Small guest list, large reception venue?

kelceya

Hello ladies! I am in the early stages of planning, getting ready to start on venue visits! We currently expect 60-80 guests to attend our wedding next year. Though I have not yet been in person, many of the venues I've checked out online have a fabulous reception space for 150-300 guests, and a smaller, often less attractive space for 10-50 guests. Our numbers seem to fall in the middle quite a bit! I imagine we could cut our guest list, or try to pad it with more distant friends and relatives, but what I'd really like to know is how flexible a large space can be. Would 80 people be swallowed up in a room for 300, or is it possible to space things out appropriately (maybe with a larger dance floor and/or bar area)? I'm sure 80 would fit in a space built for 100 quite well, and possibly 150 too, but I'm not sure how far I can reasonably expect to stretch this logic, and I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a better idea of what's feasible before I waste my time on huge halls. TIA!!

JoanE2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_small-guest-list-large-reception-venue?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:9aa15ec4-371a-4192-83a6-cf54b6087d1cPost:ca177314-0399-47cc-8e24-532f68459cf0">Small guest list, large reception venue?</a>:
[QUOTE]Hello ladies! I am in the early stages of planning, getting ready to start on venue visits! We currently expect 60-80 guests to attend our wedding next year. Though I have not yet been in person, many of the venues I've checked out online have a fabulous reception space for 150-300 guests, and a smaller, often less attractive space for 10-50 guests. Our numbers seem to fall in the middle quite a bit! I imagine we could cut our guest list, or try to pad it with more distant friends and relatives, but what I'd really like to know is how flexible a large space can be. Would 80 people be swallowed up in a room for 300, or is it possible to space things out appropriately (maybe with a larger dance floor and/or bar area)? I'm sure 80 would fit in a space built for 100 quite well, and possibly 150 too, but I'm not sure how far I can reasonably expect to stretch this logic, and I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a better idea of what's feasible before I waste my time on huge halls. TIA!!
Posted by kelceya[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>I think 80 people in a room made for up to 300 would look funny.  In addition, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a venue that would allow just 80 in a room that size.  They want to make the most money they can and will often have minimum guest requirements.</div><div>
</div><div>With that said, have you tried posting this on your local board?  We were in a similar situation and through some heavy research we found a bunch of venues that were smaller and would accomodate less people.  You may also have better luck going for an off season date and/or a Friday/Sunday/afternoon reception.

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Emanons

My sister had a similar problem.  She had a larger dance space and worked with the venue to rent couches and chairs to arrange a lounge space in the corners of the room.   The lounge spaces were great for the big family portraits. 

JMalettas

 Congrats on starting the beginning of your planning journey! You're in for quite the exciting ride!  

 

 I think it's definitely possible to make a larger space work for a smaller guest list! 80 people in a space for 300 will definitely leave you with space to fill, but you may want that anyways! Most round tables seat 8, (giving you 10 tables to work with), and if it's possible that the dance floor is in the middle of the room, you could go 5 tables on each side, with a large dance floor. Remember you will also have to factor in the head table, the cake table, the bar, the table for guest book/card box, room for the DJ or band. If you have guest favours that aren't going on the dinner tables, another table for that. (Our wedding we're doing a candy bar, then chinese take out boxes on each place setting). So a separate table for the candy itself. If you're doing a buffet, they generally set up on the dance floor, and do a quick tear-down post dinner. There's definitely ways you can make it work, & not feel like you have all of this empty space! Not to mention, if you wanted to get creative, a larger space may be great for that too! 

 Happy planning, and good luck in your search for a venue!!

kks4471

I know you don't want to waste your time checking out venues, but the venues really can tell you the best solution.  We had 80 guests, and my venue could hold up to 300 people.  I was worried before booking the venue, and emailed them about it.  They said it was no problem to have a small guest list, and spaced the tables out well for my reception.  Like a PP said, check your local board to see if anyone booked a venue you like, and had the same situation.  Otherwise, I'd call or email venues and ask for their input.

kelceya

Wow, thank you so much for the great advice! This is really helpful I LOVE the idea of using extra space to create a lounge area, and now I don't feel I have to rule out beautiful venues just because they're large. I'll try to be clear about our intended numbers from the start and see where that gets us. Thanks again ladies!

loca4pook

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_small-guest-list-large-reception-venue?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:9aa15ec4-371a-4192-83a6-cf54b6087d1cPost:ca177314-0399-47cc-8e24-532f68459cf0">Small guest list, large reception venue?</a>:
[QUOTE]Hello ladies! I am in the early stages of planning, getting ready to start on venue visits! We currently expect 60-80 guests to attend our wedding next year. Though I have not yet been in person, many of the venues I've checked out online have a fabulous reception space for 150-300 guests, and a smaller, often less attractive space for 10-50 guests. Our numbers seem to fall in the middle quite a bit! I imagine we could cut our guest list, or try to pad it with more distant friends and relatives, but what I'd really like to know is how flexible a large space can be. Would 80 people be swallowed up in a room for 300, or is it possible to space things out appropriately (maybe with a larger dance floor and/or bar area)? I'm sure 80 would fit in a space built for 100 quite well, and possibly 150 too, but I'm not sure how far I can reasonably expect to stretch this logic, and I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a better idea of what's feasible before I waste my time on huge halls. TIA!!
Posted by kelceya[/QUOTE]


Keep in mind, some of those "larger" venues will have minimum cost requirements. They might not care if you have only 2 guests, but they will require you to spend 20,000, for example. When push comes to shove, you might not be able to manage the large room just due to that fact alone. Make sure to ask if they have a minimum guest requirement or in my case, a minimum amount of money spent that evening.

but I also do think TOO large of a room may look funny.

Steph250786

We booked a room that had a minimum guest count of 100 even though our count will be closer to 80/85; the room holds 150 I think. The minimum spend wasn't crazy over what the smaller dingy room would have cost and our location agreed to let us apply the overage to other things - we're extending out the party/open bar by an hour and having midnight snacks too; if there is anything left we may look at uplighting etc... like PP we can easily fill the space with tables, bar, DJ etc... and it was worth it to know that on the day of we're not sitting thinking "I wish we weren't in here". Obvi if the minimum had been a lot more, we would have had to reconsider.