Receiving line

Jen4948

@cafarrie, I envision it happening the same way it happens in a movie theater or even on an airplane.  The row closest to the exit leaves first, then the row behind it, and so on.  Orderly.   In fact, I envision it more or less as you describe, but without anyone making an announcement that the row is "excused."

southernbelle0915

@cafarrie - we did a receiving line but it wasn't "mandatory" where people were excused row by row. We got married outside, so there was no church lobby. We just exited and stood in an equivalent spot near where the chairs were set up. People could go through the line or not. 

Most of my cousins did the excuse-by-row type of receiving line. It got kind of a sigh-and-eye-roll from everyone. Some had to pee, had antsy kids, etc. but it seemed rude to leave. It took almost 30 minutes for the people sitting in the back row. Just sitting/standing there waiting...

cafarrie

There were a couple things that kept the "row by row" moving quickly 1) we were back up at the front of the church by the time our bridal party finished exiting to begin 2) We had a large upbeat choir that sang at the wedding and they were not even finished with the recessional song - then they sang 2 more! There were definitely people that exited before we got to their rows and that was fine - most of them made a point to seek us out as soon as we were in the lobby, and we ended up talking to everyone. I know our method probably wouldn't work for everyone. I know my in-laws were NOT on board with our "ushering" plan, but they were so happy that we did it this way once we were finished

cafarrie

also, TK ate my paragraphs, sorry!

MegEn1

As a guest, I always hated receiving lines. HATED.

They take forever, I have to hug strangers ... TABLE VISITS. For the love of God, table visits!

CMGragain

Hug people in a receiving line!  Shocking!  You are supposed to take their hand and say, "What a lovely wedding!  We are so happy to be here." and move on.  Starting a conversation in a receiving line is very rude, as is hugging strangers.

Jen4948

CMGragain said:

Hug people in a receiving line!  Shocking!  You are supposed to take their hand and say, "What a lovely wedding!  We are so happy to be here." and move on.  Starting a conversation in a receiving line is very rude, as is hugging strangers.

I agree with the bolded, but how does the couple put a stop to it?  I can think of very chatty friends and acquaintances of my parents whom they reasonably would expect me to invite to my wedding, and I'm on board with inviting them, but I'm not sure how to shut down a conversation with them when you can't get a word in edgewise.  I would ordinarily say something like, "Thanks for coming, it's lovely to see you" and expect them to move on, but these people wouldn't understand that that means "Okay, it's time for you to move along so we can greet the people behind you."

CMGragain

I have frequently been in formal receiving lines at other events where an usher is assigned to keep the line moving.

frewinclaire

We got caught outside the church and wound up seeing everyone there so got rid of the line up before dinner. More time for champagne and canapés so it wasn't all bad!!

 

 Read my Blog at http://bridechiller.blogspot.com/

[Deleted User]

@emmaaa

No, really, it's awesome when newbies resurrect zombies in order to post about their blog.

emmaaa

Thank you @adk19. I did not realize this thread was actually originally started April 2013.

@frewinclaire For the record, even though you are technically allowed to have your blog in your siggy (as long as you are not earning money from it), it is highly annoying to link it to every thread. Instead why don't you type the advice you wish to give out for the OP. 

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