Don’t Forget your Wedding Guests

When planning a wedding, understandably, you are going through the checklists making sure that the wedding will be great for and your partner. After all, it is your day and you want it to be a great one. However, spare a moment or two to figure out how you can make your wedding an enjoyable experience for your guests.

Avoid Having Hungry Guests Consider the length of time between your wedding ceremony and the wedding meal during the reception. If your ceremony and reception are at different locations, it is likely there may be an interval of one or more hours from the ending of the ceremony to the start of the reception. During this time the bridal party might be at a third location getting the official wedding photos taken. Some guests may go home during this interval, whilst others may be in limbo. If you can, organise for the ceremony or reception location to have a pre-reception area for guests whilst they wait for the official reception to begin. Having light refreshments available for your guests whilst they wait for the bride and groom to arrive would be a much welcome gesture.

Be Considerate in Your Seating Plans Organise your seating plans so that friends and family are seated together. If you have a guest attending your wedding that won’t know any others guests, try to seat them next to someone who shares common interests, so that they wont be uncomfortable.

Give your Guests a Heads Up
If there is anything specific to your wedding that your guests need to know, inform them of this prior to your wedding. For examples, some churches have very formal dress codes such as wearing Sunday hats and non-sleeveless clothing. If your guests show up to your wedding and is the only one not wearing a hat, they may feel uncomfortable.

Inform Guests of Parking Requirements
If the wedding venue has specific parking requirements inform guests in their invitations so that there are no nasty surprises.

Specific Location Requirements
You might light to photocopy or print out a Google map of your wedding location. If the venue is next to a major landmark or well known business, you might like to include this information on the map . If your wedding venue has several reception halls of they can gain access through a specific entrance note this on your invite. The idea is make the directions as easy as possible.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t take much to keep your guests happy. Just think back to the last few weddings that you have been to and remember what aspects of the wedding made the day great for you as a guest or alternatively consider what areas you felt could be improved and what would have made your experience as a wedding guest more memorable.

How to Ensure that your Wedding Guests RSVP on Time

One of those gritty little details of wedding planning that can undoubtedly cause some tension is when wedding guests fail to RSVP as this can hinder you from advancing in your wedding preparations. However, there are some steps you can take to urge your guests to RSVP on time.

Use Magnets
Stick magnets to the back of your wedding invitations. You guests can then stick the invitations to their fridge and this way they are more likely to be reminded to RSVP on time. You can buy small magnets inexpensively from craft stores.

Have Several RSVP Options
Allow your guests several options to rsvp to your wedding such as an email address specifically set up for RSVP’s, a phone number (specify unavailability times and ensure you have a message bank) and a good old postal mailing address. If you have a wedding website, your guests may also like to rsvp via the site.

Include an RSVP Card
Make it easy for your guests to rsvp to your wedding and include an rsvp reply card. You can buy these specially made, or you can print some out on your home computer.

RSVP Deadline
Make sure that you clearly specify the RSVP date on your wedding invitation. If you can, tie in this date with some event that can be a great memory trigger for your guests. For example, your rsvp deadline can be on the same date as the local royal show.

Allow a week’s grace period from the rsvp deadline before chasing up your guests. I know of one bride who made her rsvp date final and bonding, and refused any guest attendance beyond that date. About a week or so after the deadline, her aunt mailed her an rsvp card with a note attached apologising for the delay. Apparently, the aunt had left the rsvp card on the hall table to mail out, however her sons had put junk mail from the letterbox on top of the envelope and the rsvp card got lost in the clutter only to be found a week later. The bride-to-be refused to budge and told the aunt that she had finalised the numbers with venue. In defence of the bride, she did specify on the invite that the guest list needed to be finalised by that date, however her refusal for leniency caused great tensions with her mother and aunt. Allow your guests the benefit of the doubt when they fail to rsvp on time and give them a call and have a quick chat to find out their answer.

Daily Wedding Blog: Should I Invite Kids to My Wedding?

A sensitive issue that commonly comes up planning the wedding guest list is whether or not you should have kids at weddings.  There are strong arguments on both sides. Some couples feel that they don’t want to run the risk of children upstaging them during important moments of the day, such as during the wedding vows. Others feel strongly that weddings are a time to celebrate with family and loved ones, and children should not be excluded.

If you do decide to have children present at your wedding you must realize that the number one reason for disruptive children at weddings is boredom. There are certain tips that you should consider to ensure a smooth flowing wedding, such as;

Designating an older child or teenager to ‘babysit’ the kids during the wedding.

Consider organising a room for the children to play in during the ceremony.

It is important that the kids don’t feel like they have been tossed aside. Include them in the after ceremony mingling with the bridal couple and photos.

Have a ‘kiddy table’ at the reception so that the kids can mingle together with children their own age. It can be extremely frustrating for a child (especially an only child) to be seated with a group of adults and not to be included in the adult conversation.

Set up a game area to keep the kids entertained. Boards games and playing cards can be bought cheaply or can be be brought from home or borrowed from friends.

Visit our kid’s department to find great products for keeping kids entertained at weddings. Take me there!

Daily Wedding Blog: Kids Wedding Guestbook

Kids love to feel part of weddings, so why not allocate a guest book just for them. It can be as simple as an unlined notebook. Allow them each one page and let them run wild with drawing in pictures of themselves and writing you notes. Allow for plenty of pencils and crayons so that they can let their creativity run wild.

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