To have people standing at a wedding?

[itsallgravybaby]

More of a WWYD - hope you follow this long one

We're getting married on a budget and have hired a venue to DIY most of it. 70 guests.

For our evening reception we want to hire a marquee and the recommended size is 6x15 or 6x18 to fit some tables for 50 people and a dance floor. The cost of this is close to £2k but includes delivery, set up, lighting, flooring and dance floor.

The venue have now started hiring a 6x12m out that just goes on the grass but I don't know if it's acceptable to have less seating and just a dance floor and seating for say 30 people. It's only £500 though so a massive saving and we can DIY linings etc and they can also put a dance floor in for us too.

So my questions is AIBU to hope that most evening guests will be up dancing or mingling and not need seating for all 70 guests?

There's also some outside seating (July wedding) and will have lots of foldable chairs knocking about if they can squeeze in. We can't reduce the guest list unfortunately so that's not an option.

[MamaMiapartytime]

6x15 or 6x18

If it is 6m width then it is really small to begin with- 20 feet- so length of a living room by 50 feet- so length or 3 rooms? I don't see how you will get 50 people seated with a decent dance floor in that space.

[itsallgravybaby]

Yes @MamaMiapartytime the marquee companies have suggested 6x15 as the size we'd need and that would allow seating for 50 at the standard big round tables and dance floor. We're not having a band area or anything just some speakers and an iPod plugged in

So if we get smaller round tables and split over two tents with a total of 6x15 I think we'll do it

[speakout]

Pizza, wedges cheap flip flops and not enough seats.
What could possibly go wrong?

Sorry OP it sounds grim.

[itsallgravybaby]

@speakout good job it isn't your wedding then!

[itsallgravybaby]

PS the pizza is only because it's a late wedding breakfast which we haven't scrimped on and the ceremony is late afternoon anyway so who would want two massive meals in the space of 6 hours?!

[MamaMiapartytime]

Sorry OP it sounds grim.

I have to say I wouldn't go to a wedding that had dominos- messy and horrible food- the cheapest and nastiest of all the pizzas in my opinion. You would just ruin any decent clothes if any sauce got on you.

Fish and chips is better. Would a van come?

[speakout]

Op you clearly can't afford so many guests at this wedding with these plans.
The whole thing sounds cheap and tacky.

Better to have fewer guests or find a venue that is less expensive so yo can host a decent bash.

[Katgurl]

It doesn't sound grim at all, it sounds casual. I love weddings because it's brilliant having all my friends or cousins together, getting locked, the chats, the bad dancing, the late night singsong.

You are dead right not to waste money on irrelevant rubbish that nobody cares about anyway.

I maintain however that enough seating is important.

[itsallgravybaby]

Dominoes style was the thinking - not specifically dominoes but was the first thing that came to mind. Fish and chip vans tend to charge quite a lot per head so having something delivered from somewhere seemed the wisest choice.

I might have another look though

[crazycatgal]

I'm under 30, I still like to be able to sit down though. I'd probably leave early if I couldn't sit down for a bit.

[mummymeister]

Lots of areas of the country now have pizza vans where a van is kitted out to make pizza with wood fired oven, all the hygiene requirements etc and they make them fresh to order. this would have a novelty value for your guests and mean that people could eat something when they wanted to. Fish and chip vans are equally brilliant and really good fun. Look, all you need to do is think about what people really want from a wedding reception. they want to be warm, they want to be dry, they want to be able to sit down, they want to have access to something to drink and something to eat and they want a bit of entertainment. that's it. take the advice of the marquee company and any other professionals because honestly they know all about this sort of thing. if you don't listen to them then it will cause you a headache when all you will be wanting to do is relax with your family and friends.

[expatinscotland]

'and the ceremony is late afternoon anyway so who would want two massive meals in the space of 6 hours?!'

But the evening guests won't have had that big meal in advance. What time does the evening do start? People often underestimate how much evening guests eat, especially with drink involved.

[thecatsthecats]

God, yeah, I mean NO ONE likes pizza. That's why pizza businesses struggle to open in the UK. It's financial suicide

Where's that only on Mumsnet thread again?

I want to add "only on Mumsnet do you get people calling any remote decision about weddings entitled whilst simultaneously declaring that every guest must have their every whim catered to, because they couldn't possibly experience something slightly not to their taste".

[itsallgravybaby]

No separate evening guests so 70 there all day.

Will look into the wood fired pizza van thanks!

[Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar]

I don’t understand the significance of not having scrimped on the wedding breakfast when you’re considering scrimping on seating?
If you have a limited budget you probably need to go back to the drawing board and allocate it a little better.

[Kidssendingmenuts]

Can't you ask around and see if anyone can lend you some benches etc? You could put them at the side then and use a little room? X

[speakout]

Pizza and wedges is a meal I would feed the kids if I didn't have the time on a busy weekday.

Yes there are plenty pizza takeaways, but this is not celebration food.

Pizzas are eaten when people are too busy to cook or can't be bothered, eaten on the sofa, or while drunk walking along the street.

One step up from a bag of cheesy wotsits- which are still very popular UK wide but again hardly something you would want to eat at such a special event as a wedding.

Cheap and tacky.

[Nolagerformethanks]

Urgh honestly some of these replies....don't let people put you off pizzas, it's your day, you are paying for everyone's food please do what YOU want! I work in events and guests love a pizza for an evening do, I would really advise getting flooring though, speaking from experience marquees are not the same without it and it can get quite messy if the ground is damp etc but ultimately its your wedding, your money and your final decision, if you try to please everyone you would never win!I hope you have an amazing wedding day

[MissP103]

I do think pizzas are a bit on the cheapskate side. More like doing sandwiches. It's not really wedding food. Maybe a bit more variety or options if you could?

[possumgoddess]

You need seating for everyone, and you need flooring. Just imagine smart shoes sinking into muddy grass! But in my opinion you can do without lining. It just depends on how pretty you want things to look.

[expatinscotland]

As there are no separate evening guests the pizzas sound fine!

[Teeniemiff]

We didn’t have 1 seat per person at our evening do I don’t think (we were able to cater for 80-90% so I think they did tables accordingly. I don’t think everyone would be sitting at the same time- some at bar, some in the loo, some dancing, & I also think you find people stood up chatting by people who are sat down even when there’s empty chairs elsewhere. But I do think the majority should have a chair, say it was 50 chairs for 70 people that wouldn’t be as bad. But 30 is too low I think.

[itsallgravybaby]

It's the marquee that's turned out to the the most expensive. We can ask people to carry chairs 40ft to the marquee but it's £1.3k to have the marquee that the company suggested as big enough - more trying to scrimp on size I suppose as the smaller one is no frills but only £500. So ironically we have loads of chairs but was hoping to squeeze too many people into a smaller marquee.

However lots of PPs have enlightened me that that's a terrible idea (genuinely appreciate it) so we will probably end up getting the bigger marquee and make savings elsewhere.

[Butterymuffin]

Pizza is fine. It's for casual evening food after the main wedding breakfast and it's easy to get vegetarian or gluten free ones. It will suit most people well. at all the pizza nay sayers!

[newyearwhoohoo]

I'd absolutely love to go to a pizza wedding!
Fish and chips won't be any good for vegetarians or vegans. Cater for at least 50% of the pizzas being veggie or vegan as the veg ones may get eaten by the non veggies!