Round tables or long tables?

When planning your event, there are endless decisions to make in order to get the look and feel you really want.  One decision will typically be whether to use long (banquet) or round tables. Each has advantages and disadvantages to consider.

Round tables are great for seating your guests because they tend to encourage people to talk since everyone at the table can see everyone else.  The downfall to round tables is they require more space per person due to the large open area in the center of all round tables.

Long, or banquet, tables are great for saving space.  This can be a great benefit if you have limited space to work with or if you are setting up underneath a tent or canopy as you will need less square footage of tenting which equates to less cost.  Banquet tables also work well as serving tables because there is no wasted space on the table like the unreachable center of a round table, and they can be accessed from both sides to speed up serving for larger groups.  The drawback to banquet tables is that a person on one end of the table will have a difficult time hearing and seeing a person at the opposite end of the table.

Overall, round tables are great for seating if you have the extra room available, and banquet tables are a good solution if you don’t!