Head tables / bridal party tables / etc.?

[tlh]

Date: 5/12/2009 4:33:29 PM
Author: musey

Date: 5/12/2009 4:19:19 PM
Author: tlh

Date: 5/12/2009 3:06:36 PM
Author: musey
Would you be MORE or LESS likely to seat the bridal party''s SOs with them if the bride and groom themselves were not sitting at the bridal party table? If the bridal party table is JUST the bridal party - who may or may not know each other - and the brige & groom are sitting elsewhere.

If there is one head table w/ just the wedding party.. sorry.. only people in the matching outfits/tuxes get to sit up front... dates - to the sidelines you go. Nothing worse than having your friend''s flavor of the month in all your wedding photos.. or having to decide which one is a keep or not. Even spouses... the bride and groom don''t have to accomodate for the husband/wife of an attendant... and most people are big enough adults to be able to sit by themselves through dinner. Sucks... but we''ve all been there.

But if it is a sweet heart table of just the bride and groom, or bride and groom w/ their parents... then WHY ON EARTH would you seperate the dates from the party? When the party has their own table? It would be a LOT more fun to keep the couples together... unless they all wouldn''t fit at one table... then just split them up and have them seated w/ the guests... since the real focus is the bride and groom anyway.

The reason I brought up this question was that I was a BM in a wedding recently, where the seating just left me quite confused.

I was seated at the BP table and didn''t know anyone - the bride and groom sat at a separate table with their parents, my husband sat all the way across the room by himself, and the table was not the typical ''head table'' that''s somewhat on display. Just another table (that happened to be placed at the ''front'' of the room, if there was such a thing). It wouldn''t have occurred to me to be bothered (though I would certainly have thought it a bit odd), except that:

A) The meal took up the majority of the reception

and

B) We were asked to return to our seats many times throughout the rest of the reception for their ''moments'' (first dance, parent dances, cake cutting, ''performances,'' speeches, etc.)

So all told, my husband and I were able to be within 30 feet of one another for about 10 minutes of the entire reception. We didn''t get to enjoy the party together (our first wedding as newlyweds), take pictures, etc. because we were land-locked to our separate tables. We did get to wave at one another every so often

Also, I don''t recall the photographer taking one picture of the bridal party table the entire time, so it must not have been for the sake of pictures...


Anyway, since I thought it was a little bit odd I thought I''d post about it to see if I was the only one who would think so!

no, I meant bridal party including the bride and groom, that the dates of the party, should be seated elsewhere... however, if seated at a completely DIFFERENT table than the bride and groom, that is really just strange, and somewhat cruel to your "guests of honor".. I mean if your friends mean so much to you to be in your party... you really can''t have them seated w/ their dates, if they aren''t seated with you???? CRAZY!