Chairs or No Chairs

mHarvey639

I'm having a beach wedding in corolla 60 guests.  I can't figure out whether I want to go through the hassel and expense of renting chairs, or just have my guests stand.  My ceremony will only be 10 min maximum.  What to do?

aleighk1

It doesn't have to be chairs but your guests do need something to sit on. And I don't mean a blanket on the beach because not very many women in dresses will want to sit on a blanket.

NcsuPsych

I would personally find it rude if I went to a beach wedding and there wasn't anywhere to sit. You need something for them to sit on. Benches or chairs, it doesn't matter, but there needs to be something. Especially if you've got older guests attending and ladies in dresses (as pp said, don't do blankets).

You also need enough chairs for butts at the reception too, so maybe if your reception venue is right on the beach you can work out something to use those chairs on the beach?

Beth0882

Definetely chairs or benches.  I would hate to have to stand during a ceremony no matter how short it was.  I would not be thinking happy thoughts about the bride and groom like I should be!!  You don't want to put your guests in that situation!

pirategal03

Everyone needs somewhere to sit at the ceremony.  Everyone needs somewhere to sit at the reception too. 

If you don't want to go through the "hassle" of making your guests feel welcome and comfortable, then don't invite them. 

mlediju

somewhere to sit would be nice for the early birds, even though your ceremony is only 10 min, you should factor in the time that people will be waiting for the ceremony to start. Could be up to 30 min + for some.

That being said, I've seen a wedding where the guests had to stand during the ceremony. It looked very informal, so if that's what you're going for, go for it! :-)

Beth0882

In Response to Re: Chairs or No Chairs:
[QUOTE I've seen a wedding where the guests had to stand during the ceremony. It looked very informal, so if that's what you're going for, go for it! :-)
Posted by mlediju[/QUOTE]

I don't see it as being a matter of formal vs. informal, which is really more an issue of atmosphere/the look and feel of the wedding, as opposed to how to treat your guests.  I think it would be awful to be invited to a wedding, get there and find that the bride and groom expect me to stand the entire ceremony.  I would not feel happy about the situation, no matter how close I was to the bride/groom, and no matter how informal the wedding was. 

I suppose if the original poster has been to the weddings of almost everyone she is inviting to her wedding, and they have all had people stand, so she knows that they won't be upset about being made to stand, then it issn't an issue.  Otherwise, I would suggest benches or chairs, or risk having very upset guests.

pirategal03

OP when you post things on multiple boards it's courteous to put XP (it stands for cross post) in the title. 

shigaites

I think it depends on the length of your ceremony.

We had about 50 guests and the ceremony was only about 15 minutes long.  We set up a few chairs from our venue for elderly guests, about 20 chairs in total, and was standing room for the rest.  Turned out not even all the chairs got used!  If our ceremony had been much longer than that though I would have considered renting benches or laying out beach blankets.