Receiving line vs. visiting during dinner

cu97tiger

Are you ladies doing a receiving line or just planning on visiting with your guests during dinner? Part of me wants to do the receiving line just so that we can get that out of the way and enjoy a quick meal before the night moves on. Thoughts?

thatguyhasmyname

I went to a cousins wedding where they visted tables and took almost 45 minutes to get to us and there were still six tables behind us. Made THAT decision before I even got engaged, I will do the line at the church and still hope to get a chance to talk to everyone at the reception. But I will NOT make them sit and wait for me.

rebeccaa12

Yikes- I hadn't thought about this too much, but I think we'll be visiting each table individually because we'll need time to do our pics after the ceremony.

cyparks

We will be visiting the tables- but we are doing our ceremony and reception in the same location so the reason behind our choice is a little different! But for both weddings I have attended, the bride and groom visited the tables. As guests, we did not exactly 'wait' for them but by the time they were close enough for us to notice what they were doing, we were next!

If you do a receiving line, do you take pictures with all of your guests? I kind of think it would be nicer to let them sit down and wait for you as opposed to waiting in a literal line until you get to them...But again, I have two weddings worth of experience so :-(

Rachmarie23

Our venue isn't really set up for a receiving line to work very well.  We'll go to every table during dinner, or talk to everyone during cocktail hour.  But that is easier for us to do since we have 100ish guests and not like 400.

Personally with large weddings as a guest I never liked the receiving line, because I feel like I'm on some sort of assembly line that always takes forever.  And then it takes so long to get a glass of wine and an appetizer.    

cmac3504

We're expecting some locals to come to the church that aren't invited to the reception.  I plan on having a short receiving line (me, FI, and both sets of parents).  No need to bring the rest of the WP into it.  I'm hoping it'll be over in MAX 45 minutes.  I've heard a receiving line technically shouldn't replace thanking people at the reception, even though it's extremely tempting....

bdgrl73

We were just talking about this last night..we're doing the receiving line after the ceremony..to hug and say our "Thank You" to each guest...that way we wouldn't necessarily have to do what FI and I call the "Dance of 30 tables"...that being said, I know that not everyone will attend the church (just because some people feel it's not as important) so we'll do our best to catch up and chat with people..but I"m not going to make it a priority at the reception...I guess it's sounds kind of awful..but we would really like to enjoy our reception too...

ETA: The receiving line will be just myself and FI....

cmac3504

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_receiving-line-vs-visiting-during-dinner?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:34f0f09d-6fff-46bd-8703-0dffd9fa22aaPost:24359f93-5503-4c2d-b704-7ee2ab523ae7">Re: Receiving line vs. visiting during dinner</a>:
[QUOTE]We will be visiting the tables- but we are doing our ceremony and reception in the same location so the reason behind our choice is a little different! But for both weddings I have attended, the bride and groom visited the tables. As guests, <strong>we did not exactly 'wait' for them but by the time they were close enough for us to notice what they were doing, we were next!</strong> If you do a receiving line, do you take pictures with all of your guests? I kind of think it would be nicer to let them sit down and wait for you as opposed to waiting in a literal line until you get to them...But again, I have two weddings worth of experience so :-(
Posted by cyparks[/QUOTE]

This.  I've never felt as though I had to wait for the B&G to come say hi.  They must have come after dinner was over if you noticed, right..?

JCWhitey

I personally hate receiving lines.  I usually skip them when I'm a guest at a wedding.  What I really don't get is having the bridal party line up in them, too.  It's akward having to say high to 6-12 people I may not know before even getting to the bride and groom.  My brother and SIL had us all line up with them (I was a bridesmaid) and it was just weird when people were like "So.... I'm Amanda's uncle, who are you?"

I'd rather mill at the reception and that's what I did at wedding #1.  But we also only had 75 guests and 10 tables so it didn't take long at all.

bethmerchant

We are going to go back in after the ceremony and personally dismiss our guests instead of having the ushers do it. That way we can see everyone even if they don't go to the reception.

w+c3

Reveiving lines are notorious for taking forever depending on your guest list. Like 45 mins. Instead I am doing the one thing I said I would never do before wedding planning and that is going back into the church and dismissing the guests from the pews row by row. You still get a chance to hug and say thanks for coming but because it seems "official" and guests are more aware that a ton of people are waiting on them, they don't stand in front of you and chit chat for 5 minutes holding up the line.

I've hated it at every wedding I went to because I found it so awkward, but I really have not choice

amh04

We aren't doing a recieving line and will be chatting with our guests and thanking them at the reception. But - we aren't having a huge to-do either, we're expecting roughly 60 guests.

mrsmustard12

Definitely receiving line!!

brittandjp

I've never seen a receiving line done, and I definitely don't like the idea of one. However, I'm fine with going around to tables and I don't think it will take us too long. We'll make it short and simple, but sweet. As a guest, I've never waited around for the bride/groom to come say hello. If I missed them, I missed them. As a guest, I always make an effort to approach them and say hello some other time in the night anyway.

tiffk10

We are just going to visit during dinner. We don't have the time to take pictures and do a receiving line, plus we could very well have over 200 people, way too many to wait in line to see.

zatassi

We want to visit tables during the reception instead of doing a receiving line, but my FI really does not want to miss eating the meal!  Is there any way to visit the tables AND eat??