Matching up BM and GM

littlepep

In the weddings that I've been in, I've always processed alone and recessed in pairs. At the reception, I've seen it both ways, together and separate. 

Bubblegum5586

charcoalandblush said:

Bridesmaids and groomsmen have always been paired up for recessional and grand march/introductions/whatever at every single wedding I've been to. 

For processional it's about 50/50. Half the time they walk in paired up and then peel off to their sides, half the time the groomsmen start at the altar before the groom walks in.

same here

ElcaB

We had our GMs and BMs enter separately (GMs through the side with DH & BMs as part of the processional). They did pair up for the recessional & BP entrances at the reception. 

I don't think it really matters if they pair up or not, it just seems simple to do so & makes reception intros shorter. Plus, our BP had some fun playing off each other for entrances. 

novella1186

We're not even doing any intros/WP announcements or grand entrances for our reception. That whole thing is weird to me. 

As a wedding guest, I never pay attention to that part, and I never remember the names of the WP members, and I honestly don't care who they are (not to sound mean but if I don't even know who they are, it makes no difference to me). And I usually find it awkward that you can see the WP waiting around, bored, just standing there waiting for their cue to walk in. 

Our ceremony is happening right outside of the reception venue. So as soon as the ceremony ends, the WP is going to recess right on into the venue and get themselves a cocktail/beer/glass of wine. No big production and no announcements needed. And then FI and I are just going to walk in like normal people and start mingling with our guests. 

poodledoodleooo

I've seen every combo under the sun occur. BM & GMs walk down in pairs, file out in pairs. BM &  GMs sit in front row when everyone else is seated, BM & GMs walk "zipper" fashion, GM's appear out of nowhere and stand at alter while BMs walk to the alter solo. They all just kinda mosey up there without any real "procession." There really is no wrong way to get to the alter as long as they get there.

For the reception introductions I've mostly seen introduced as pairs OR introduced entire troupe of BMs and then all the GMs then bride and groom - never individually, but I suppose you could do that, too. Personally, I HATE wedding party intros - they take too damn long and as a guest, IDGAF about the bridal party intros. The info supplied in the program is more than enough intro for me. So, my vote would be to skip reception bridal party intros.

JCbride2015

novella1186 said:

We're not even doing any intros/WP announcements or grand entrances for our reception. That whole thing is weird to me. 

As a wedding guest, I never pay attention to that part, and I never remember the names of the WP members, and I honestly don't care who they are (not to sound mean but if I don't even know who they are, it makes no difference to me). And I usually find it awkward that you can see the WP waiting around, bored, just standing there waiting for their cue to walk in. 

Our ceremony is happening right outside of the reception venue. So as soon as the ceremony ends, the WP is going to recess right on into the venue and get themselves a cocktail/beer/glass of wine. No big production and no announcements needed. And then FI and I are just going to walk in like normal people and start mingling with our guests. 

Maybe this is my hangup.  I think the WP introduction is just weird.  But every wedding I've ever been to has done it.  And when I suggested skipping it, both Fi and my sister (MOH) thought I had lost my mind.

kvruns

novella1186 said:

We're not even doing any intros/WP announcements or grand entrances for our reception. That whole thing is weird to me. 

As a wedding guest, I never pay attention to that part, and I never remember the names of the WP members, and I honestly don't care who they are (not to sound mean but if I don't even know who they are, it makes no difference to me). And I usually find it awkward that you can see the WP waiting around, bored, just standing there waiting for their cue to walk in. 

Our ceremony is happening right outside of the reception venue. So as soon as the ceremony ends, the WP is going to recess right on into the venue and get themselves a cocktail/beer/glass of wine. No big production and no announcements needed. And then FI and I are just going to walk in like normal people and start mingling with our guests. 

I'm thinking this too.  Our ceremony and reception are at the same site, the ceremony is in the garden area and then you walk along the path through the pretty flowers and stuff to the big reception tents.  My thought was to have the WP kind of lead the way, we will do a receiving line at this one spot and then the WP can sort of help lead to the reception and grab a drink etc.  I figured it would be weird to have them come back out for a grand announcement. 

novella1186

JCbride2015 said:

novella1186 said:

We're not even doing any intros/WP announcements or grand entrances for our reception. That whole thing is weird to me. 

As a wedding guest, I never pay attention to that part, and I never remember the names of the WP members, and I honestly don't care who they are (not to sound mean but if I don't even know who they are, it makes no difference to me). And I usually find it awkward that you can see the WP waiting around, bored, just standing there waiting for their cue to walk in. 

