recieving lines

ctigna26

Does anyone do this anymore? My mom wants me to do this after the ceremony and I'm dead set against it. She wants me to do a recieving line and then go and greet all the tables. I personally only want to greet the guests at the table. I just wanted to see if others do this or not. I have been to 11 weddings and no one has done it.

theluckiest555

I'm doing one. I dont really have a strong opinion one way or the other, my mom feels strongly that we should have one though. I guess it would be nice if you have people coming to the ceremony but not the reception, like me. ( I invited them to both though) I just feel like it would take a long time if you have a lot of guests.

DramaGeek

We did it because we had a buffet reception so it was easier than doing table visits.  We stood outside the buffet room in the lobby.  People could go through the line, or they could skip it and go straight to the buffet, or they could skip everything and go right in to find a table.  It worked fine for us.  If you're doing a plated dinner then the table visits would be a replacement.  I don't see a reason to do both, though.

ctigna26

thanks we are having a seated dinner so I thought while they are eating dinner we could go around and say hi and thank you and what not. I just feel that I won't have enough time to do the recieving line and then take pictures at the church.

Soon2BeMrsTing

I've been to a lot of weddings in the northeast, and from what I have seen, receiving lines are the norm there.

Regardless, H and I decided to forego the receiving line (they can take so much time!), and attempted to visit each table during dinner instead.  We had 125 guests, so it wasn't a huge wedding, but even so we missed the last two tables, I think, and I still feel really bad about that.

I don't think there is any need to do both.  You could make her really happy by agreeing to have a receiving line, and then not worrying about greeting everyone again at dinner.  At least you'll know you said 'hello' and 'thank you' to each guest.

DramaGeek

Will your ceremony and reception be at the same place?  If not, do the receiving line as your guests leave the church, then go back in and finish up photos.  You can take all the photos of the two of you separate beforehand, then do the together pics after, while your guests are at the cocktail hour.  Then go to the reception.  Or, if you're not opposed to seeing each other pre-ceremony, do all the photos then.

Soon2BeMrsTing

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_recieving-lines?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:75f8bace-b2ea-4d71-9a0b-1e4e8f10ddd6Post:8a971442-51c1-4a3d-be0b-2ca1655917c7">Re: recieving lines</a>:
[QUOTE]Will your ceremony and reception be at the same place?  If not, do the receiving line as your guests leave the church, then go back in and finish up photos.  You can take all the photos of the two of you separate beforehand, then do the together pics after, while your guests are at the cocktail hour.  Then go to the reception.  <strong>Or, if you're not opposed to seeing each other pre-ceremony, do all the photos then.</strong>
Posted by DramaGeek[/QUOTE]

I actually love this idea, regardless of what you decide to do about the receiving line.  We did this and it gave us so much more time with our guests!

DramaGeek

Soon2Be, we did too.  We were so glad to have all of the photos done so we could just party with our friends and family after the ceremony.  Also, doing them beforehand helped relax me before the ceremony.

Soon2BeMrsTing

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_recieving-lines?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:75f8bace-b2ea-4d71-9a0b-1e4e8f10ddd6Post:42cae8f6-f03c-43d0-9360-b7960c85ca51">Re: recieving lines</a>:
[QUOTE]Soon2Be, we did too.  We were so glad to have all of the photos done so we could just party with our friends and family after the ceremony.  Also, doing them beforehand helped relax me before the ceremony.
Posted by DramaGeek[/QUOTE]

i2i, DG.

Honestly, I hope I can be a good guest now that I'm coming to expect couples to do the photos first!  I like that 'first look' photos are becoming 'trendy,' because I really think they advance everyone's best interests.

I might be tempted to pout a little, inwardly, if the next wedding I go to has me waiting on account of photos. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-tongue-out.gif" border="0" alt="Tongue out" title="Tongue out" />

Soon2BeMrsTing

Stage,

I kinda wish I had heard your perspective before we decided against having a receiving line.  I attended a wedding one month before ours with 190 guests and a l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g receiving line. It was June, and the sun was hot!  Pretty sure I was waiting for a half hour before getting through it.  We decided against having a receiving line after being reminded how long they *can* be.

Allycat11

We are having a receiving line as people leave the church.  It will be inside though.  We decided to do this because it makes sure we have a chance to say hi and thank you to everyone personally that attends the ceremony.  We feel like it gives us more of a chance to relax at the reception and not worry about seeing every single guest.  We will still do table visits I'm sure but there is a lot less pressure if we have already had a chance to talk to everyone. 

Receiving lines and photos after the ceremony are the norm in my family though and it is what is expected.

Melissa603

We are not doing one. People get jammed up, bored, annoyed, and you only get like 2 seconds with each person because the line is so long.

naomikb

We are planning to do a semi-receiving line during cocktail hour.  But instead of making people wait outside the room to say hi and give us a hug before they get their drink, we will just be standing still in a line in the room (or maybe outside on the patio, depending on the weather) by the escort card/gift table and people can come say hi to us as they please and when there isn't too much of a line.  Then there isn't any waiting in a huge line without anything to eat or drink, or being forced to stand in a hot church or hot line outside.

I realize that some people may just decide to not come through the line, but I figure that's their own problem, I won't force them to

nattykins

We're having one only because we couldn't fingure out another way to get all the guests out of the church before us (we're having a sword arch as we leave). We'll have one just inside the chapel doors so then we can go through our sword arch after everyone is out!

In the end, do what you want - it's your wedding!

jazzybacc

The thing I've been seeing more recently is "releasing" everyone from their seats to leave the church.  You'll walk back up the aisle with your hubby, then come back in and say hi to everyone as you're letting them out one row at a time, instead of the ushers doing it.  Makes things go a bit faster sometimes...

If you're dead set against, it don't do it.  Don't feel pressured to do something you don't want to do.