10 days till wedding...reader backed out!!

RachelEEE

So we are getting married in 10 days and yesterday one of our readers (my uncle!) backed out. I would not have minded if he had said he could not do it when I asked initially but THIS CLOSE to the wedding?!?! Really?!?!

So, here's the question. 175 programs have been painstakingly created. They have his name as the first reader. I'm not too worried about that though. The question is: do I ask someone else to read the passage? We really want it in the ceremony but it feels tremendously rude to ask someone so close to the wedding?  Ideas? Suggestions?

The stress is finally building...

squirrly

Just ask your officiant to read it.

kellyjellybelly

Could the person doing the other reading do both?  Or I like Mrs.Jesse's idea about the officiant reading it.

RachelEEE

Yeah, thats not a bad idea. The officiant should be ok with it since he's gonna be up there already. Good thinking...thanks!

damaless

I don't think 10 days is an extremely short amount of time to ask a new reader or ask your officiant.  It doesn't take long to read over a reading a few times to be comfortable reading it at the ceremony, at least for someone who is relatively comfortable with public speaking in general.  It's not like they have to memorize it.  Personally I wouldn't be offended if someone asked me to do a reading for their wedding a week or so beforehand (or even closer to the wedding); it's not the same sort of thing as replacing a wedding party member, I don't think.

stillundecided4

The same thing happened to me. I had to reprint all my programs too. I asked my Aunt who I'm very close with. She was happy to be a part of our ceremony.

[Deleted User]

Just ask someone else. Ten days is plenty of time to practice the reading and be comfortable with it. Don't worry about reprinting the programs, leave it be. I doubt people will notice anyway. If they do notice, I am sure they will just think that something happended and he couldn't make it or do it. No big deal. Typos and incorrect info happens all the time in programs and the wedding still goes on.

SaraAndrew2010

I'm slightly nervous about the readers for our wedding.  One of the readers, my cousin, is famously late to most family events.  On top of that, we're getting married in December in Chicago, so there's always a concern that the readers get stuck in a snowstorm.  In case there are any problems, my mom is going to be prepared to fill in to do any of the readings if a reader can't make it.

mysticl

A friend of mine found out at almost the last minute that her reader was not coming to the wedding (long dramatic story).  She called me Thursday and asked if I could read and was there any way I could make it to rehearsal.  I left a couple hours earlier on Friday than originally planned, made it to the rehearsal and the RD and Saturday was show time.  I had no problems filling in (I was also aware of all the drama).

Lucky for the bride she hadn't done programs.