Ushers - what did yours do?

blushingbride8888

Hi knotties - To set the stage I'm the first one in my family getting married and of my friends and haven't been to a wedding since '95 so I have no idea what everyone does anymore. My brother and Fi's brothers are in the wedding party and we were thinking of having my brother and his younger brother serve as ushers too. We have 90 or less people coming. What would they need to do? Do they just direct people to their seats or take female guests by the arm and guide them to their seats? It sounds super formal to me but I honestly have no clue. Our wedding ceremony is outdoors if that helps and not at a church. Thanks so much forgive my lack of knowledge

AddieCake

Ours basically stood there and greeted people. We didn't need him, but he was my teenage cousin, and we had asked him when we would have needed him at our previous venue to help people down a rocky path, and we didn't want to tell him we no longer needed him to be part of it when we had to change our venue. The last time I was at a wedding with ushers, they escorted unescorted ladies to their seats.

anrforanr

Our ceremony site is up a hill from where the reception is at, so our ushers (my sister's finance and my two teenage cousins) will be helping direct people to where they need to go.

Cookie Pusher

We had 2 ushers - DH's tween cousins. Ours greeted guests, helped any elderly guests to their seats, and answered questions (like where the bathrooms where since they were about a hundred yards from the garden where our ceremony was). We had provided a basket with our ceremony programs (because NO ONE wants to be Basket) and buckets of cold water, but our ushers did make sure to point the baskets out to people as they entered. 

anrforanr

Cookie Pusher - I like the water idea! I'll have to check with my venue if we can do that.

MyNameIsNot

Ours greeted people, directed people to the bathroom/programs/whatever, and then formally seated the mothers and grandmothers. They also brought up the gifts during the mass. 

Maggie0829

Our GMs acted as ushers.  I guess they greeted people as they arrived and made sure that the front row was kept empty (at least that was what we told them to do, but if they actually did that on the day of who the hell knows.  I was too busy controlling my nerves/excitement.)  Then they helped to escort the grandmas and mothers down the aisle and that was it.

Jen4948

My brother had a couple of ushers in addition to his GMs.  He asked them to escort our and my SIL's grandmothers to their seats.

southernbelle0915

Ours greeted people, told people where the bathrooms were (we got married outside and the bathrooms, although like 60 feet from the site, weren't visible), offered a program, water and a fan, and offered to help people to a seat. Most people didn't need help, but we did have a some elderly guests plus two guests in wheelchairs who we figured would want help. 

We treated them as part of the wedding party, invited them to the rehearsal and RD, and gave them gifts same as we gave groomsmen gifts.

OliveOilsMom

To give another perspective.  We had a 100 person wedding and had no ushers.  We had 3 GM, but I don't even know if they served as ushers greeting people and whatnot.  We didn't ask them too.  I would honestly have to ask H what they did before the ceremony started.  I know that they were hanging out in the sacristy with the priest prior to the ceremony, because that is where my sister delivered the rings to the BM.  So I think you can go either way on having them or not.

thisismynickname2

My BIL was our usher. We basically asked him to help herd cats, since our event space was nontraditional and we anticipated people milling around and not actually taking a seat till the last minute. 

In reality, I'm told he asked my MIL if there were certain family he should guide to certain spots (which she really appreciated) and basically acted as a go-between with the officiant and DJ (who was playing the ceremony music) in terms of getting things started when I arrived with my bridal party. 

He formally escorted my mom down the aisle during the procession. We gave him a gift and he was mentioned in our program too. 

aurianna

Hubby and I initially did the greeting, but once I had to go to the staging area and change into my dress, ushers took that part over.
Once the music started, one usher also escorted my grandmother, and the other my step-mother.

And all the other stuff. Invited to the rehearsal dinner, given gifts, announced at the reception with rest of the wedding party, in the same pictures as all as the GMs, etc.

One told me to watch out because he was going to be an Usher-zilla. They were total hams and I them.