Ceremony advice

I've been to a standing wedding. You need to make sure there is a good slope and the bridal party needs to be at the bottom. That way the people in the back can look over the others.

What about benches? More cost effective and can accommodate multiple people?

Rent chairs if you feel you want to have your guests seated especially with the elderly and family seated upfront. Opinions will always fly from everyone on how they see fit and cost wise though the final word is yours to make as you know best.

Alternative is to let your guests know you may have a standing ceremony and the seats are for the elder guest and parents with children to be limited.

View quoted message Oh now that you mention this the same thing happened at my brothers wedding. We were told to rise and never told to sit and it was difficult to see even though I was very close to the front.
In a yard setting you should be able to make standing work because people can form more of a line rather than be one behind another. You can also take advantage of a slope and be at the bottom so everyone can see or make a little stage for the ceremony to take place on.

I've been to one wedding where we stood the whole time - it was in a church, the pastor had everyone rise, and then never told the congregation to sit back down. We couldn't see anything at all, so it was fairly disappointing in that regard - we may as well have not even been there.

That said, if you have a small number of guests and there's room for them to spread out so that everyone can see what's happening, and your guests are all physically able to stand for 15-20 minutes, you should be fine. I'd maybe recommend mentioning it somewhere though so guests know what to expect in advance - it would be annoying to show up in heels only to spend 20 minutes sinking into the lawn.

Do you have any older people coming?
If you do, consider at least having chairs for them ? It should be easy for people who are younger as long as it’s not like a crazy long ceremony but the elderly will need to sit

My cousin’s ceremony was standing and it was totally fine. I do agree that you should consider chairs for older or disabled guests though. I would also say maybe just have designated standing spots that groomsmen or ushers can point to so it looks good for photo purposes!

Rent chairs for Grandparents, parents and anyone with a disability. Everyone else can stand for 15-20mins.

Hey Depending on your theme and vibe, maybe consider some cute blankets/cushions for your guests to sit on!

View quoted message I was thinking about benches actually! VS chairs. I’m having a hard time finding a vendor that rents them though! And enough to accommodate 150-175 people

We had a standing ceremony! It was *very* short, basically just the legal bits and our vows so about 8-12 minutes.


We had no grandparents there. The oldest guest was my 60 year old dad, and there was no issue with asking everyone to stand for a few minutes. If we had grandmothers I would have at least had a front row of chairs for them. I had been to another standing ceremony and they had a row or two of chairs.

The only thing about going without chairs is guests not getting proper view of the ceremony itself. Even if you have a tall person sitting up front, the person at the back won't have their view blocked because the two of you are standing. And without chairs, your audience might appear lopsided because without any arrangement for guests to be neatly placed in the audience, they might just stand wherever.

Chairs are more formal, however if your vibe is casual then go for it. Make sure you have chairs for elders

How many guests are you having? And how many people do you think couldn’t stand for long? I was at a standing wedding years ago (my dads second wedding) and they were up on the balcony, and then had two rows of chairs and then the rest of us just stood behind the chairs. Depending how the slope is you could always opt for a few benches in the front for people that can’t stand?

I was at a standing ceremony a couple of years ago. It was totally fine. They had a few chairs for those who couldn't stand the whole time. That being said, it was a pretty casual wedding and a relatively short ceremony. If you're planning on doing something 20+ minutes long you might want to get chairs for your guests or they'll start getting uncomfortable.

My ceremony this year will also be standing, but it should be less than 10 minutes and it's just our immediate families.