Ceremony and reception in the same room?

I looked at a lot of venues that did the ceremony and reception in the same room.

Basically what they did was only have like 20 chairs pulled out for immediate family and the rest of your guests sat at their tables already. Once the ceremony is over, all the did was move those 20 chairs back to their respective tables. Could you do something like that?

I would place the food after the ceremony is over. Otherwise everyone's attention would be on the food and not you two.

I would seriously consider having the ceremony somewhere different and close. It would be one thing if there was a separate bar where you could have a cocktail hour or something but it seems like there would be a lot of confusion and inconvenience with the guests

Side note: It's a beautiful place but seems more suited to a reception rather than a ceremony...Just my opinion

I did mine in the same room, but the room was completely flipped during cocktail hour. it was full set up for a ceremony, then the guests went to a different area for cocktail hour while the room was flipped for dinner and dancing

i wouldn't have people stand for the ceremony and i also wouldn't have food out dring the ceremony - i'm always distracted by food.

Aftan - I agree but I am having difficulty finding an affordable ceremony location that is indoors. All the surrounding churches are expensive or only allow members (plus we aren't very religious). I will keep looking for now to see if I can find an affordable option.

Houston brides - know any ceremony locations around Midtown??

Is there anywhere in your budget you could pull money from? Or 30-50 from each big thing to cover the extra cost?

I've been to a wedding where the ceremony was in one room and flipped for the cocktail hour while we were there...it didn't exactly look the greatest and we kept having to move so they could get the cocktail tables in and pull all those chairs out. Then we went to a different room upstairs for dinner and came back down for the dancing part and there weren't enough tables and chairs if you wanted to sit and that was annoying. People ended up leaving early. I'd try to find something else if you can. Maybe try community centers or golf courses, sometimes they have lower rental fees. Good luck!

Ours is in the same room but it's broken up by the cocktail hour which is upstairs. So they come in for the ceremony, go upstairs for an hour and a half cocktail hour and then back down for the reception. It works perfectly at our location because no one sees it being done and some people don't even realize it's the same room once it's flipped.

@LSC that sounds like a nightmare honestly. my venue was nothing like that.

(why wouldn't they have flipped the room during DINNER instead of cocktail hour while everyone was IN THE ROOM!?)

We considered having guests sit at the tables but we really wanted a more formal aisle. Our venue will have the chairs set up and then following the ceremony we will start the cocktail hour and they'll flip the room. They said it only takes about 10 minutes and the thought is that guests will be rushing to the bar, which they will, or standing in line for food. We are having our wedding in a large ballroom, though, that accommodates 200 guests when we only have 90 so it won't be cramped and the tables are still able to be set up around the room.

To have it in a different location would add about $1500 to our budget ($1000 ceremony fee from venue, $250 moving charge for dj, additional decor) so it just wasn't an option for us.

Same for me Brianna, I figure having it in the same room will save me at least $2,000. The logistics of it are very tricky though..I know the venue has done ceremonies before so I will ask their advice on it. The wedding in winter + non-religious thing is very tricky, I can find NOTHING in Houston!!

@Kate, it was!!! It was in a fancy place too, why the heck did they do it that way?? I'm sure in other cases such as csquid's and yours, it is perfect since people don't see it and it works out well. Where we went, they paid all this money to have it in a nice place, downtown San Francisco (hell for parking too) and then we saw all the transitions...I felt bad for them!

From my understanding, they flip the room when your guests are moved to another room for cocktail hour. But are you not having one?

My aunt did this for her wedding. The cocktail hour actually took place in the country clubs lobby and her ceremony took place in half of the reception room. They basically pushed us out immediately and were removing chairs before we all even left the room and we watched them the whole time. It was kind of weird, but totally doable.

I'm having it in the same room. I'm kind of nervous about it but it's been done before so it can't be that bad.

Wendy - Thank you! It's a relief to know it was a smooth transition. We are planning on having 150 people so I will still keep looking for a little while but will probably end up doing it there!

Awkward. The only way I can see it working is if you use curtains or dividers to section off an area of the room for a cocktail hour where the guests can hang out while the room is being flipped.

A friend of mine was married at Hotel Sorella and the flipped the room. We basically just hung out outside the room in the foyer until the room was ready. The flip took longer than anticipated and there wasn't much seating during cocktail hour. A lot of the older guests had a hard time with the standing. Otherwise it went fine.

Our venue has an outdoor ceremony site- if it rains we'll have to have the ceremony and reception in the same room. If that happens we have the option of A: just having everyone sit at their tables and we will marry on the sage, or B: Setting up seating and then each person takes their ceremony chair to their table. We will most likely go with option A just because of the number of guests. It would be hard to have enough room for ceremony space and reception space.

Oh- You might light Avant Garden in Houston. I'm not sure if they'll do just the ceremony. I'll have to keep thinking if there is anywhere else that might work for you. Good luck!

We do those types of ceremonies all the time. It's not awkward at all if your venue staff know what they're doing. And I assume they do since they must do it often!

One thought (and you don't have to do it this way, but I've officiated at a couple of ceremonies where this was done and it was so great!) is to re-think the notion of "separate ceremony and reception." I've been to ceremonies where the "party" starts before the actual ceremony (not in a rowdy way), but the bride and groom are there, mingling with guests beforehand and there may be some cocktails served (or not). Then, when it's time for the ceremony to start, guests are seated at their table (and I like the idea of 20 or so chairs being moved for close family), the bridal party enters, the ceremony is conducted (sometimes while guests are sipping their drinks at the table) and then the happy couple is pronounced married, then they're surrounded by well wishers.

It's not for everyone, but I love how relaxed the couple always is at this type of wedding. Instead of hiding away (which can be fun, but it can increase the stress too), they are right there from the get go. It feels like a celebration from start to finish!

Ours is in the same room. But, the room has tables and Chairs for 120, and we have 55.

That said, they have those mobile, black shutter dividers? So guests will see the reception spot, but will be seated for the ceremony on the backside of the room. There will be no room flipping. But that's because the room is huge in standards to our guest list size versus the amount it actually holds. Plus, we get to start setting up at 10am, with a 6pm start time. And we have free reign on set up for tables and chairs.

Idk your budget, but the theater is within that $2k you said you were saving. Idk the name offhand anymore, but it was a neat set up and I believe it included tables and chairs. You could always have the ceremony on the stage, and have reception in another area?

I think its fine to have it in the same room, I am sure the vendor will find a way to accommodate everyone around without inconvenience. I actually saw this on 4 weddings on TLC and it wasn't my taste, it looked really weird moving the tables and stuff while everyone was in the same room. But its your wedding you can do w.e you want.