Wedding Guests' Complaints

Have you watched Four Weddings on TLC? I saw recently where it has been renewed for another season. I actually find this show a little appalling. Four brides judge each others weddings, points are tallied for the best wedding and the winner gets a fabulous honeymoon. The idea of brides judging each other and talking badly about someone else’s dream wedding just makes me feel sad. I know when the shows air, there are plenty of hurt feelings. Brides’ that thought their wedding was wonderful suddenly hear bad things about it. I think it’s cruel. But like a train wreck you can’t help but look and there are lessons to be learned. You can learn what causes guests to not enjoy a wedding.

Probably the number one complaint on the show is no full bar, or a cash bar. Personally, I think wine and beer at a wedding is fine. Open full bar is great but not necessary for most people to enjoy your wedding. We’ve had lots of weddings with no bar at all and most of the time; guests still seem to have a great time. The important thing is to know your crowd.

Another complaint, you see a lot, is serving food that is not hot. I agree this is bad, most of the time this is not the fault of the caterer. It happens when a wedding falls behind schedule and food that was prepared to be served at a certain time has to wait. Along with this goes the complaint of not enough food. Running out of food is a giant no-no.

Next biggest complaint would be long gaps of time when nothing happens and the guests get bored, for example the serving of dinner takes too much time. This also happens when toasts go on to long, introductions of the wedding party seem never ending or there are too many specialty dances. Again scheduling can make or break a wedding.

Weather is another big complaint on the show. You may have pictured an outside August wedding as great but your guests sitting in the heat and battling mosquitoes will not remember it as their dream wedding. Same goes for a wedding in October when the weather suddenly, unexpectedly turns cold and guests are freezing. Your guests’ comfort should be one of your most important efforts.

So what do you think? What makes a wedding enjoyable or a bore for you?

Holding Your Wedding Bouquet

Holding your wedding bouquet seems like such a simple thing. You just grab them and hold on right? Wrong. There is a correct way to hold your wedding flowers. You need to have your arms resting on your hip bones with flowers in front of your belly button. This way the flowers are held low enough not to block the front of the beautiful dress you paid so much for. Also, with elbows slightly away from the body, your arms will look slimmer in pictures.

What Does A Hostess Attendant Do at Your Wedding?

Pic by Blue Mountain Photo

Earlier we talked about your hostess attendant. These are the ladies (or gentlemen) that you have in place to greet your guests as they enter your ceremony site and your reception site.  They can be close friends, cousins, anyone that is special to you.   If you have hired a planner, someone on the team can handle these jobs for you.

The hostesses hand out programs to your guests. They can hold baskets of programs or hand each one out personally. Also, if you don’t have a planner make sure the hostess places a program on the seat of each person in the processional. You don’t want your Mom or Grand mom having to carry programs with them down the aisle.

Hostesses also make sure that guests sign the guest book as they enter the ceremony. After the ceremony, they should be responsible for taking the guest book to the reception and setting it there for any guests that did not sign at the ceremony. Hostesses may also take gifts from your guests and set them on the gift table.

Pic by Blue Mountain Photo

At the close of your reception these are the girls (or guys) that will hand out bottles of bubbles to your guests for your exit. They can also hand out favors to guests as they are leaving if they have not been placed on guest tables.

Pic by Blue Mountain Photo

Be sure to show these hard working girls/guys how special they are by giving each a corsage/boutonnière to wear.

Seating Your Guests

The last thing you want is guests arriving for your wedding ceremony and left standing in the lobby wondering where to go or where to sit. Avoid this by having your guests met at the door by a host attendant who shows them were to sign your guest book and an usher or groomsman who will direct them to their seat. The usher should offer the ladies an arm and the gentlemen will follow behind.

Your groomsmen/ushers should know which pews or rows will be reserved for family and which rows are available for guest seating. Make sure this is discussed at the rehearsal. In fact, I learned many years ago, after a groomsman set guests in the family row, that pew cards placed where family is to sit, is a great idea. We always do them. It’s just a simple card with the name of the family member or special guest printed on it that is placed on their spot on the pew. They are a great insurance policy that the right people are seated in the correct spot. You can also have the family section roped off or marked with flowers if there is money in your budget for this.

Tradition has it that the bride’s guests are seated on the left and the groom’s guests are seated on the right side of the ceremony (unless it is a Jewish ceremony). It is best to keep the sides as evenly matched if possible, so for a Willrich wedding we instruct ushers to not ask “bride’s or groom’s side” but rather to seat guests so pews are evenly match, unless the guest specially requests a certain side.

Don’t take it for granted that your ushers and groomsmen know what to do. They don’t. Go over the seating of the guests carefully at your rehearsal in order to avoid any mistakes on the wedding day.

Don't Try to be a Bride and a Planner on Your Wedding Day

Brides June 2010

Ok, I shamelessly “borrowed” this picture from the June 2010 Brides Magazine. I love it. It shows exactly why a bride should not try to wear the hat of both a bride and the planner on her wedding day. I hear over and over “I wish I had hired Willrich for my wedding day” from brides that have had a less then perfect wedding day. Yes, I know no day is going to be perfect, but you, the bride, should not be the one having to worry about all the behind the scenes problems that will come up. This is your day to be beautiful and happy not stressed and full of anxiety. You really don’t want regrets when you remember your day.


Remember too, the earlier in the process you hire a planner the better it will be for you and your pocketbook. “I thought I could do it all myself, but now I realize I can’t”, comes up quite often when I talk to brides. So many times brides hire us after they have made decisions that were probably not the best use of their money or time. Once contracts have been signed there is little a planner can do to correct things. Hire your planner early and save both time and money.

Another Happy Willrich Bride!

Remember last week's wedding of Ivory and Kenje?  Well here is a beautiful picture taken by their photographer Dream Images Photography.  It was so great, I just had to share.

Also, I got the sweetest thank you note from Ivory.  It just makes my day when Willrich Bridal receives such great praise from a happy bride.

Hi i just wanted to say that you are welcome and we enjoyed working with you and your team as well. We greatly appreciate your professionalism and hard work to make our day special. You have a wonderful team and I would recommend Willrich Bridal to anyone. It was indeed a pleasure to work with all of you and we are just so grateful that you accepted us as your client. God bless.


Thank you Ivory, we loved doing your wedding.

One Big Beautiful Wedding in Travelers Rest

Nearly a year ago, Ivory and Kenje hired Willrich Bridal to help them plan their wedding day and this past Saturday the big day arrived. Ivory was one of those brides that knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted her wedding to be elegant but different from all the weddings she had attended in the past. She accomplished this by her choice of music and an innovative walk down the aisle.  A bridesmaid followed each groomsmen down the aisle and he presented her with her flower at the end of the aisle before escorting her to her spot.  Ivory's color scheme was black and purple with touches of green. She was also a “bling” bride wanting crystals and sparkle spread throughout her wedding. They chose the Venue at Renfrew in Travelers Rest to hold their reception. The ceremony was held in the lovely St. Luke United Methodist Church.

Ivory and Kenje had a big wedding party and by big I mean 51 people to walk down the aisle. That’s our biggest yet. Even with that many people everything went off beautifully. Here are a few pictures we took of their big day.

 

 

Vendors:
Wedding Planner:  Willrich Bridal & Special Events
Cake and Caterering:  Kathy and Company
Photography:  Dream Image
Bar:  Mix Masters
Venue:  The Venue at Renfrew
Florist:  The Floral Palete