Creating a furniture layout for your wedding reception can be challenging. No need to fret though, the professionals at High Point Farm can easily walk through suggestions to facilitate your needs and solve any seating challenges. This blog wants to give you a head-start on layouts to ponder.
Logistics
There are several factors that will strongly effect your layout design. Let me identify those.
- Guest Count
- Sweetheart Table Vs. Bridal Party Table
- Tables Assignments or Not
- Vision Over Functionality
Guest Count
You start with your guest count. The larger the group, the fuller the barn will get. You are trying to put as many people per table as possible to maintain good traffic flow. If your numbers are over 150, then you should consider putting some tables and guests on the stage whether that is a head table for your bridal party or a sweetheart table plus a couple of rounds for family tables. This will help utilize the space more effeciently.
Sweetheart Table Vs. Bridal Party Table
Next you decide if you want a sweetheart table instead of a head table; i.e. bridal party table. Both of these tend to be on the stage yet close to the main barn floor to keep you close to your guests. A Sweetheart table gives you the slight limelight position. The bridal party table which is traditional is always an option but don’t feel compelled to have one. Sometimes having your bridal party plus their dates and children and complicate the layout. In reality, there is not much time to have comradery so it is purely a logistical choice whether you want to have one or not.
Table Assignments or Not
Creating table assignments can be a challenging chore and most don’t relish it. Reality is that it makes the seating so much more effecient and especially when you have real dinnerware, it is best not to have extra settings paid for and not needed. If you do not do table assignments, you must plan to have more extra tables than necessary so that guests can sit where they like versus it being like a puzzle with only a few seats here and there for them to sit at. For a maximum fit of 175 guests, you will definitely need table assignments since there is no extra room for extra tables.
Vision Over Functionality
Our inventory is 13 farmhouse style tables and enough rounds to fit your needs. The farmhouse tables can seat up to 8 guest; 3 on each side and one at each end. The round tables can seat up to 10 but 8 is much more comfortable. Separating the farmhouse table along with the rounds can fit more people per table than when you line up the farmhouse tables butt to butt. The long rows that the farmhouse tables can create are very eye appealing and decorating beautifully with the long view but you do lose capacity when you do so. This is just an option for you to weigh, the functionality of separating the tables to get better capacity or opting for the aesthetics of the long farmhouse table set up.
Example #1
Example #1 shows a sweetheart table on the stage. The 12 farmhouse tables are in two long rows of 6 tables each and each row can seat 36 each. There are 7 rounds added. The 2 rounds in the middle are best if they have no more than 8 guests each to avoid congestion. The other rounds can seat up to 10 as needed. This layout then seats 125-140 guests.
Example #2
This layout is for both a sweetheart table and a bridal party table on stage. This layout can be altered to connect the tables or leave them semi-disconnected, as per your desire. The remainder of the farmhouse tables are put into two shorter rows then the rest of the barn is filled with the rounds. This layout seats over 150ish.
This crude diagram shows a sweetheart table on stage with a whiskey barrel bar also on stage to hold a wedding cake and lots of cupcakes. The rounds and farmhouse tables are all separated. This holds around 100-125.
This diagram shows the possibility of having virtually everything “off the stage.” This bride had a short head table off stage in what we refer to as a “disconnected U” which kept the long rows of farmhouse tables plus enough rounds for her total needs. A much smaller wedding could use this general look and connect all of the farnhouse tables in one large “U” so that all of your guests will feel intimately connected to all of the guests. Then you either don’t need rounds or you can add a few as needed.
Ultimately the staff here at HPF knows the best ways to fit your guest count coupled with your vision. We can help you walk through these decisions once those first four criteria decisions are made. So, don’t fret about these logistics and let us help you with a perfect layout personalized just for you.
~Margie