Newbie tournament rules question!

[speedracer]

A buddy of mine is hosting our first Hold"Em tournament this weekend, and we're trying to get a comprehensive set of rules for all to follow and agree on. Here's a question that has come up:

Assuming we're starting with 15-18 players, we'll have 2 tables going. As players are eliminated, should the tables be "re-seeded" to keep them roughly at the same player count? Or do we let each table dwindle at it's own pace until we are left with 8 finalists to put at the final table? Seems the real tournaments do this "reseeding", but when I mentioned this I got a lot of flack and resistance.

Opinions/suggestions/personal experience?

Thanks in advance--I look forward to learning more from this esteemed group.