Room Flipping

How long is the cocktail hour and how big is the room?

Depending on the size and the timeline of the day you might need them to have the tables set up and on the side otherwise they won't be ready in time.

Personally I would think it's better to have them set up on the side of the room. I don't think guests will really notice it during the ceremony and it will mean that more time can be spent making the small details look great, instead of just having enough time to get everything out and thrown in place.

Ok. Thank you. Cocktail hour is anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. The room is pretty big. I guess I just was thinking it would ruin the element of surprise for the reception. But you make a very good point..the more time they have to go over the table the better they will look!

We are getting married in the same room, we are just having everyone sit at the appointed tables. Yes they will be set up for dinner, but it seemed like a better option then having tables moved around after the fact and worrying but them being set up correctly in a rush.

Hi Tricia ... I flipped my room. Our ceremony was important to us and I didn't want to make it feel like it was an afterthought, which is how I would have felt if everyone was sitting at their tables. I know some people do it but it just wasn't for me. We did something similar to what you're describing -- ceremony -- cocktail hour in a different area -- ceremony back in the same room.

I can try to answer any questions you may have about it! We did it in a way that the ceremony was in half the room and there was a curtain divider. The tables were set behind the curtain and then when everyone was out of the room following the ceremony, the curtain came down and the tables moved throughout the room. does that make sense?

@Kate that makes total sense..we just don't have a curtain divider. My ceremony is also very important to me and so is the hard work I put into the reception. I think I might just stick with my answer of no. I just don't want the room to look crowded during the ceremony.

This is a picture of my venue set up for the ceremony, You can kind of see table set up on the side. What do ya'll think?

From your picture it looks like they have some tables along the side of the room. Don't think it's distracting from the ceremony set up. If they did something like that I would think it would be fine.

I agree with Tiffany - if my room would have looked that good I wouldn't have bothered with the curtain divider. If that is approximately teh same amount of tables you'd need I would definitely stick with that!

If you have doubts about it, our venue hired an outside draping company for our ceremony so that may still be an option for you if you want to look into it :-)

Thanks so much. I really needed some input and you have helped me more than you know.