Chairs and event planning – how to ensure you have enough space

Ensuring you have enough space for your event is a must. The last thing you want is people crammed too tightly together – especially if the event involves a sit-down dinner. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than knocking elbows with the diner next to you as servers squeeze past chairs. So how to you avoid these problems.

Pick the right size venue

Most venues make the room capacity clear, often giving a minimum and maximum number of guests. If a venue, for example, says it can hold a maximum of 50 guests you should consider how this number will be dispersed. If the venue is a bar, it’s probably assuming a certain number of guests who will remain standing and won’t be allowing room for chairs and tables, so ensure your venue has enough space for 50 guestsdining.

For an event like a wedding reception where there will be dancing after dinner, you also want to ensure there is enough space to move the tables and chairs to make way for the dancefloor.

Use practical option where space is at a premium

Each guest is going to need a chair so make sure you have your numbers finalised before you hire specific numbers. A space saving new product for this year is our pristine  White Samsonite Fold Flat Chair, excellent for weddings, conferences or Christmas events where you may want to clear a space quickly for other activities.

Table space is key

When considering tables, it could be tempting to cut costs by having less tables with more people around them, but bear in mind that your place settings will not look great if they are squashed together. Your guests will also not appreciate being crammed together like sardines. Equally though, you don’t want too few people at a table lest it make for awkward lulls in conversation.

Allens have a huge range of tables from trestles to rounds.  The latter come in half sizes as well to give you more choice.  An example of this is our 5’6” round.  You can fit 10 people around a 5’ round table but a 5’6” will just give you that extra bit more comfort.

How to plan

Taking all of these things into consideration, you want to make sure your tables are big enough to accommodate this number of people and, in turn, that your room is big enough for the amount of tables and chairs required.  Consult your venue about what will work best.Allens Hire are experts in supplying catering equipment and furniture for events, so call us today on 0208 574 9600 (London) or 023 8065 2316 (South Coast) to discuss your hire requirements.