weekends together) just with my sister and the other bridesmaids, none of whom I knew, while then-FI was meeting pretty much my entire family for the first time.  It was awful, I was a little stress-ball, and I would have given anything, ANYTHING to be able to have a nice quiet dinner with him.  Instead, I had to make small talk with my sister's friends who I'd met once previously, and he had to spend dinner getting grilled by my dad about religion.

It's worth noting that she's been married for nearly two years, and her head table is the thing I remember the most clearly.

tldh

I was at a head table for my brother's wedding and hated it; my SIL insisted on doing everything "by the book".  Before that, the last one I had seen was about ten years ago.  Every other wedding, the WP was seated at tables with their SOs and other guests.  I had a GM and his wife at a table for one wedding and everyone seemed very happy with the arrangement.

mbcdefg

I haven't seen a wedding party-only head table since my cousin's wedding in the early 90s.

Every other wedding has had a sweetheart table, and the WP and their dates sat around the room (either nearby or at tables with their own friends). At one wedding, the newlyweds sat with both sets of parents, and the WP and their dates/kids sat at the closest table next to that.

At my wedding, we had four attendants and three of them brought dates, so there were nine of us at a head table and it worked out fine. I didn't hear any complaints from the one attendant who didn't bring someone. MH and I were rarely seated anyway except to eat dinner, and we don't have any photos of the whole head table anyway.

It sucks to have to sit away from your spouse. Especially at an event celebrating love and union.

banana468

I haven't seen a WP only table without SOs in over six years.  And even then those were weddings that I thought were just lacking something.

We sat at a sweetheart table and then our BP sat at tables near us with their SOs and mutual friends.

I've also seen the bride and groom sit at a sweetheart table with their WP at a huge king table with their SOs or seated with their WP and SOs at the king table.

Or you could sit with a few couples and seat your WP amongst the guests they know best.

Still another option is a sweetheart table and then spread the WP out amongst other tables.

Your options are endless in how to seat the WP so that they're seated with their SOs.  Splitting them from their partners shouldn't even be on the table...no pun intended.