As you may or may not recall, even though I planned my wedding from start to finish, I really didn’t have a lot of real wedding experience. In fact, not counting my own, I’ve still only attended two weddings in my adult life. At the beginning of planning I felt a bit lost, but I found that in some ways it was a blessing. I think it may have relieved some stress from feeling obligated to participate in or do certain things simply out of tradition. In some ways, like our chapel wedding ceremony, we stayed very traditional, but in others we said “tradition shmadition.”
Although I loved our paper elements like our STDs and invitations, and was obsessed with monogramming anything that didn’t move, I was completely uninterested in the idea of creating a wedding-ceremony program. I guess I saw it more as a “nice to have” rather than a “need to have.” We weren’t having a super-long ceremony or participating in any special or unique ceremony elements that needed explaining. I suppose it would have been a nice place to call out and give thanks to the wedding party, but we had other things planned for them at the reception. In the end, I just said “to hell with it” and skipped them altogether.
However, in an effort to make sure all our guests still made it to the reception, I ended up making a simple map to distribute a la Mrs. Ballet Flat instead. I knew directions couldn’t be skipped since most of our guests were unfamiliar with the Williamsburg area, but eliminating the task of programs from my to-do list certainly made for less stress.
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Photo by Valerie Demo
Any other “no program brides” out there?
I’m not doing a program either. I see it as a waste — my cousin did them and him and his wife had a billion leftover. Instead I am working on another project that highlights my favorite part of programs.
No programs here, either — I didn’t even give them a second thought! It seems to me that, unless you have hymns, some other sort of audience participation, or multiple faiths or languages, they aren’t really necessary!
I was a “no program” bride! Our ceremony was simple, secular, and quick. I agree – it was another to-do that I was not interested in designing, but would have been a nice addition to our paper suite.
no programs for me either! didn’t want to waste the time or money because I knew 90% of the people would leave them behind and the other 10% would throw them away!
Oh I did a wedding program but it wasn’t a “play by Play” in fact no music, or order of ceremony was listed. I listed our wonderful people participating in our wedding. Gave written thanks to each individually and a group thanks of support to all of our loved ones. I also listed our two reading just in case someone wondered. Mostly I cried as I wrote all my sappy stuff and my now husband wrote stupid one-liners and inside jokes as his.
I wasn’t a Need to, I loved that we did but if it hadn’t happened I would have been just fine. – I kept it very simple in template – Used Word, Landscape, two columns, printed at office max front and back cut in half, one hole punch in left corner and tied with a ribbon. It cost us a total of $15 for 180 programs.
We will be doing programs, however I do agree that it’s not a necessity!
The only reason I wanted to do a program was to explain our wine box ceremony, since I knew most people had never seen it done before. Otherwise, I would have saved myself the time and trouble that they were!
I think it is a waste of time and paper as well as money. My wedding is not a show! You go to Broadway for that lol. Sit back and see whats going on. At the end of the day, the program will be in the trash.
No program here. I actually fought with a family member about them. They are “nice” but I never miss them.
Me! My sister-in-law didn’t have them at hers and I never even missed them. I included maps, etc. with the invite. If I had extra time, I would have cranked them out but passed on the added project.
Mrs. Ballet Flat’s guide is brilliant. Kudos to you for making an equally gorgeous map!
I also am not a big fan of programs myself, but think they might be necessary if I have a wedding with Indian traditions.
We will have programs made by the church, they actually prefer it. We are aloud to create our own if we really want to but its just not top priority. The church makes programs every week for the regular mass and they are fine. They will not match our theme, but they will have the info of the bridal party and parts of the mass, AND most importantly I do not have to design, cut, tie or pay for them and I am confident they will get done well. So that is good enough for me 
We didn’t do programs either, just ran out of time and steam…and it was a-okay I think they are nice to have but certainly not necessary, especially in the case where ceremonies are kept short!
We HAVE to have a program. It’s a Jewish wedding, but the vast majority of our guests are not Jewish. So we felt the need to explain the ceremony so that nobody feels lost during the ceremony.
Mrs. Hawk, Richmond, VA Age and Occupation: 26, Finance Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, District Supervisor Engagement Date: March 13, 2011 Wedding Date: May 2012 Venue: The Chapel of the Sir Christopher Wren Building, 2007 Legacy Hall About Me: I’m an Arizona-born girl who has spent the majority of my life living below the Mason-Dixon line. The South has definitely earned a special place in my heart (alongside my Virginia born and bred fiance, of course!). We are planning a traditional Christian ceremony at my alma mater in historic Williamsburg, Virginia, followed by a rocking reception filled with Southern cooking and vintage/shabby chic details. When we’re not wedding planning, we enjoy spending time with our three dogs, going for runs together, watching plenty of football (or baseball depending on the season), and sampling new wine.
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