Head Table or Sweetheart table

[Melibk]

Sorry it submitted before I sent it.

My question is:

We are trying to decide between a head table with all your bridesmaids and groomsmen OR a sweetheart table. I think it sounds so fun to have everyone all together with us at a big table.

However, we have 15 in our bridal party plus us. We feel bad not allowing our wedding party to sit with our dates, so our choices are:

1. Sweetheart table and bridal party sit elsewhere.
2. HUGE head table with all bridal party plus dates.
3. Medium head table but bridal party would not have dates with them. (Some of their dates may not know anyone)

Any advice on this? Is it considered tacky to not let bridal party sit with dates?


Thanks

 

[jas]

I had a similar problem, so FI and I had an "extended" sweetheart table -- FI and I, our parents, and his grandmother (who did not show up, but that''s another story). Our bridal party sat, with their dates, at other tables...we interspersed the bridal party throughout the other tables.

It''s just another option to consider.

 

[dtnyc]

I vote for 1, that is what I did. I was in a wedding a month later and they had a sweetheart table and my husband had to sit w/ a table of strangers- not fun for him. If I had been sitting at the table with him I would have been able to at least make some introductions.

 

[janinegirly]

i''m doing a sweetheart table. i just don''t like the look of a long head table..kind of clannish. i like the intimacy of a table for the 2 of us..it''s like a haven after all the mingling.
on top of that, it''s kind of mean to separate dates from the BM''s. In my case some BM''s are married or with children, so not a good idea.
just my 2cents!

 

[sumbride]

Having been the date of a groomsman, and worried I''d have to sit with strangers, I beg you to let your wedding party sit with their dates! I lucked out, they did a sweetheart table and we set with more members of the wp and their dates, and I was happy. I also noticed that the sweetheart table didn''t really give them a chance to be alone for very long... people kept coming up and chatting! I think they''d be more able to do that without all the other chairs around.

 

[larussel03]

We''re doing a sweetheart ish table with FI and I, our Maid of Honor and her fiance and his best man and his date. I didn''t want to sit all alone with FI b/c I''d be too nervous to eat, but I didn''t want a head table either. The other BM''s and GM''s sit with friends and dates.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

If you do a search you will find MANY threads on this subject. Good luck!

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 1/24/2007 1:33:42 PM
Author: jas
I had a similar problem, so FI and I had an ''extended'' sweetheart table -- FI and I, our parents, and his grandmother (who did not show up, but that''s another story). Our bridal party sat, with their dates, at other tables...we interspersed the bridal party throughout the other tables.

It''s just another option to consider.

I think this is a fabulous idea.

 

[jsc44]

I am doing a sweetheart table.. then my family will sit together at one table, and his family at another. The bridal party will be split up meaning that each groomsman plus their date will sit at a table w/ their friends.. that way they can be with their date and be with their friends! Where I live, the head table is usually family and not the bridal party..

 

[anchor31]

My parents were a little wounded when I suggested a sweethaert table and I do not want a rectangular head table... So we decided on a compromise. We''re doing thre round "head tables", with my FI and I and our parents at one, my bridal party plus dates at one and his party plus dates at the other.

Do what works for you!

 

[Gypsy]

I''ve been to a wedding where there were two bridal party tables one on either side of the head table. It was great... the B&G were not isolated... everyone talked to them and went up to them and I was SO VERY thankful that they allowed me to sit with DF... b/c I didn''t know ANYONE.

I''ve also been to a wedding where there was a head table for the bridal party w/o their guests. It was TERRIBLE. The Bridal Party was actually quite upset about this, as they weren''t told in advance. Half the Bridal party left the head table to sit with their dates and the other half of the BP came and took their dates to the head table. They divided it up with the married dates going to the head table.... the non-married ones staying at the oher table (which was like the FARTHEST most INSIGNIFIANT table from the head table) with their dates joining them.

The bride was upset... but the Married MOH told her to suck it up... and she did.THE MOH even told the waiters to switch the food at dinner... went into the kitchen and changed the seating chart.

 

[ephemery1]

Date: 1/24/2007 3:08:43 PM
Author: *~Sweetpea~*
We''re doing a sweetheart ish table with FI and I, our Maid of Honor and her fiance and his best man and his date. I didn''t want to sit all alone with FI b/c I''d be too nervous to eat, but I didn''t want a head table either. The other BM''s and GM''s sit with friends and dates.

I think we may be doing the same as Sweetpea... a sweetheart-ish table! For similar reasons... FI thinks a regular sweetheart table would be too boring with just the two of us... and head tables are just kind of cruel. We have 1 Maid of Honor and 2 Best Men, so plus dates/wives, that would be 6 people... and then myself and FI equals 8, which seems perfect!

 

[Pandora II]

My parents are insisting on a toptable which in the UK is:


Best Man
Grooms Mother
Brides Father
Bride
Groom
Brides Mother
Groom''s Father
MOH

However, FI''s parents are divorced and both remarried. My father thinks that their partners should sit on another table. I said no way can we do that, I have 5 BM''s but no MOH, so now I''m going to have

Best Man
Grooms Stepfather
Grooms Mother
Brides Father
Bride
Groom
Brides Mother
Groom''s Father
Grooms Stepmother
Humanist Celebrant

It''s a total nightmare getting my parents to accept anything that isn''t ultra traditional