Miss Peacock, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Internet Whiz
Engagement Date: December 5, 2006
Wedding Date: September, 2008
Blogging Since: December 13, 2007
Venue: St. Clement Church, Cafe Brauer (or a big church wedding and a fancy party at a cafe in Lincoln Park.
About Me: I am a grad student with a secret obsession for all things wedding related. I also love to read, travel, drink champagne and go for walks with our dog, Maisy, and Mr. Peacock. We are planning our very vintage wedding in the greatest city in the world, our hometown of Chicago. I am so proud to be a Bee!
The Long and Short of It
May 9th, 2008 @ 9:52 am by Miss Peacock
I really want to do long dining tables at our reception. I love the idea of everyone sitting around like a big family rather than sectioned off in our pre-determined groups. People usually prefer round tables because then you can easily look at everyone at your table and they say that makes conversation easier. It might just be me, but I can never hear the people sitting directly across from me, and I usually end up talking to the people on either side of me. It might be a bit better with a rectangular table.
I also like that we could do a variety of smaller arrangements rather than one large one at each table.
from Oh, How Charming! via Bridal Bar Blog
from Robert Evans Studio, via Bridal Bar Blog
from Lisa Lefkowitz
A few logistical concerns…
1) Is it harder to find your seat when there are only 10 tables? I just keep picturing the little dance that we do when we are trying to decide where to sit.
2) Our room has an odd, octagonal shape. I’m not sure how to arrange them in the room so that it doesn’t look and feel awkward.
3) Will this make finding linens more difficult?
4) I have never actually been to a wedding where this was done, so I could be full of bologna.
I am scheduled to go order my linens in a few weeks, so I need to figure it out before then. Has anyone considered long tables as an option?
20 Responses to “The Long and Short of It”
I didn’t use long tables, but I don’t think it’s that unusual. Certainly not unusual enough that it’ll be hard to find linens. It might be hard to arrange them in your room, but you’ll have to discuss that with your venue.
Good luck! I love the look of long banquet tables, I’m sure they’ll look great!
I’ve been to a wedding where this was done. All the seats were assigned (can you imagine the chaos with unassigned seats at one or two long tables?). It was definitely difficult to find your seat (there was a giant map to guide you), but not impossible. Conversation was probably limited to the two people on either side of me and one couple directly across–no better or worse than a round table, really. I kind of like it, to be honest. I think because it was just so different.
I originally wanted long tables but my whole family booed the idea. Either way my venue did have those table options so round it is. I wasnt going to add that extra expense to rent tables… it will look stunning… im jealous 
I’m a fan of long tables. My cousin and I both did wedding luncheons where the choice of venue dictated long tables, and certainly I found it more fun, even at hers where I had never met the people sitting around me other than my mother who was also having plenty of fun talking to people other than me. Both had fully assigned seating, though at mine, a few people made minor switches.
I’m having long tables, as I like the look and my reception room is very long and narrow. The only problem that I’ve had so far is that linens are A FORTUNE. We have to get them custom-made because we wanted 36″ wide tables (rather than the standard 30″ wide tables) because we thought that 30″ was just too narrow.
We’re also assigning seats. We have two 60-foot long tables, and dividing each table up into 3 sections. We’ll direct people to their “table area” with an escort card, then hanging place cards on the back of everyone’s seat.
I love long tables though! The layout definitely is different, and I think it’s more conducive for conversations for all the reasons you mentioned.
I am actually doing long tables… so here’s the scoop:
1. The linens typically cost the SAME as a 120″ round. You will just need to be clear on how many 8′ vs 6′ tables you have- though they run for the same amount of money, it is important that you have an exact number.
2. Keep in mind the dimensions of the table. A charger typically can be anywhere from 10″-12″, take this into account along with the size of the centerpiece and anything else you want to include on the table. The only way that this options becomes MORE expensive is if you find that you need to double up the width with two tables to accomodate.
3. There are a range of specialty linens available for long tables, though limited. Ever since Mrs. Jackie O popularlized the round table, table linen companies have focused on them… however, there are some lovely options at:
tablewraps.com
partymosaic.com
nuage designs (not sure the website)
wildflowerlinens.com
resourceone.com
4. Seating should not be any more difficult. You will just want to be sure to number the tables accordingly. If you only have ONE large table- then I would suggest still having a number on EACH smaller table that makes it up. Visually, this will help your guests to locate their space in a timely manor. For instance, my wedding is in a library so while there will only be a few tables, we are using the extended call numbers to further assist guests in knowing where at each table they are sitting ( i/e: Table 3 will have several sections: 3.159, 3.286 etc )
5. When it comes to the layout with long tables, you can do a few things…. it can either be long- cafeteria like rows one after another…. it can wrap around a central focus (mine wrap around an atrium) or they can be paired with round or square tables so that the long tables flank the perimeter and break up the central space here and there…. Have fun with it and don’t feel limited- feel inspired!
Good Luck!
Like Rebecca we are deviding our long tables into sections with the names of each section prominantly labeled so that people can esily find thier seats.
I love the look of long tables and find it is much easier to talk to people. At a round table you can only talk comfortably to the person on either side of you and maybe thier neighbor (this is even worse with a tall arrangement). With a rectangular table you are able to talk to your neighbors and the three people opposite you and your neighbors. It makes for better conversation and a more entertianing party.
