Small wedding ceremony - guests set up

View quoted message I would totally use whatever decorations you had for the big day I only had the mason jars as they were going to be the centre pieces for the tables but my venue wasn't getting much other decorations.

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That sounds lovely! I love the mason jar idea! We have a lot of rustic decorations that we were planning to use for our big wedding anyways, so I'm going to try to incorporate some of that stuff too! And I think we've decided to get the chairs!

Your first picture shares is what I am going for with setting up my backyard wedding (we postponed our big wedding till next year and decided to do it with our family as restrictions have allowed outdoor ceremonies) we aren't telling anyone about this ceremony but the people invited to keep next year's as exciting for those attending (we have been together 12 years and have been asked over and over when we will actually do it an suprised everyone with invites the beginning of this year)
I am luckily my family is used to hosting big family holiday dinners so I will have chairs from both sides of family which will be way more than enough. They are simple black folding chairs. I will be using mason jars to line the aisle as well. But do whatever is possible for you 😊

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Good point! I'll have to research prices first! Thanks!

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It's so hard to plan for any kind of event when things are changing so much! Hopefully things continue to improve and I'm sure both of our ceremonies will be beautiful either way! Then next year everyone will be even more ready to celebrate!

Chairs for the guests that can't stand for long should sit for the ceremony. Others can stand if they won't mind it for the short ceremony. The cost of chairs can vary and if the deal is good for guests seating, go for it than half sitting and half standing.

View quoted message Of course! It's not the most straight forward answer...
If the Atlantic provinces allow travel it might be 19 because then my fiance's siblings can come without needing the 2 week quarantine that is currently in effect. My brother can't come (QC), and his parents likely can't come (US), and it isn't safe for his grandmothers to be there either. It leaves us with 17 including the photographer and officiant, just our closest friends and my parents.

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Thanks for your input! Definitely good points!

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Can I ask how many people you guys are having?

I would do chairs. They can be placed in a way that will work for the photographer. You don't want a lopsided crowd or an aisle that's off middle with someone poking out of it. I'm assuming you won't have a riser for yourself as you do the ceremony and if that's the case, you'll be more visible at people's eye level sitting down since you will be taller than the crowd. If they're standing, you may be blocked from many guests' view due to a taller person standing relatively in front.

View quoted message Thanks for your reply! We are planning to do a casual bbq dinner afterwards, so that was another reason I thought it’d be nice to have some chairs.

We're planning a small outdoor ceremony without seats.


If we had any older guests invited we would have chairs for them.

We are having a small ceremony in my MIL backyard, we did decide to rent chairs, more so because we will need something for them to sit on for when we do dinner.
But there is no wrong way. If you are having a short ceremony & feel like people can stand, then do that. But if you want people to relax & be able to be seated so you can have a more defined aisle, a few chairs might be the best for you.