Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions

Bride and Groom Leaving Ceremony....What to do??

My soon to be husband and I are having a large wedding of about 300 people.  I know it won't be possible to visit everyone at their tables at the reception (plus I want to dance) so I was trying to figure something out for after the ceremony.
What I was thinking was, we walk down the aisle along with our wedding party and my groom and I loop back around and dismiss all the guests from their pews.  Then, we will walk through the front doors of the church, with everyone outside blowing bubbles at us for our 'send off.'  We hop into the limo and take a 5-10 minute cruise to allow everyone to get into their cars and clear out and then return to the church for pictures. 
What are your thoughts?  Have you done this kind of dismissal?  How long did it take?

Re: Bride and Groom Leaving Ceremony....What to do??

  • I have been to weddings where this was done and personally hated it as a guest. When greeting the B&G, I feel like I'm on display as everyone else still seated is watching, and I feel rushed, like we don't really have time to actually talk at all. Plus for those sitting in the back half of the Church, it is boring as heck to sit around waiting to be dismissed.

    I really dislike traditional receiving lines, but I still think I would prefer that over this. FWIW, we did table visits, albeit with a smaller guest list, and still had plenty of time to dance and have a good time. Because the B&G is usually always served first, we were able to finish eating pretty quickly and start the rounds as the rest of the guests finished up eating.


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    Vacation
  • Stand at the doors and greet your guests there.  I personally can't stand the B&G coming back to dismiss the guests.  I'm sorry but we don't need your permission to get up and leave.
    Proud to be an old married hag!! image
  • Thanks so much for your advice!!
  • We are actually doing a first look to get most pictures out of the way, and then while everyone is milling around getitng drinks and starting to eat (buffet style), we are going to eat our dinner in a private room. This way we can spend some quiet time eating (albeit rushed), and then when we are introduced, most everyone will be getting seated, we can do our first dance, and then go straight into walking from table to table meeting with people during meal time.
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