We also want to include the spouses of our wedding party at opur head table. Most are married or in long term relationships so it is nice to be able to have the spouse at the same table. We have a large wedding party, 13-14 excluding the kids, and don’t want a sweatheart table so we are thinking of doing three seperate tables. One with the BMs and spouses, one with the GMs and spouses and one with us and our BM & MOH with thier spouses. We thought this would be a nice way to share the day with these people and not make ourselves as much of the center of attention.
I also loved the idea of square tables but our caterer talked me out of it The main reason was that you could get more seating by using round tables in our space plus, more importantly, round tables were more flexible in terms of being able to fit anywhere from 8-12 people around and add or reduce at the last minute without leaving a hole. When I was thinking about this I wanted those square tables that seated 2 on each side, so perhaps long tables are more flexible as far as squeezing people in.
We did long tables that seated 18 people each at our wedding. People LOVED it for the reasons Tberry listed. You were able to talk to more people other than the one person on either side of you at a round table.
Our rental company provided the tables, but we did have to order custom linens. The overall cost wasn’t that much greater than if we rented linens for rounds.
To encourage the conversation, since you can now talk to more people, we had dinner served family-style so people would have to pass the platters. We got amazing feedback afterwards that people really liked. We had a celebrity caterer, so the food was really good and well presented, so it didn’t come off as cheesy.
Like SoCalBeachGirl we also did long tables but with 20 at each one (10 per side)–it was amazing-looking! Our reception venue had never hosted an event with long tables so I spent quite a bit of time doing CAD drawings with the venue director to see how it would work (i *highly* suggest drawing out what your reception site looks like and putting in long tables to see what the outcome is).
Linens are really not that much more expensive–as a good cost alternative to renting, you can always purchase the fabric yourself in bulk and make fancy runners to use as overlays over the more-traditional plain tablecloths.
Let us know how it works out!
I LOVE long tables. I so wish I could do them at my wedding, but the layout of my venue does not really suit them, which makes me so sad. What kind of condition are the rectangular tables in? If they are nice wood, you could get away with just doing a long runner and placemats. Most of the places where I have looked for linens offer rectangular (3ft x 6ft) for the same price as round… so I don’t think you would pay more. You are not getting one giant tablecloth.
The wedding that I attended that had the long tables had such a colorful printed runner, that for centerpieces she bought a ton of cut class vases in different shapes from the Salvation Army and then filled those with different herbs. It was stunning!
Even if the tables need to be fully covered and not left exposed you should still be fine on tablecloth choices. Just make sure it has lots of texture! So excited (and jelous) for you!
I think you should definitely do long tables! I’m envious . .. I wanted to do them as one of my top priorities (I’d originally wanted to be out on an organic farm or vineyard with one enormous single long table, like the Outstanding in the Field events) but where we ended up venue-wise is a square indoor space with a big staircase coming down through the middle of it. There is no way to do long tables unless we were having about 1/3 the number of guests! I think it’s much, much easier to talk to more people at long tables (vs. rounds). . . and I just love the look of it. I think you can do more interesting centerpieces too.
We are doing long tables too! But not place cards, so just table assignments. : ) but we just have 5 tables of 16, then 6 tables of 8, since its hard to divide the guests up. But the linens werent that hard to find, for us it was just the color we wanted (charcoal) but they were the same as our white ones so it totally didnt matter!! go with long tables!
We did long tables and I loved, loved, loved it. We also rented linens and it wasn’t that expense. We found a rental place the would make them for us (the didn’t have the right sizes in stock) and it was still reasonably priced. I think they thought they might be able to use them again as we used the ever popular expresso color. We also did assigned seating as we wanted to still have some ‘grouping’ to the table even though they were holidng around 20 people.
Linens shouldn’t actually be more expensive - as LaborDayBride points out, you’re actually getting the same rectangular tablecloths that would go on a normal restaurant size (4 - 6 person) rectangular table, and then overlapping several of them to run the length of the table. We are having round tables for out guests, but a rectangular table as the head table, as there are too many family members for one but too few for two round tables, and no good way to divide them without insulting somebody. Our florist is doing three small “centerpiece” arrangements for our head table, and I think it will look wonderful.
I really wanted long tables - but with our outdoor reception, the trees interspersed throughout the area and the random brick patios, it would be too difficult to do. But I think they look great, modern and could allow you to place them around a dance floor and have an awesome effect!
I’m totally doing the long table look. I was pretty set on that when I first started planning =)! I should probably start comparing prices on linens!
*sigh* SoCalBeachGirl you totally had the reception I want! I wanted to do a foodie family style reception, but we had to nix it b/c we ended up going with a more affordable venue that still looked great but didn’t give us much room to be creative with the food.
@danielle: Thanks for all the details! That was wonderful.
Thanks for the support, all! I needed a little encouragement. I did lay out my room. There should be a post about it sometime soon. Be sure to let me know what you think!
I recently went to a wedding where they had a mix of long tables and round tables and the different centerpieces and everything and it was sooo elegant and unique. everyone loved it. It wasn’t too difficult to find our place/seat because even the long tables fit 10 people max. I think it was cool to see the mix and am considering doing it myself. good luck!
[…] still estimate its size. I cut out space for the dance floor, added the bars, the band and enough rectangular tables to seat roughly 200 people. Here is what it looks like. The left and right sides do not represent […]
