The Invitation

You’ve received an invitation to your friend’s wedding – what next?

In this month’s Blog post, I want to help you to be the BEST Wedding Guest. To help you to help your friends. To have a great time and enjoy this day. After all, you were chosen to attend and celebrate this momentous event in their lives.

Perhaps you’re not married and this is the first wedding invitation you’ve received.  Number one – make your mind up if you can attend and reply as soon as you can (take note of who you should RSVP to and how). Why? Couples spend a huge amount of time planning their wedding. They want the perfect day and they want to celebrate their union with all of their friends and family. They need to know if you’re coming ASAP so they can plan.

If the invite includes a dress code, do try and oblige. These often relate to the couple’s vision of how the photos are going to look and asking you to wear a splash of pink for example is about making those photos different to everyone else’s whilst creating a link between all of the guests and the couple.

The Day

This is the most important day of the couple’s lives. They have probably spent months if not years thinking about and planning this day. They will have a vision of what it’s going to be like, how it will go and how everyone will feel. You have a very important role in this… you’re there to celebrate with them and enjoy their day.

Arrival

Make sure you know which part of the wedding you are invited to and where you’re going. Be on time, if you are unavoidably late do not disturb proceedings, wait until you can slip in without attracting attention.

Mix with the other guests. Find out what’s going on and when throughout the day. Take note of where you will be seated if you are included in the Wedding Breakfast.

Wedding Breakfast

You should know where you are to be seated before you get into the dining room. Be ready to go in when you are called up. Try not to leave the room straight after you get in (to get a drink, nip to the loo etc.). The couple may have planned a Grand Entrance and the Master of Ceremonies doesn’t want to be trying to “heard cats” keeping everyone in the room before announcing the wedding party.

Sit where you’re allocated to sit. Ok, you might not be where you would have chosen, but the couple have planned where you are to be. The venue will be expecting you to be seated where you’re supposed to be when they serve the tables. It can cause all sorts of chaos if guests start “re-arranging” the seating plan.

Do your best to mingle with the other table guests, join in with any planned activities, and play your part in the plans. Listen to the speeches, they are normally funny, heartfelt and can often make you tear up. It takes a huge amount of courage for someone to stand up in front of a room full of people and give a speech – respect that.

This is a great time for the new couple to visit each table and have a chat with the guests.

Cake Cutting

Ok, you may think perhaps not the most exciting part of the day, but if you’re really lucky, the couple will have an exceptional Master of Ceremonies who will explain as they talk through what the couple are doing and about the traditions involved – you might learn something and it’s another beautiful moment. At the end of it, you might even get cake!

The Evening Celebrations

You can relax a bit now. But, don’t go crazy! Again, the Master of Ceremonies (assuming there is one) will gather the guests for the couple’s first dance (another piece of tradition). Ofetn, guests will be asked to join the couple part way through the dance or straight after – don’t be shy, step forward and join them. This is often the last part of the day for the Photographer and it’s great to have some nice photos of everyone on the dancefloor having fun.

Try not to drag one of the couple off for a chat. They have a room full of guests and a party going on. If the couple are at the bar, that’s where the guests will be as, after all, you’ve all come to be with and celebrate with the couple.

End Of The Night

Try and stay to the end. Couples often have “moments” planned for different parts of the evening and want their guests to enjoy as many as possible. This can range from Fireworks, Ice Cream Vans, Hot dogs, Magicians… all sorts of things. They are also likely to have planned a big finalé and I’d hate you to miss it!

Sometimes, a younger couple with older family members in attendance will have a false finish at say, 11pm. This is to give the older relatives a chance to see everything of the day. Once this false finish is done, there can then be an “after party” with the party animals staying on, the DJ ramping up the music and partying into the early hours.

Final Words

It’s very special day for the couple. They should be the centre of attention.

You are a very special person to the couple, otherwise you wouldn’t have been invited to their most important event. Try and play your part, join in, have fun and you will create memories for a lifetime.

Why me?

I think that, ultimately, the best “selling point” for me is my previous clients. I’ve added some of the reviews from weddings over the last year so that you can read what couples have said after I’ve been a part of their weddings: 

One of my many reviews from clients: