My fiance and I just got engaged, and have been discussing parts of the wedding to get an idea of a budget (we're both E3s in the military, so we need to start saving as soon as possible because we don't get paid all that much).
During the time of our engagement, his parents will be divorcing and his father will be remarrying, and certain circumstances in this have caused there to be tension between his immediate family(he, his mother and his brother) and his father and his intended (not that his father isn't his immediate family or anything. It's just the best wording I have). That considered, we have no idea where the hell to seat his father's party.
Tradition says that we put both his parents in the front row with the step parent included, or we can exclude the stepparent and/or his father entirely by putting them in the third row. However, I feel like it would be rude to seat his father and/or would-be stepmother in a different row than his mother and brother, especially considering that my parents, including my stepmother, will be seated in the front row because they get along great, and separating HIS parents in a way I did not separate my own seems like it would be alienating and highlighting that there is an issue rather than an attempt to make the wedding as peaceful as possible. His parents would keep the peace at the wedding because, well, it's a wedding and they have home training, but I'm more concerned about the reception, and seating them at the parents table or at a head table with us next to each other considering alcohol will be present and the reception is more of a social setting than the ceremony itself.
Has anyone else had an issue with this and what did you do to solve it? We have plenty of time to figure it out, but we don't even have a clue where to start other than to ask the two sides to get along, which can't be promised considering his family has no problem telling people off, even each other.