Reserved seating situation

allychase

I am reserving the first two rows of the church for our ceremony for VIP family members.. Grandparents, parents, siblings, etc. The two rows total 28 seats. So far I have 18 people who would need to sit up there. Im confused on what to do here cause it will be a full house and those extra 10 seats will be needed. Moving the chairs isn't an option cause they're all like linked together and breaking up only two rows wouldn't work in the room. I can either find 10 more people and let them know they can sit in the reserved aisles or figure maybe once the seats are filling up people will just fill the empty seats? Or would people not do that figuring someone else needs to sit there? I may be overthinking this. Help me with some input here please

[Deleted User]

Do you have any ushers or groomsmen that will usher your guests?  If so, you can just let them know they can seat 10 extra people in those seats.

If not, you could use "Reserved" signs on the ones that are reserved.  

Do you have any close family friends that you'd like to seat up there?  If so, you could put them in the extra seats.

artikaur

If I were a guest, and I saw a reserved sign, I would not cross it without permission. Find 10 of your other VIP guests (first cousins? Aunts and uncles? If your grandparents are elderly and need a nursing assistant?) and tell them that you have reserved those seats for them. Of course, use your discretion to make sure there's no family squabble of why Aunt Sally got to sit up front and Uncle Gerald got stuck in the cheap seats in the back). Only you know your friends and family the best, so see who would be a good fit.

Best of luck with your planning!!!

Simply Fated

I definitely think you're overthinking this lol. But I get where you're coming from, for sure.

People usually purposely leave the first two rows emtpy for the close family members. Once the rest of the seats starts filling up, can someone at your ceremony site, guide those people without chairs to the "reserved" area?

allychase

We are having a few groomsmen usher before the ceremony, including my brother, so maybe I can just let him know that once he sees roughly the reserved rows are full and the rest of the place is getting packed they can seat people up front. It's a Friday ceremony at 4:30 pm, so there may be a lot of no shows due to work or something but I just wanted to be prepared anyway.

Simply Fated

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_reserved-seating-situation?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:4415e1d8-220e-4db1-ae24-21e93d12a8d5Post:a99643ff-e661-4cd4-be8a-1fa9a798f959">Re:Reserved seating situation</a>:
[QUOTE]We are having a few groomsmen usher before the ceremony, including my brother, so maybe I can just let him know that once he sees roughly the reserved rows are full and the rest of the place is getting packed they can seat people up front. It's a Friday ceremony at 4:30 pm, so there may be a lot of no shows due to work or something but I just wanted to be prepared anyway.
Posted by allychase[/QUOTE]
I think with what you have planned, it'll work out fine. Even if everyone shows, I'm sure your groomsmen and brother will be able to handle it lol.