Sitting Pretty
What does it take to create a tour-de-force table?
Whether yours is an intimate affair, or an event for 400, the design and colour of the seating for your wedding day dinner guests is a place where your overall vision for the day can shine. Always remember, these are your guests, and they want to be treated to an experience.
It’s one of the final tasks on your to-do list. Here’s how to make playing musical chairs an absolute breeze.
Considering that wedding guests typically clock major reception time sitting down, you will want to provide each of them with a stellar experience — not just delicious fare, but a compelling, beautifully realized tabletop. What sets the so-so apart from the spectacular?
A seating rule-of-thumb, say planning experts, is that chairs should be placed so they just ‘kiss’ the tablecloth. Chairs should be perfectly aligned, and be sure to provide padding.
A traditional head table is not round but long and straight, and it’s generally set up along a wall, on risers, facing all the other reception tables. It may even have two tiers if your wedding party is large. Usually the bride and groom sit smack-dab in the middle (where everyone can see them), with the maid of honour next to the groom, the best man next to the bride, and then boy/girl out from there. Flower girls or ring bearers usually sit at the tables where their parents are sitting, much to the relief of the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Decide to sit this way, or plan a sweetheart table for a little one-on-one time.
Take inspiration from glorious colourful padded chairs, matched with napkins and flatware placed just so.
A menu tucked into a neatly folded napkin is both elegant and wind- proof, essential when outdoors.
Keeping the mass of the flower decor high will allow your guests to talk across the table instead of trying to speak through a centerpiece. W
From the files of Ottawa Wedding Magazine.
Creative final thoughts …
If you’re not hosting your ceremony at a house of worship, you’ll need to create an environment for the most important moment of your big day. This doesn’t have to be costly. A creative and clever approach to ceremony seating can create a warm welcome and set just the right tone for your guests to witness your union.
Whether you’re saying your “I dos” outdoors or using the same venue as your reception, these are some of our favourite ideas for seating your guests while elevating the space to be worthy of the exchange of marriage vows.
