Seating Arrangement Issues!

[cammy85]

Ok, it''s definitely not the worst thing ever, but I was hoping I could get a few fresh sets of eyes on this...

Our tables seat 10. We want our bridal party to be able to sit with their significant others and we do not want a sweetheart table.

We will have
Bride
Groom
Best Man - Girlfriend
Groomsman - Girlfriend
Groomsman
Maid of Honor - Fiance
Bridesmaid - Husband
Bridesmaid

So that''s 12 people. The best compromise we can come up with is 6 at one table, and 6 at another (space is not an issue).

Table 1 would be:
Best Mans''s GF- BestMan - Bride - Groom - MoH - MoH Fiance
Table 2 would be:
Bridesmaid1 - Groomsman1 - Bridesmaid2 - BM2 Husband - Groomsman2 - GM2 Girlfriend

We didn''t think it was fair to decide between the bridesmaids and the groomsmen who was ''better'' in a sense and could sit with us and the honor attendants. The only other option we could think of would be

Table 1:
Best Man GF- Best Man - Bride - Groom - Maid of Honor - Fiance- Bridesmaid2 - BM2 Husband - Groomsman2 - GM2 Girlfriend
Table 2:
Bridesmaid1 - Groomsman1 - My Mom - My Dad - FI Mom - FI Dad - Pastors, etc.(bridesmaid1 and groomsman1 are family so then they''d be sitting witih their parents?)

Then again, I don''t know if that''s a little unfair to the other bridesmaid/groomsman.

Do you have any other suggestions for this? I don''t know how else to try splitting it up.

Let me know if this is confusing, and I''ll try to make it make sense.

Thanks!

 

[KimberlyH]

Table 1: Bride, Groom, Brides Parents, Grooms'' Parents, MOH, MOH''s Fiance, Best Man and Best Man''s Girlfriend

Table 2: Rest of bridal party, grandparents, pastor, whomever

 

[cammy85]

KimberlyH - thanks for the start, I had thought about the parents at the head table, but I thought they (and the members of the bridal party that are siblings) would enjoy sitting with each other, since the siblings won''t really know anyone and won''t have dates with them. I thought the parents sitting with them would make it a little easier for them to not feel as alone I guess.

We are going to have grandparents sit with a set or two of aunts/uncles from each side of the family, instead of at the head table.

Would it be really odd to have the two bridal tables not filled like the guest tables?

 

[Haven]

We had a similar issue, so we ended up reserving two sets of seats for ourselves (bride and groom) at two different tables.

We seated 8 - 10 people per table, I believe, and this is what it ended up looking like:

Table A: Three bridesmaids and their hubbies (MY bridal party minus my three sisters, who all sat at a different table altogether), bride and groom.

Table B: Three groomsmen and their wives (HIS bridal party minus his brother, first cousin, and my sister's BF), bride and groom.

This worked perfectly for us. We spent some time at each table, and we weren't really sitting all that much, anyway. My sisters sat at a separate table with their dates and a few of their friends who we invited because they were also our friends. His brother and first cousin sat with their family.

 

[KimberlyH]

I like Haven''s idea of having seats for yourself at both tables and going back and forth between the two as another option. We went to the wedding of my husbands'' long time friends and were seated with a table with bridesmaids who he''d known forever. It was nice to be seated with other people we knew at the reception and not at all awkward, so you may want to consider mixing guests with people close to the bridal party as another option.

 

[teapot]

Instead of a sweetheart table + table or two tables, why not have a king and queen''s table where you just supersize a table and fit everybody? This works since you don''t have a space constraint.

 

[Winslet]

What a great tip Haven!