Reception seating - sweetheart table, head table, pros/cons?

For our big wedding my husband and I still did another sweetheart table. We had 2 huge round tables for our bridal party to sit at (I honestly don't even think they sat with their significant others for dinner). Our party was 12people. Once everyone ate, majority people (at least our bridal party) were on the dance floor the whole night and then seats were swapped

We are doing a sweetheart table because FH and I both really value having a place that we won't have to entertain people haha. We need the separate area away form others, even though it will only be 6 feet from both our family head table and our Bridal party table. It is important to us to focus on each other that day, and this is one of the ways we are doing that!

We did a sweetheart table and I would 100% recommend it. You will spend most of your night interacting with your guests and the sweetheart table gave us "private time" in a public setting. If you are seated with other guests, it may be harder to "steal away" for a breather when needed, and it forces your catering staff to serve your whole table at once and you to be cognizant of what others at your table are doing vs just being on a couple's timeline. Being at your own table makes it more discreet of a person wants to see you privately (your coordinator or DJ has a question, uncle wants to slip you a secret gift, etc). Weddings are a whirlwind and go really fast. I think the sweetheart option allows you a little privacy so you don't have to be "on" the entire time, while still keeping you at the center of attention of the whole affair.

I also hate head tables, especially when SOs are separated. To me sitting in a low row and eating on display in front of a bunch of guests is just awkward to put your whole wedding party through. When my husband was a groomsmen he was just assigned to sit at a regular table with me and some other non-VIP guests and I appreciated that so much! Since the wedding party already spent so much time together and had so much bonding time, it felt less awkward for us to mingle with other people than to be seated with the wedding party but not actually be a part of it. The wedding party (and the couple and the wedding party) get a ton of bonding time as is.

The short version is, I LOVE sweetheart tables, and would recommend one. I absolutely hate head tables and think they are awkward and outdated and should be avoided.

From the perspective of the wedding party, head tables are preferable to sweetheart tables. My fiance and I have been in weddings with sweetheart tables and honestly it feels lame. You're supposed to be an honored guest but you don't get to sit at a head table.


My preference is a king's table. The whole wedding party gets to interact then.

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Thank you all SO much! Your comments and feedback have been so helpful. I really appreciate it!!

We had a sweetheart table so we would have alone time during the evening because most of the night you will be entertaining your guests. Also, the bridal party won’t be separated from their partners/family.

As a wedding party member, I *detest* being on display at a head table/king's table. I would much rather there be a sweetheart table.

The weddings I have been to where guests were fed a full meal as opposed to cake only, the couple seated themselves among the guests instead of being on display at a head/sweetheart table and makes dinner conversations at the table so much easier. A couple brides who were super shy said they preferred that and didn’t have to be “on” especially while eating, and they made sure the attendants were not separated from their significant others if any. Fwiw, they dismissed rows after the ceremony to greet and thank guests so there was no need for table visits that cut into dancing time taking much longer than expected. I’m pretty shy myself and don’t want to be on display at a head/sweetheart table so we’re considering having a regular table for us and bridesmaids/groomsmen mixed among the other guests.

We did a sweetheart table because we wanted to be able to have that time together to eat and relax for a few minutes. Your whole day and night is spent with people so this was a little way for us to have our special time.

I loved doing the sweetheart table because it gave us a little bit of time alone to talk and eat and take a breath.

As long as you seat people with their dates, spouses, SO's, it's a personal choice. Just don't split up couples for dinner. Personally, I like the sweetheart table.

Wouldn’t it depend whether you have round or long rectangle tables? I think round table would have sweet heart the the long tables the other style