Head Tables

One of the advantages having attended so many weddings (so. many. weddings.) in the past is that we get to learn from other people's successes and mistakes.  One of my least favorite parts of other people's weddings is that Lance is usually in them.  More specifically, when Lance is in a wedding, I am alone, or with his friends and acquaintances, for hours while he does his groomsman thing (photos, toasts, helping with the dollar dance, etc.), and I eventually get very bored.  And I do not want guests at our wedding to be bored.  I want them to be with the ones they love, so they can relax and have fun.

As a result, I am going to do whatever I can to keep the bridal party's significant others close.  This means we have to find a way to allow the bridal party to eat with their significant others, and that means that we are scrapping the traditional head table.  I think that will work out better anyway, since we will probably have a large bridal party, and that many people looks ridiculous on display:

So what are our alternatives?  I found this option online:

I like it, but I still want us to stand out a little, so I think Lance and I will probably have a sweetheart table (at first I thought that would be lonely, but everyone says that you will be grateful for any alone-together time you get on your wedding day).  Another option is seating the bridal party at guest round tables, but Lance didn't feel like that was special enough:

Thus, the current plan is "sweetheart table with wings," or long tables on either side of the sweetheart table for the bridal party and their significant others or families.  This arrangement has the added perk of keeping our closest friends nearby and hopefully making toasts run more smoothly.