There is an old tradition coming back that I just love. The sweetheart table.
This is a table where the bride and groom sit alone during the reception dinner. I like this idea because it gives the bride and groom a chance to talk and take a little break from all of the joyful craziness of the wedding day. A sweetheart table gives the reception a more formal vibe which nicely gets the message across that you’d like to actually eat your dinner and not have people coming up and talking to you for the whole meal or interrupting with glass clinking and speeches. Some traditions even have the sweetheart table in another room for guaranteed privacy with the bride and groom making a grand entrance at the end of dinner and going right into the first dance. After the first dance can come the speeches and slideshow, followed by the parent dances and then open dance. This timeline has more of a formal structure to it, but also keeps speeches short and guests entertained.
One of the big benefits of a sweetheart table is that it allows your wedding party to sit with their signifigant others. As a bridesmaid myself, I would have rather enjoyed sitting at a round table with people I knew than sit at a head table with everyone staring at me and having to crane my neck to talk with someone a couple seats down. It also gives more flexibility on table layouts which can help in a cramped reception space. With how big wedding parties have been getting, it can be difficult to fit enough tables into one straight line.
So if you have a wedding party of 22 and can’t figure out how to arrange them, you want to let family sit with family and friends with friends, or you just want an excuse to eat dinner alone with your new hubby, think about the Sweetheart Table and see if it fits in with your reception.
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