Learning from Experience

Learning from Experience

December 8th, 2010 @ 12:02 pm by Ms. Sloth
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Sometimes, when I get all bogged down in wedding planning, I try to step back and think about the most memorable weddings I’ve attended. I’ve been to probably 25 or 30 weddings, but why does this handful stick in my mind?

So, I’ve delved deep into my memory and analyzed some of the best and worst weddings I’ve attended. What can I learn from the weddings I’ve been to?

One of the best weddings I’ve ever been to was that of an old friend and coworker of mine who was marrying my supervisor. It was at a lovely country club and had a great band, but what made it the most fun was that I was seated at a table with such a fun group of my friends and coworkers. I was single at the time and attended the wedding solo, but I was seated with a whole group of single people, and we had an absolute blast!

Lesson Learned: It might be a pain in the ass, but a seating arrangement does matter.

I’m reluctant to say that any wedding was bad, but one of the worst wedding experiences I’ve ever had was when we were instructed to go to the reception venue immediately after the ceremony was over and then had to stand around, waiting almost two hours without food, drink, or music while the bridal party was off around town getting photos taken. By the time they finally showed up, most of us were bored and starving!

Lesson Learned: Your guests made an effort to attend your wedding, so make an effort to keep them comfortable and happy.

Another great wedding was one that I just attended this summer. The bride and groom did so much to make everyone in their wedding party and all of their guests feel special. The groom hand-drew the entire wedding party in the program. They hung photos of all of their friends and family from twine strung around the venue. There was a photobooth guestbook and a box of flip flops in the ladies’ room. You could tell that the couple really wanted everyone else to feel as loved and cared for as they felt.

Lesson Learned: Aesthetic details don’t matter too much, but little things to make the guests happy do go a long way.

What have you learned from the weddings you’ve attended?

*All teacher cartoons taken from ClipArtPal and modified by me

Tags: etiquette, philadelphia, seating |

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8 Responses to “Learning from Experience”

Bee

Miss Ostrich (message) 1,948 posts, Buzzing bee

ditto on the thoughtful, personal details… those are my fondest memories of weddings.

my favorite lesson is regarding a topic close to my heart - music. i’ve learned to listen to our guests music requests, instead of imposing only our own personal favorites. our friends that had a dj request list” on their website, by far, had the most rockin’ dance parties!

12/8/10 @ 12:26 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. French Bulldog (message) 7,730 posts, Bee Keeper

I could not agree with you more on seating arrangements. I think it also ties in with #3 - take the time to assign seating shows your guests you care about them getting a good seat. I always end up at the worst table when I have to find my own seat.

12/8/10 @ 12:30 pm (reply)

Member

moderndaisy (message) 6,607 posts, Bee Keeper

I totally agree about seating arrangements. I’m such a fanatic about this we actually did assigned seating for our RD too. I get really uptight and nervous when I attend RD’s and weddings without a seating chart! That’s just because I’m crazy though..

12/8/10 @ 1:01 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Glasses (message) 2,741 posts, Sugar bee

Hehe, well this is a great contrast to my post about guests being good. I took the time to make seating arrangements and table numbers and charts and everyone just sat wherever they pleased. My dad came upstairs and was like, “Nobody knows where to sit.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you never been to a wedding before, people?!?!?!?!

12/8/10 @ 1:08 pm (reply)

Member

tea (message) 7,288 posts, Bee Keeper

i totally concur about the waiting time between ceremony and reception. i’ve always hated seeing “reception immediately to follow” only to get there and have to wait an hour plus with nothing to eat. i learned that from my first wedding i attended and vowed never to do that.

i didn’t really realize the importance of seating arrangements until a few years ago. most of the receptions had open seating so i always sat with friends but at a college friends’ wedding, they assigned us a table. i think only a half of us knew each other so the other half of the table was new but we had a blast and probably was “that table” that was laughing and otherwise joyously rowdy. good times.

12/8/10 @ 1:23 pm (reply)

Member

jordynrose (message) 6,351 posts, Bee Keeper

Ditto to all of the above. Especially # 1 and 2!

12/8/10 @ 1:32 pm (reply)

Member

elismarie (message) 39 posts, Newbee

Keeping your guests well-fed is definitely one we’re on top of! One of our friend’s who got married last year actually didn’t have a dinner at her wedding, just “hearty appetizers.” It was never actually said in the invitations or at the reception that there wasn’t a dinner and all of us who went kept saving our appetites for a non-existent dinner, which ended in a group of friends almost crying in joy at the Wendy’s drive through at 1 am that weekend!

12/8/10 @ 4:06 pm (reply)

Member

realeastcoaster (message) 1,245 posts, Bumble bee

Agree with everything you’ve written, with one addition. Toasts/speeches are very nice if you want to have them, but I find that if there is more than one or two toasts/speeches in a row at once it’s hard to really listen to them all. Some of the weddings I’ve been a guest at had all their speeches/toasts immediately following each other - it would have been better if they had been spread out.

12/9/10 @ 7:38 am (reply)