Expert Advice from wedding guru, Sharon Naylor

Answer:

I've been to a few cocktail party weddings where 80% seats/20% no seats worked okay for the start of the event, but as the hours went on, people were getting tired and looking for a place to sit. Some went outside to sit on the terrace steps.

Some guests, especially older ones, are quick to grab a table and hold it all night as a place to keep their drinks and their purses, their jackets or wraps and so on...and the rest of the guests spent a lot of time trying to scope out places to sit. If your site can't bring in the extra chairs, can you ask to rent some? Or, without extra chairs, ask to bring in some high tables with no chairs, scattered throughout the room -- it's a nice look -- so that guests can stand at them to eat the cocktail party food and set down their drinks. See if this can be arranged.

And ask the site if they can bring in any couches or ottomans -- which is a big trend right now! -- that they have on-site for your guests to use. I just attended a fabulous cocktail party wedding where there weren't seats for everyone, but the site had fantastic groupings of couches and ottomans that gave the place a hip nightclub feel. They even brought in some of their outdoor wrought-iron two-seater bistro tables that duo guests loved. Ask what the site can do for you as far as seating...many have couches in their lobbies and other areas that they can bring into the room for you as a great solution...and it makes THEM look good that they are so trendy!