Our ceremony is happening right outside of the reception venue. So as soon as the ceremony ends, the WP is going to recess right on into the venue and get themselves a cocktail/beer/glass of wine. No big production and no announcements needed. And then FI and I are just going to walk in like normal people and start mingling with our guests. 

Maybe this is my hangup.  I think the WP introduction is just weird.  But every wedding I've ever been to has done it.  And when I suggested skipping it, both Fi and my sister (MOH) thought I had lost my mind.

Yeah I've gotten all kinds of criticism from all kinds of people for not following every tradition. Even silly things, like letting my bridesmaids pick their own dresses. You would think the world was ending. 

If it doesn't make sense to me, and I don't like it, and I don't care about it, and FI doesn't care about it, then I am not doing it. Screw what other people think. It's not their wedding. 

ETF words 

minttobemrsb

I've always seen them paired for the recessional and entering the reception. That doesn't mean you have to do it that way if you don't want to. We may not even do a "reception entrance and intro." because everyone already knows them and they end up feeling forced and weird. 

photokitty

marie2785 said:

I've always seen people paired up for the recessional and introductions. Some of it is due to time--if you have 5-10 people on each side, it'll take forever to introduce them 1 by 1, and guests want their dinner by this point...I'm from the midwest, and irish catholic, so it's definitely not an Italian/NJ thing.

For the first dances though I always find it a little odd. For our first dance w/ the wedding party the people with spouses/SOs will dance with their significant others, and the few single people in the wedding party will match up with each other, or a friendly cousin/brother of mine

Pretend I said this, even the Irish Catholic from the Midwest...

I'd vote for no intros over individual ones.

I have long since tuned out by the time the WP is having a spotlight dance. There's no need for that IMHO - especially if it's choreographed and requires a wardrobe change!

JCbride2015

photokitty said:

marie2785 said:

I've always seen people paired up for the recessional and introductions. Some of it is due to time--if you have 5-10 people on each side, it'll take forever to introduce them 1 by 1, and guests want their dinner by this point...I'm from the midwest, and irish catholic, so it's definitely not an Italian/NJ thing.

For the first dances though I always find it a little odd. For our first dance w/ the wedding party the people with spouses/SOs will dance with their significant others, and the few single people in the wedding party will match up with each other, or a friendly cousin/brother of mine

Pretend I said this, even the Irish Catholic from the Midwest...

I'd vote for no intros over individual ones.

I have long since tuned out by the time the WP is having a spotlight dance. There's no need for that IMHO - especially if it's choreographed and requires a wardrobe change!

Wait what?  The WP has a spotlight dance?  I wasn't planning on doing this at all.

Wegl13

We paired both processional and recessional (is that the word it looks weird?). We only had two attendants each, and they didn't know each other and it was fine (well his sister knew his college roommate). It worked out well because they also were able to escort moms and grandmas down the aisle then just circle back around for the BMs. I was there for my BFFs rehearsal- basically all of his attendants were her sisters husbands so it worked out that everyone went down and back with their dates. I've seen all different ways for coming in but mostly I think leaving it's way easier if everyone goes in pairs. I don't get the introduction thing other than I'm pretty sure this is when the WP walks in while the dj plays "Tonight's Going to be a Good Night"? It's always that song.

huskypuppy14

JCbride2015 said:

photokitty said:

marie2785 said:

I've always seen people paired up for the recessional and introductions. Some of it is due to time--if you have 5-10 people on each side, it'll take forever to introduce them 1 by 1, and guests want their dinner by this point...I'm from the midwest, and irish catholic, so it's definitely not an Italian/NJ thing.

For the first dances though I always find it a little odd. For our first dance w/ the wedding party the people with spouses/SOs will dance with their significant others, and the few single people in the wedding party will match up with each other, or a friendly cousin/brother of mine

Pretend I said this, even the Irish Catholic from the Midwest...

I'd vote for no intros over individual ones.

I have long since tuned out by the time the WP is having a spotlight dance. There's no need for that IMHO - especially if it's choreographed and requires a wardrobe change!

Wait what?  The WP has a spotlight dance?  I wasn't planning on doing this at all.

I have never seen it. Don't do it, it sounds terrible.

novella1186

huskypuppy14 said:

JCbride2015 said:

photokitty said:

marie2785 said:

I've always seen people paired up for the recessional and introductions. Some of it is due to time--if you have 5-10 people on each side, it'll take forever to introduce them 1 by 1, and guests want their dinner by this point...I'm from the midwest, and irish catholic, so it's definitely not an Italian/NJ thing.

For the first dances though I always find it a little odd. For our first dance w/ the wedding party the people with spouses/SOs will dance with their significant others, and the few single people in the wedding party will match up with each other, or a friendly cousin/brother of mine

Pretend I said this, even the Irish Catholic from the Midwest...

