does this sound ok??

[yougotafastcar]

We have our first appointment with our venue tomorrow!

It is a pub/barn/garden place and very relaxed, just what I wanted.

I would like to have a 3-4pm ceremony, then a hog roast/buffet. But we have difficult families so I don't really want a seating plan. I plan to have tables laid out and seats outside, so plenty of places for people to sit and eat/chat but no official seating plan and everyone can sit where they want, or eat where they want. Will be in august.

Would this work do you think? Thanks!

Anyone?

This is exactly what we were planning. Made life so much easier with our numbers and awkward family ;)

It can definitely work. My cousin had a hot buffet with no seating plan.

Oh thank you! I just need it to be as relaxed as possible. Hope you have a lovely day

We've changed our plan now actually but not because it wouldn't have worked. As a guest aswell I'd say your idea would be fantastic!

Sounds fab....I went to a similar wedding like that. It was great.

We had no seating plan. We made a blackboard sign which said something along the lines of 'this room is full of the most wonderful people in the world, please sit amongst them and get to know some incredible people.' We made sure there were more spaces than people so that people could move around and it worked really well.

Thanks! Discussed it with wedding planner today who said it will work, but better with lots of square tables rather then round as they dont need to be dressed but I'm abit because I think they will be nicer dressed! But we will see.

We had a marquee venue with a huge beautiful garden, and a BBQ.

We wanted a summery, relaxed wedding and seriously considered this, having no table plan and just setting and dressing the tables and letting everyone choose their own place.

We decided against it after speaking to the wedding co ordinator and me researching it. Reason being that at a wedding, generally you get a lot of people that don't know each other.

It can be a bit 'awkward' for many to be randomly chucked in a room and told to find their own seat. Looking at the table plan, finding your seat, is a nice 'filler' and something for people to do too. I didn't want to run the risk of having groups of people standing around awkwardly, or ending up with my very deaf and prim great Auntie seated next to a particularly rowdy colleague of DH's (who in my opinion should be kept away from society in general but that's another story).

Anyway, we did a seating plan, but it didn't impact on the relaxed atmosphere at all.

I prefer the sit where you like idea as otherwise you will always have someone not happy. I would suggest thinking about how many people will be coming together though to make sure there is enough seats on each table to seat a family together i.e. 8 per table for 2 families of 4, or a family of 6 with a couple, or 4 couples.

If I was a guest who didn't know too many people, I'd feel more relaxed with a seating plan tbh.

I've been a 'periphery' type guest, eg from playing a sport or old friends' weddings where my DH hasn't gone and I haven't known other people and it is nice to have the seating decision made for me so I don't stress about who to sit with.

Could you do a seating plan but make people swap around tables during the meal (like a safari supper) as a compromise?

I went to a wedding exactly as you describe op, relaxed pub garden type event, there was no seating plan and it was really nice as we could all sit with our friends. It was very casual and lots of fun. I don't think looking at the seating plan is a great "filler". It takes 2 mins!

Sounds great. Fun rather than formal. Im using a wedding website made with www.weddinghand.co.uk to make it less formal so no invites and save the date stuff and they can rsvp. it was free as well that so that worked with our limited budget.