Wedding planning can be exhausting, and one of the hardest parts is the seating chart. After worrying about where and how your guests will be sitting, some couples forget to seat themselves!

Choosing whether you want to sit close to your bridal party and family or on your own throne as wedding royalty can be a tough choice. The decision between a Head Table and a Sweetheart Table comes down to preference and logistics, but if you and your honey aren’t particularly swayed in one direction over another, here’s some detailed information about both options to help you decide.

In Part One of this topic, we discussed all the perks of a Sweetheart Table over a Head Table. Now it’s time to fully explore the benefits of this grand feasting table design to see if it’s right for you!

Head Tables: For Your Knights and Ladies In Waiting

As mentioned before, Head Tables can come with their own difficulties, but with an appropriately sized bridal party, they can be a perfect fit! Medium to small-sized bridal parties (4-10 people total, including the Bride and Groom) are what Head Tables are literally built for.

Photographer: Photo by Chana and Don, Florist: Splendid Sentiments.

Modeled After “High Tables” from Medieval Feasts!

Royalty kept only the most trusted people close to them at meals. Without getting too into the history, it was a matter of safety and propriety, which determined where guests were seated. So today, we seat those that the Bride and Groom want to honor closest to them for their friendship and loyalty in their lives. Usually the Best Man and Maid of Honor, these people have helped support the happy couple throughout their relationship and wedding planning mayhem. Placing them next to the newlyweds as a way to honor them give them the thanks they deserve seems only natural.

Photographer: Photography by Joshua Killeen, Florist: The Flower Shop Encinitas.

Family Matters

Family is an enormous part of weddings, and we wouldn’t want anybody to feel left out. Some couples stick everybody who was part of the processional of their ceremony at one table. Meaning the happy couple, the bridal party, all parents, and any other significant members all come together again, essentially creating an XXL Head Table. Here the love birds can be in the thick of all the fun, and surprisingly, it works out flawlessly! Their bridal party, full of people practically family to them already, is sometimes too big. It makes sense to be with them in the middle of the festivities. Your family and closest friends are all going to want to talk to you anyway; you might as well join them so everyone can be able to sit and chat!

Photographer: Vafa Photography, Florist: Haystack Floral.

Tired Of The Spotlight?

Let’s say you don’t particularly care for the spotlight 100% of the time, and you want to be seated with your family. We suggest trying a Family Table. Introverted and family-focused couples love this option, especially when so much stimulation over the course of the day gets to be too much. The extra support you’ll receive surrounded by those already begging at the chance to help will be a relief. This option is also smart for pinching a few pennies since you won’t need to order extra tables and decorations!

Photographer: Gipe Photography, Florist: Huntress Florals.

Now that you have all the information, good and bad points, make a choice!

Just remember to be true to what you and your significant other want.

Thanks to all of the amazing photographers mentioned above, whose pictures we used to make this collaboration, and all the Florists who help inspire us with these beautiful arrangements!

Wedding planning can be exhausting, and one of the hardest parts is the seating chart. After worrying about where and how your guests will be sitting, some couples forget to seat themselves!

Choosing whether you want to sit close to your bridal party and family or on your own throne as wedding royalty can be a tough choice. The decision between a Head Table and a Sweetheart Table comes down to most couples’ preferences or logistics. If you and your hunny aren’t particularly swayed in one direction over another, here’s some detailed information about both options to help you decide.

Photographer: Plum and Oak Photography, Florist: Native Poppy.

Sweetheart Tables

A Sweetheart Table is exactly what it sounds like: a table meant for only the “Sweethearts,” aka the Bride and Groom. It will be one of the few designated places you and your significant other will be able to–frankly–escape the hordes of your adoring fans. There won’t be many moments over the course of the night where the two of you will be able to have private moments to yourselves, and having a designated seat away from the crowd might be exactly what you need.

Photographer: Elizabeth French Creative, Florals by a family member of the Bride.

A Remote Island Getaway

This table acts as a liferaft in the sea of your enthusiastic family members and will become your perching place for those few precious moments that nobody needs you for anything. Plus, everything on the table only comes in two’s, so you can afford to decorate! Without worrying about making 100+ copies of everything and buying in bulk, you can customize your special space all you want. Make it look like the table of your wildest dreams! (Or your wildest Pinterest boards…)

Photographer: By Amy Lynn Photography, Florist: KO Floral Designs.

No Need to Have Your Friends on a Leash!

Having your own table also grants your bridal party the freedom to mingle and pursue their own agendas throughout the night without feeling like they have to ask permission to leave the table. Most bridal party members will also be bringing a date, and they’ll want to be seated close to them. The Sweetheart Table keeps your honored friends out from under the spotlight and can entertain your other guests.

Photographer: Jordan Galindo, Florist: Layered Vintage.

It’s All About The Numbers.

Speaking of bridal parties, have you considered the size of your whole crew? Plus their dates? If you plan on seating only the designated bridal party with you, hopefully, their “Plus Ones” know somebody else to sit and talk with at their tables…

In general, extensive bridal parties tend to look a bit excessive if they’re all seated away from the rest of your guests at a Head Table. A group of people over twelve thick is tough to seat properly, especially if they’re all looking out in the same direction since you wouldn’t want anybody’s back to the rest of your guests. That can mean your head table is now around eighteen feet long! (If you want to talk to the ones at either end, start practicing your smoke signals now.) In this situation, unfortunately, those whom you wanted closest to you can end up not being the most remote.

Photographer: Gipe Photography, Florals by the Bride and Groom.

Musical Chairs

Think back to other occasions where a large group of friends and family got together at a restaurant. One of the biggest seating issues is making others have to get up or scoot their seats in every time you need to get up. Honestly, at your wedding, you only get to sit and relax for a total of about 45 minutes, if you’re lucky, and the toasts are long. You’re going to want every second of that seated peace enjoyed.

This seat-shuffling issue is removed by having a Sweetheart Table. It also makes you seem more approachable to your guests. Nobody wants to cause an inconvenience by imposing themselves on someone else’s space. By removing additional bodies, a direct line of traffic can form between your excited guests to you. Thus, creating a quicker flow of interactions and a more time-efficient process for the event overall.

Photographer: Shelly Anderson Photography, Florist: I Do Flowers For You.

Sentiments and Symbolism

Sitting at a Sweetheart Table can also be the first gesture a couple can make together in their married lives. It can signify that they are a single united entity forging a future path of their own. Many couples choose this option for that reason and the privacy it allows as well. Whispering sweet nothings in the ear of your freshly wedded spouse, without worrying about an audience, can keep the romance alive on such a crazy day.

Photographer: Lauren Scotti Photography, Florist: Siren Floral Co.

Still Can’t Decide?

With all of this said, the idea of a Sweetheart Table doesn’t sit right with some couples. They want their bridal party right at their sides, or they love the thought of a Head Table’s ability to make a bigger design statement.

Keep an eye out for Part 2 coming next week, where we’ll explore the other side of this decision and all the Head Table benefits!