Which side do you put your families on?

We did open seating but at our ceremony but my mom wanted to sit on the opposite side I was standing so she could see my face. She said it was the best decision she made about where to sit. She said she loved being able to see my face during the ceremony.

So my mom and dad sat behind H and I loved that I could glance over and see their faces while the ceremony was happening.

I think that what he told you is actually pretty clever. I never would have thought about that, but I don't know if it's a thing or not. We are not doing assigned seating during our ceremony. I'm a big fan of the "there are no sides" signs, especially as there being sides drew wedges in my family when there shouldn't have been.

We are reserving the first two rows on both sides for family, but aside from that, we are telling everyone to sit wherever they want. I found the "pick a side" thing confusing and old fashioned and would much rather have our guests sit on either side. We're coming together, so our friends and family can too.

Yes I agree with that for the most part, we aren't assigning any sides for the majority of the seating, the only assigned seats will be the front row. We are just trying to figure out which side of the front row should be my family, and which should be his. We want to be specific about which relatives go on which sides because 7 out of the 10 people in the front row will also be in the processional (grandparents, parents, and siblings) so we want to make sure the order they process makes sense in terms of where they are sitting just to make it easier. Also like my grandma will want to sit next to her brother who she hasn't seen in years. So we the only reason we are "separating" sides is for the front row and just for ease of the processional and so our relatives can sit with each other.