I'd vote for no intros over individual ones.

I have long since tuned out by the time the WP is having a spotlight dance. There's no need for that IMHO - especially if it's choreographed and requires a wardrobe change!

Wait what?  The WP has a spotlight dance?  I wasn't planning on doing this at all.

I have never seen it. Don't do it, it sounds terrible.

I was in a wedding that had a BM spotlight dance and I did not know ahead of time. I got dragged out onto the dance floor with no notice and we all had to do... maybe the cha cha slide or something like that? I didn't know how to do it at all and I'm super un-coordinated so I was tripped and bumping into the other girls the entire time and mostly just standing there dumb-founded like an idiot. I was MORTIFIED. Don't do this to your WP. It's not fun for them or for the guests who have to sit there and watch in total boredom. 

PrettyGirlLost

JCbride2015 said:

novella1186 said:

We're not even doing any intros/WP announcements or grand entrances for our reception. That whole thing is weird to me. 

As a wedding guest, I never pay attention to that part, and I never remember the names of the WP members, and I honestly don't care who they are (not to sound mean but if I don't even know who they are, it makes no difference to me). And I usually find it awkward that you can see the WP waiting around, bored, just standing there waiting for their cue to walk in. 

Our ceremony is happening right outside of the reception venue. So as soon as the ceremony ends, the WP is going to recess right on into the venue and get themselves a cocktail/beer/glass of wine. No big production and no announcements needed. And then FI and I are just going to walk in like normal people and start mingling with our guests. 

Maybe this is my hangup.  I think the WP introduction is just weird.  But every wedding I've ever been to has done it.  And when I suggested skipping it, both Fi and my sister (MOH) thought I had lost my mind.

We didn't do one.  Like Novella said, honestly, no one cares who your bridal party is.

We did all enter the reception together, but originally the plan was for the WP to just enter the reception and then the DJ announce DH and I, we'd walked in, and then start our receiving line.  Well while we were in the bridal suite having apps briefly before going down to reception, one of the GM's was joking  that he wanted to enter to "Turn Down for What."  I said, "That's actually what DH and I are entering to."  And everyone was, "Really?!"  So I said what the hell, we'll all enter to it.

lovesclimbing

I selected pair up, but that's only for recessing out of the ceremony.  That's how they walked in (at least in all of the weddings I have been in or at), it's only natural that they'd walk out that way as well.  

However, I've only heard of matching up people for entrances to the reception or dances or any other thing on TK.  At our wedding and the two weddings so far when I've been in the bridal party, my BP walked down the aisle in pairs/I walked down the aisle with the corresponding groomsman and then they/we separated after exiting the sanctuary. At our wedding, H and I were the only ones announced into the ceremony.  I assume that the members of the BP entered the reception room a few moments later on their own.  That's what has happened when I have been in the BP.

At the upcoming wedding in which I am maid of honor, I expect to enter the reception area with the best man, but that's because the BM also happens to be my husband.  

snakeylady

Okay, so admittedly both Fiance and I are from NJ Italian families but we are going to be pairing up our GMs and BMs for the processional and recessional. We're only doing that for timing, as five couples move a lot faster than ten individuals. As for introductions, if we do introductions for the WP, it will probably be introducing the group of bridesmaids together, then the groomsmen.

At my brother's wedding, the wedding party joined their first dance about 2/3 of the way through it. (And it was loooong, at least twice what we're doing for our first dance.) Those of us with SOs were supposed to go get our SOs for the dance, but they were seated across the dance floor from where we were told to stand, and my brother and SIL were dancing painfully awkwardly. The GM I was paired with didn't have a SO at the time, so we just danced together.

It was awful. Don't make your party do this.

CaitFins

I voted I like turtles!

I've read before that the difference in pairing is technically related to the specific sects of religion, but I haven't seen it be related in practice. At the weddings I've been to in Texas, they have walked either individually or in pairs in the processional and have always paired up for the recessional. 

Personally, I've felt pretty darn uncomfortable being paired up with a groomsman in the two weddings I've been in, (after an incident when I was unexpectedly extremely jealous of a bridesmaid who got to walk down the aisle with my handsome FI, lol! And I never get jealous!), so if I can have any say in it my own wedding party won't be paired up anywhere. Also, it would make it easier on us because our wedding party sides will be very mismatched and two of my three bridesmaids are married to non-groomsmen, but, either way, I personally plan to opt for individuals always. There is a chance I may not be able to alter it, however. So I am with you in breaking the possible status quo, at least.

And I do agree, practically speaking, pairing up for the recessional does save time with a large wedding party - I just couldn't do it to my own if I'm not coerced into it.