Ask how many seats a dance floor takes off the plan

A dance floor and a seated dinner share the same floor, so the seated count changes only after the operator says which tables come out, and the operator confirms the date. Published spaces are whatever is listed.

Ask which tables come out

The seated count you can plan around is the count that remains after the operator names the tables that come out. A figure printed beside a room stays a starting figure until that naming is done.

Fill the row from the operator, not from a brochure photo. A photograph can show tables and an open floor together without naming which tables come out, or how many seats were at those tables.

Ask how many seats the operator counts before any table comes out. Ask which tables come out for the dance floor, and how many seats were at those tables. Write the seated count that remains, and leave it blank until the operator confirms the tables. If the operator says the starting count already assumes the dance floor, or says no tables come out, the remaining count is the starting count. If the operator says tables come out, subtract only the seats at the tables the operator names. A brochure total that skips the table list is still unfinished.

A wedding search in Washington, DC begins with the rooms in the wedding venues in Washington, DC guide. Carry this row into that conversation, and treat the seat count as final only after the operator names the tables. A banquet room in Northern Virginia raises the same question. Those rooms are gathered in the banquet halls in Northern Virginia guide.

Children's seats are a different count, so keep them apart from the dance-floor arithmetic. The children's seat count guide already owns that arithmetic. Ask whether children need chairs on its own line, and leave the dance-floor line as the tables the operator removes.

Place the four columns beside the space on the venue comparison worksheet. The worksheet holds the operator's answer and waits on the named tables before a remaining seat count is written down.

Hypothetical: 12 tables of 8, and 2 tables come out

This section is a labeled hypothetical. It shows the subtraction after an operator has named the tables. The 8-seat table appears here as the seat count in the example. The 8 is the seat count in the example, not a standard you are declaring.

In the hypothetical, the operator starts with 12 tables, and each of those tables seats 8. 12 x 8 = 96, so the starting seats are 96. The operator says 2 of those tables come out for the dance floor. 2 x 8 = 16, so the seats that leave are 16. 96 - 16 = 80, so the seats that remain are 80.

Those 80 seats remain only if the operator says those two tables are the ones that come out. If the operator names different tables, the 80 belongs to a different removal. If the operator says no tables come out, or says the 96 already assumes the dance floor, keep the 96. For a real room, replace the 8 with the seat count the operator gives for the tables that come out.

A brochure that says the room seats 96 and also has a dance floor has not yet said that these two tables come out. Keep both when the operator says the 96 already assumes the dance floor, or says no tables come out.

Start from the spaces that are listed

Published spaces are whatever is listed. Browse published spaces, then ask that operator how many seats the room counts before any table comes out, which tables come out for the dance floor, and how many seats were at those tables. Write the seated count that remains, and leave it blank until the operator confirms the tables. The operator confirms the date.

DMV venue guides and the venue guides are where you keep looking while the table list is still open. Plan the gathering after the operator has confirmed the date and named the tables that come out.