Seating teardown during cocktail hour

Does your venue have people who will help you or will you/your party/etc. be responsible?

If they're in the same room, why not just have the room set up for the reception and have everyone seated at their tables for the ceremony? That way you don't have to worry about swapping the room around.

@ZeldaBride (chuckle a bit when I see your name...FH x-wife was named Zelda)...

That is definitely an option... I guess I'm so used to seeing 'aisles' that I hadn't considered this. Would definitely be less hassle, but is it as comfortable for the guests to be sitting at a table, vs in an arranged row? Just a question... it's been years (decades) since I've been to a wedding!!

@Holly... yep... and the florist, caterer, DOC also said they'd pitch in

I think having them already set reception-style is a great idea. It's definitely unique and less hassle. All you'd have to worry about is changing the stage out which is much less moving parts.

I'm not sure, unless you have a small guest list or 10 or more people to do the actual work, that the entire area could be flipped in just an hour. I've coordinated a number of weddings that have the guests seated at their dinner tables. They worked just fine. And, depending on how the room is to be set, you may still be able to have an aisle between the two sides of the room.

I played with the seating plan... this 'might' work. As a guest, would you feel like you were being stuck at a table or does it really matter?

That's the deal at my venue also. The plan was to clear

the side where the ceremony is so the dance floor can go there, but we'd have to tromp down the 37 stairs and clear the room for an hour? I'm not excited about that. So maybe reception seating could work?

Playing with variations of front tables with no chairs (so those in rows go to only those tables). Guess it works either way. I kind of like this; suggestions???

I don't think this is a good idea. Some of the people will have to stay at their table, but other, privileged people from that table get VIP seating. I would either have everyone sit at their tables, or just deal with having to have the room flipped and hope that everything can get set in time.

What are the dimensions of the room, the dance floor and are they 72" rounds or bigger?

I've never seen it done, myself, so I can't really speak on the comfort aspect. It's one of the bad weather contingency plans at my venue, so I think that's what we'll do if the gazebo gets rained out. I think the most uncomfortable part for guests would be some of them having to turn their chairs around to face the ceremony and then back again to the table, but that seems pretty trivial to me. You could also have the tables set up in such a way as to still create an illusion of an aisle, if that's what you really want. Your venue coordinator or whomever is in charge of set up would just have to make sure there's a defined space for you and your BP (if you're having one) to walk down.

ETA: I'm glad my handle makes you giggle. If it's any consolation, my real name isn't Zelda; FH and I are just having a Legend of Zelda-inspired wedding.

Also, many weddings don't have head tables up on the stage anymore. Personally, I find that option awkward and if it means seating your BP away from their dates most find that very rude. So you could likely avoid the moving stuff altogether by just having a table for yourselves down with the other tables. Either a sweetheart table (just you two) or a kings table (you two, your BP, and the BPs dates). You can always decorate it differently to make it special either way and maybe put it in the middle.

I've tweaked the plan a bit... might work. It's either this or tear down... blech. @Brandy... the room is 53' x 71'. It's all wood floor, so dance floor is as big or as small as we want it. I went with a 15' x 18'. The tables are 60" round and seat 8.

@Reggie & Zelda: we went round and round on how to sit. The latest plan is to seat me, FH, best man and his wife, my MOH and her boyfriend, my sister/husband, my other sister/husband, and his sister/husband. The sisters are all OOT's and we don't see them often... best man and MOH are our best friends. The rest of our bridal part are our kids and a couple of old friends - they see us enough, they can sit down below with their friends! Might be out of the ordinary; oh well.

If it is some people at tables and some in chairs or flipping the room, I'd flip the room and hire some extra help to get it done. Also, be sure that there is a box for every table that has everything that goes on it so your DOC can quickly and efficiently get them set and ready for the florist. The caterers are going to be too busy to help if they are trying to get the buffet set and filled in time.

I have been to weddings where we sat at the reception tables and I have to be honest that I really hated it. No one could see very well, especially those at the back tables (which was me at one of the weddings). I would really just flip the room. It can't take too long. People can entertain themselves!

Edited to add that the people who had their backs to the where the ceremony was had to twist around or turn their chairs around. The whole thing was just clunky.

Lots of good things to think about... thank you everyone!

I was at a friends wedding in an antique barn. and honestly after the ceremony I was busy with the drinks and socializing with people that I didn't even noticed that had moved the chairs from the ceremony around and moved in some tables. sounds like you have enough distractions that hopefully no one will even notive

I am having my guested seated at tables for the ceremony. This is what I have so far as set up but I still need to sit down with my vendor about the best layout for my # of guest.

It's the contingency plan at my venue, too. Although, they have space outside the ballroom for all the guests to mingle during cocktail hour, so the employees can flip the room. They will divide the ballroom so the reception tables, dance floor, etc are hidden during the ceremony.

The other venue we seriously considered wanted to use the ballroom for the ceremony and reception. They would have had the reception tables and chairs set up along the sides of the room and the ceremony would have taken place in the center of the ballroom, on top of where the dance floor was. As soon as the ceremony ended, they would remove the ceremony chairs and altar, then spread out the reception tables. It was unclear where guests were expected to go for cocktail hour (my parents toured and I did not get to see this in person), but the guests were supposed to be distracted by a cocktail hour. I agree with PPs that you should do your ceremony in the center of the room where your dance floor would go and have your reception tables set up on either side of the ceremony/dance floor area. Have your officiant direct guests towards the part of the room where the cocktails are being served. No one will be watching whoever is picking up the ceremony chairs, and making any adjustments to the reception tables/adding a sweetheart or head table.

Gather everyone outside and do a group photo. That'll take about 10-15 minutes, start to finish and by them, the bulk of the table moving will be done.