I went to a wedding this weekend and thought I'd share some things that worked, and some that didn't. Disclaimer: Obviously, this is just my opinion. I had a great time at this wedding, but we all know brides-to-be are the ones who notice all of the details. Hopefully someone finds this helpful! :-)
Ceremony
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Programs are not a necessity, but they're helpful. The couple had a simple 1-page program that matched their invitations. It was great to follow along with the ceremony. It was especially helpful because their officiant didn't "announce" the kiss. I had my camera on them because I was expecting it right after the blessing, but he must have said it too quietly or not at all because they were just suddenly kissing. I managed to catch it because I knew it was coming!
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Make sure your ceremony musician(s) fade out each song as the processional ends. The couple had separate songs for the family, wedding party, and bride processionals, and each time, the musician played the entire song while everyone awkwardly waited for it to end.
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Communicate the exit strategy. Everyone waited in front of the church for the couple, who just sort of walked out and took photos alone. Have ushers let people know there is no reason for them to stay, so they can head to the reception if you only plan to take photos.
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Temperature is important. The church was so hot with no air conditioning. My 87 year old grandfather was very uncomfortable, as were many of the other guests. We were all impatient for the ceremony to end just to get some fresh air. Make sure the thermostat is set to a comfortable temperature if you want people to fully enjoy your ceremony.
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It's possible to have a quick church ceremony. The priest did all of the readings back-to-back. I only missed the personal touch of individual readers a bit, but it was worth it to keep the whole ceremony (Christian) to a half hour (especially in the hot church)!
Reception
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Nonfloral centerpieces can awesome. The bride and groom are huge movie buffs so they had photos of a scene from their favorite movie in a frame facing one side of the table, and a framed photo of them recreating that scene on the other side, with movie film wrapped throughout. They were adorable. It made everyone want to walk around to see all of them (though we couldn't because it was too crowded).
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Ability to comfortably accommodate your guests should be top priority in the venue decision. The venue had an awesome shabby chic vibe with exposed brick in a town center, but that was all we liked about the venue. Ask to see a room laid out for the number of guests you have. The room was supposed to hold 200, but the couple's guest list of ~180 was actually far too many for the room. Our tables were squished (3 people had to get up for me to get out of my chair because I couldn't even back up my chair without immediately hitting the back of someone else's chair). The air conditioning was not enough to cool the room, especially with all of those people, so everyone was sweating. TMI, I've never smelled so much BO, and I'm pretty sure people were wearing deodorant. It was THAT hot in there. The dance floor was way too small, and the crowd was a dancing crowd. The table behind us stood up on their chairs and danced on them because there was nowhere else to go. The tables were over-packed. Our table had 13 people and our chairs couldn't even push in all the way when people weren't sitting in them; they touched edge to edge. The room layout was also terrible for keeping traffic moving. It was an L shape with all of the tables and dance floor crammed into the top half of the L, with the two bars, a photobooth, a popcorn bar, etc. at the bottom. The bars always had huge lines that ran into each other because they were practically on top of one another. Some people never saw the photobooth or popcorn bar because they couldn't leave their chairs, get past the dance floor, or wade through the bar lines to see them. It was especially a nightmare for the guests who are less mobile like our elderly relatives and the two aunts who have arthritis and walk with canes.
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Photobooths are always a hit. The couple had the type where you stand against a backdrop instead of the actual booth, and it was a blast posing with all of the fun props. They gave out magnet holders for people to put their photos in, but they didn't get much use. The thought was cute, but so many people have stainless steel refrigerators with very little magnetic surface that this is a good place to save money.
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Mark your cardbox or put some cards in to start it off. The couple had a cute shoebox-like box that said "popcorn" to go with their theme. It was adorable, but we didn't know what it was until we asked the couple if they had a card box.
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An upbeat parent dance song can be very cute. The groom was worried his mom would cry so he instead picked a fun song to which they did a funky little dance. It fit their personalities very well.
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If you're having a sit down dinner, make sure there's enough wait staff. We could have gone through a buffet line twice by the time the whole room had their entrees. The first few tables were done 20+ minutes before the last few tables had their entrees, and there were only 17 tables. Our water pitchers were never refilled. Make sure there's enough staff to take care of the tables you have.
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Let guests know if you close the bar during dinner. It would have saved them the trouble of turning away people for an hour, who were just so excited to see the line finally went down (or so they thought).
Other
- Bustier girls can't go wrong with straps or a little double sided tape to keep things secure. The bride had a full exposure incident on the dance floor during a special event that is probably going to need to be cut out of the video.
Submitted September 26, 2016 at 10:22PM by WaitForIttttt http://ift.tt/2d47fnj weddingplanning
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