How many guests actually fit in a banquet hall?
Venue capacity numbers are optimistic almost everywhere. Here is how to read them.
Every listing quotes two numbers: seated and floating. Both are true, and neither is what you should plan against.
The seated number assumes round tables and nothing else
A hall quoting 600 seated has usually been measured with 60 tables of ten and a metre of circulation. Add a stage, a buffet line, a photo booth and a dance floor and you lose between 15 and 25 per cent of that immediately.
The floating number assumes nobody sits
Floating capacity is a standing count. If a third of your guests are over sixty — which at an Indian wedding they usually are — you need seating for them, and the floating number stops meaning anything.
A working rule
Take the seated capacity, subtract 20 per cent for staging and service, and treat that as your comfortable maximum. If your guest list is above it, you are not looking for decoration ideas, you are looking for a bigger hall.
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