Seating for Ceremony vs. Reception

xxjen015

Okay, so we are all having a difficult time trying to decide what to do for our seating for the ceremony then reception. We are getting married on my parents farm and have a really neat clearing that we're having both the ceremony and reception in. Assuming it does not rain and we don't have a tent, we're trying to figure out how to best set it up and then transition. If it rains, we don't have any choice because the tent doesn't allow any wiggle room for different layouts.

Option 1. is to have a traditional chair set up with all of the tables set up more around the perimeter of the clearing and then after the ceremony either having everyone move their chairs or find someone to do it for us.

Option 2. is to have all of the chairs already at the tables, but have all of the chairs facing the altar. Once the ceremony is over, all the guests that are facing away from their table can just turn their chair around. 

I know neither of these are ideal, but we don't really have another good space to set things up. We were hoping to have not seat assignments, but table assignments so that we don't end up with odd numbers at tables and need extra seating/tables and that would be challenging with option 2. What I'm worried about with option 1 is that all of the tables will be really spread out during the reception. Please help!!

JessAndTrav

It's not possible to get enough chairs for the ceremony and reception? 

Since it's an outdoor, rustic-ish type wedding, have you considered benches for the ceremony, assuming it's not a long ceremony? You could always have chairs on hand for grandparents that may need the back support, but that could be a nice alternate idea.

xxjen015

Our budget is already extremely tight, so we don't have enough money left to rent an extra set of chairs or benches, unfortunately. Whatever type of plan we work out will have to be with one set of chairs.

JessAndTrav

Then I vote set the chairs up for the ceremony, but hire a few people to move the chairs for you---even if it's like, some high school boys or something. 

Will there be something to occupy the guests time while the set up is changing?

DramaGeek

I would go ahead and do the reception seating for the ceremony.  The reception will most likely be the longest part of the evening and it'd be tough to move all the tables.  It sounds like if you do the ceremony style seating the reception tables will be pretty far from each other and around the perimeter of the area.

I've been to weddings with reception seating for the ceremony and it was really no big deal

S6ix

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_seating-for-ceremony-vs-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:9e6f0149-c25b-4b15-a4b6-a8c86e29e57ePost:50846011-41b0-4772-bbd3-550d8d1cb2c9">Re: Seating for Ceremony vs. Reception</a>:
[QUOTE]What kind of farm is it? Mice seen some really cute options for seating for rustic weddings that involve hay bales.
Posted by Dot Dash[/QUOTE]



I know it is a farm but hopefully the mice don't show up for the wedding!! J/K, I know it is an autocorrect error. It was a cute visual though. :)

TheSlowskys

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_seating-for-ceremony-vs-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:9e6f0149-c25b-4b15-a4b6-a8c86e29e57ePost:50846011-41b0-4772-bbd3-550d8d1cb2c9">Re: Seating for Ceremony vs. Reception</a>:
[QUOTE]What kind of farm is it? Mice seen some really cute options for seating for rustic weddings that involve hay bales.
Posted by Dot Dash[/QUOTE]

I was just going to suggest this:

<a href="http://thingsrbetterwithaparrott.typepad.com/homegrown_wedding/2009/12/hay-bale-seating.html" rel="nofollow">http://thingsrbetterwithaparrott.typepad.com/homegrown_wedding/2009/12/hay-bale-seating.html</a>

<a href="http://greenweddingshoes.com/real-wedding-lydia-joshuas-backyard-wedding/" rel="nofollow">http://greenweddingshoes.com/real-wedding-lydia-joshuas-backyard-wedding/</a>

<a href="http://03388df.netsolhost.com/WordPress/?p=1288" rel="nofollow">http://03388df.netsolhost.com/WordPress/?p=1288</a>

How many people is it?  If it is small you could have people stand in a circle around you  - but that means your ceremony has to be very short - like under 10 mins.  I think a lot of people here will be in disagreement on this suggestion, but as a guest I would not be bothered at all (as long as you have a few chairs for older people or anyone with physical difficulty standing).

xxjen015

While I love the idea of using hay, that yet again requires more cost for either renting or buying them. Even if we could find someone to lend them to us, we would have to purchase blankets to cover them. 

Our farm isn't one used to raise animals (not anymore anyways). It's got 28 acres and our house which is over 200 years old and has been in our family the whole time, which is one of the reasons we are excited to have the wedding here and makes it that much more special. 

I'm home for the 4th through the weekend so I will look around the property and see if perhaps there is another area where we can have the chairs moved from after the ceremony.

Thanks for y'alls help!

RebeccaB88

Of the two options you gave, as a guest I think I'd prefer the second one.  If you do that one, I'd also try to have a microphone system to make sure everyone can hear the ceremony.