If the plan includes dancing after the reception, rugs should be taken out and the floors made ready for dancing the day before. Prepare the room according to your plan of what you want the reception to be. The object of the rigid clearance is to provide space for the receiving line, for reception guests, for a buffet table, for the bride's table and possibly other tables for guests.

The receiving line will stand just inside the entrance to the reception room. The line consists of the bride's mother, the groom's father, the groom's mother, the bride's father, the bride, groom, maid of honor, and the bride's attendants. Usually the two fathers walk about and act as hosts, as do the best man and the ushers.

The Bride's Table as well as reception buffet table and comfortable places for guests to eat and chat must be ready and waiting when the reception begins. As soon as all guests are greeted, the bridal party goes to the bride's table and is served. It may be a small table, with places for the bride, groom, and their attendants, bride at groom's right, ushers and bridesmaids alternately around the table. Or the bride's table may be large enough to seat the entire bridal party including parents of the bride and groom together, the clergyman and his wife, or the parish priest, men and women alternating.

The bridal table may be set up in a room, screened porch, or sun parlor adjoining the larger room where the reception is held. The table may also be set in a special place at one end of the reception room, or in the center, with smaller tables for guests placed around the room. At a country or suburban wedding, the bridal table may be in a cooled dining room, or in a party tent set up on the lawn, and the reception guests served at small tables on a screened porch.