It has been fashionable in the past few years to do things differently when it comes to the menu and how it is served at weddings - but it seems brides are looking back to the good-old days where everybody sat around the table and enjoyed course after course and each others company.
The Dinner-focused reception is back - think either large round tables of 10 or more guests, or long tables all in row. Avoid buffets and the long queues that go with them, and have every course plated and served to the guests and waiters serving drinks (basically what you would experience in a restaurant). And to keep things interesting consider have a course, possibly a starter that has to be passed around or a dessert that is made up from a selection of dishes placed on the table.
Then the next thing is to make each seat the best possible seat in the house. Your guests comfort is key and whilst these ideas are obvious they are often overlooked:
- Layout the tables and chairs in such a way that as far as possible everyone will have a good view of the main table or from where the speeches will take place.
- Don't squeeze your guests in, give them enough space to move their chair in and out and enough space left to right to eat comfortably. GOOD TIP: 90cm from left to right and 1m in and out.
- Use Escort Cards, a Seating Plan and Place Cards to ensure your guests find their assigned spot easily. Try and seat friends with friends, personally I think a wedding is not the opportunity to try and mix it up too much, you want guests to have fun and that's guaranteed when they are with people they know.
- Test out the chairs, are you comfortable? Use cushions rather than not.
- Have a dry run of what the lighting will be like. If you are going to dim the overhead lights, use lots of candlelight on the table.
- Have the florist do a table mock up - and actually sit down at each place setting and realistically ask yourself can the person talk to the other person across the table without foilage being in the way?
- Consider your music choices during the dinner - if your intention is for lively conversation tone down the music during this time and rev it up later.
- Create opportunities for guests to get talking like use conversation table cards.
Lastly, if you are not sure about what to do, just put yourself in the shoes of your wedding guests and think about what would you comfortable and the best way to do that is recreate the atmosphere that one would have at dinner party at home.
IMAGE: STYLEMEPRETTY
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