Probably a stupid question...........

megannie

However, I really have wondered.....I have read a lot of posts that mention visiting your guest tables during dinner and greeting and speaking with your guests.

Just wondering, if you do this, where and when are you supposed to actually eat?

This is my second wedding, and when I got married the first time, we did exactly this. I remember going through a drive-thru early in the morning because we were both Starving.

We are paying a lot of money for our meal, and I would really like to be able to eat, but don't want to miss the opportunity to socialize with all our guests.

Thoughts?

Sharpschruter22

The bride and groom are the first people served and can greet their guests when finished with dinner. If you want to avoid possibly missing some people, you may want to consider a receiving line so you definitely get to greet each guest. Many couples do one or the other, but I'm hoping to do both. We shall see.

ootmother2

Can you do a receiving line after the ceremony?

That doesn't exclude talking to your guests but it take care of some of the job

KellyBrian2013

We greeted guests between courses (we had four courses), which worked great especially since we were served first. So we ate our first course, then visited 3-4 tables. Then we ate our second course, then visited 3-4 more tables. Then we ate our third course, then visited 3-4 tables. Then we ate our main course and visited most of the remainder of the tables prior to doing our first dance.

raes19

We did a receiving line immediately after the ceremony. This allowed us to have time to eat during dinner, but we also made time to chat with everyone during the dance portion of the evening.

DMoore421

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_probably-a-stupid-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:20dd4aee-44cd-48b9-8c6f-94b4c235ba07Post:5f2ae8fe-e257-4623-83be-2df2b3411145">Probably a stupid question...........</a>:
[QUOTE]However, I really have wondered.....I have read a lot of posts that mention visiting your guest tables during dinner and greeting and speaking with your guests. Just wondering, if you do this, where and when are you supposed to actually eat? This is my second wedding, and when I got married the first time, we did exactly this. I remember going through a drive-thru early in the morning because we were both Starving. We are paying a lot of money for our meal, and I would really like to be able to eat, but don't want to miss the opportunity to socialize with all our guests. Thoughts?
Posted by megannie[/QUOTE]
  Everyone keeps warning me that I wont eat at the wedding - I say boo to them because I am gonna sit my butt down and eat - I know I will be hungry - and alcohol will be involved so I definately need to eat - I can still visit and then dance my booty off - but me not eating is not an option to me

QueerFemme

We didn't eat. I was bummed because I heard the food was amazing.

DramaGeek

We had about 10 minutes to eat.  We did the receiving line then went off by ourselves for a few minutes alone.  That was the last bit of food we got.

acaponi87

You should eat. Like others have said, you will be the first people served so that should give you time to go around and talk to people while they are getting served/eating. We were able to make it to every table for a minute or 2 before our first dance and such (180 guests), you just have to be diligant about moving on so you can see everyone.

People understand that you need to eat. It's a longgggg day..no one will be offended.

[Deleted User]

We are doing our table visits immediately after dinner.  We want to eat!  My mother has requested photos of every table, so we are just going to go table to table with the photographer as soon as dinner is over.

jessicabessica

We went through the buffet first and managed to finish most of our meal before we got up to do table visits, although the venue also left our plates.  I wish I ate more--it was amazing--but my corset was really tight and I hadn't tried eating/drinking in it before.  

Right after the ceremony, we went into a room together for 10 minutes, which is tradition in our religion, and we had the venue put a plate of hors d'oeurves in the room for us.  When we went out to cocktail hour, we were too busy talking to people to get anything to eat, so I was glad we did that.

Summer2011Bride

We did table visits and were able to eat. The B&G are served first, so in many cases, we'd be done with our salads before the last of the guest tables even got served. We also did eat on the quick side, but made sure to eat. When we were done with dinner, we started circulating.

If you're worried about missing some people, start with the guests who are most likely to duck out early--perhaps older relatives or families with young kids. Save for last the guests you know will stay later, like friends your age, etc. You can always catch them on the dance floor, which is what we did for some of our guests.

MrsKathyC

We ate!  We were served first so we had the time to eat while everyone was going up to the buffets.  We circulated after the meal.

nattykins

We actually served our cake to everyone - that was a way for us to visit each table. I don't know if that's something that every venue would allow, but it was a lot of fun

libby2483

We did a receiving line after the ceremony, so we did not do table visits.  I'm really glad that we did it this way because then we could relax and enjoy the meal. 

artbyallie

We got a few bites of food and one or two bites of cake, and that was it. I mean, obviously you need to eat, but the reception is primarily a thank-you to your guests and you need to be good hosts. Thankfully, we had a lunch reception and reservations for just the two of us at the Melting Pot for the first leg of our honeymoon later that evening.

dewingedpixie

Thank you for posting this. I dont handle missing food well so we were preparing to toss a protein bar in my purse for after the ceremony. My bridesmaids and groom were also planning to make sure I got to eat a meal before having to greet everyone. Thank you everyone for making me feel like taking 15 minutes to actually eat is actually ok.

Just H

Several of my friends talked with their caterers or wc ahead of time and had them prepare them to-go boxes, just in case they didn't get to eat or were hungry afterwards they would not be looking for a drive-thru

OliveOilsMom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_probably-a-stupid-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:20dd4aee-44cd-48b9-8c6f-94b4c235ba07Post:006faae2-342b-40e1-bfd1-4c76bb031f39">Re: Probably a stupid question...........</a>:
[QUOTE]We greeted guests between courses (we had four courses), which worked great especially since we were served first. So we ate our first course, then visited 3-4 tables. Then we ate our second course, then visited 3-4 more tables. Then we ate our third course, then visited 3-4 tables. Then we ate our main course and visited most of the remainder of the tables prior to doing our first dance.
Posted by KellyBrian2013[/QUOTE]

We did exactly this as well.

tammylongneckerson

We did a receiving line. We had about 200 guest show and it only took about 20 minutes so we got to enjoy part of the cocktail hour after signing our certificate and kicking back for a few minutes. After that we mingled. Personally, I find table visits more informal than a receiving line. In a receiving line you greet everyone but at a table visit it's more of a general hello.