Village Hall Wedding - Fizz & Canapé logistics?!

Hi all, this is a question for anyone having a village hall wedding!

How did you make your canapés&fizz hour work / did you skip it or do something else instead?

Our village hall has no real outside space to speak of and due to the number of guests we are inviting, the space inside will mostly be taken up by tables set up for the main meal.
We’re hoping to have one end of the hall left clear enough for mingling but I’m worried that it will feel quite squashed / a little bit too cosy, and there’s not any real outside space for people to use (especially not if it’s raining, and it’s the UK, so likelihood is…).
Just wondering if anyone has done anything different to the usual ceremony>fizz and canapés>speeches & meal timeline that could still allow for a bit of mingling and chatting rather than rushing everyone to sit down? We know we want a seated meal not a buffet so changing the food service is not an option for us.
For context, we have the hall the day before and after & are planning to set up all the tables the day before, so moving tables around would only really be done after the main meal as we clear away for dancing! (We plan to have some sort of scavenger hunt to clear everyone out for ten mins while the room gets re-set for dancing)
Current ideas are: - decorate tables the day before but keep them all at one end of the room at first so there’s more room for mingling, then get everyone outside to do a big group photo while the caterers rearrange the room? (And pray the rain holds off 😂)- look into getting tarps or big umbrella stands to utilise the small outdoor space for people to spill over into? - go straight into the main meal and have short breaks between courses maybe where people could mingle? But when would we do couple photos?
Any other ideas and suggestions welcomed!! I just come up blank for any further ideas!
Thanks in advance! 🤍