About the receiving line situation

I read an article recently about wedding formats in the age of covid and this came up:

The New Age Receiving Line: Gesture Lines
While greeting each guest is suggested etiquette for couples and their family members, couples may put a unique spin on contactless greetings, whether this involves an element of their culture like a bow, or something more casual and playful like a contemporary “gesture line” filled with winks and waves, in lieu of a traditional receiving line. Whatever the couple decides, don’t be surprised to see gentle reminders to social distance displayed throughout the ceremony and reception spaces at many weddings.

Yeah, I would 100% skip the receiving line and not hug people. Maybe you could do like....air fives or elbow bumps or something?

I didn’t even realize there was a receiving line to be honest. I also don’t think I’ve ever seen one at any wedding that I’ve ever gone to. I think you can definitely skip that and no one will notice

You can still dismiss the rows to greet everyone. In the current environment, people are not going to be hugging anyway.

I would just skip it entirely!

Receiving lines aren’t common anymore. In the past ten years, I’ve seen it done once and it was a church wedding. The couple waited outside of the church to see guests as they left to go to the reception venue.
It’s definitely something that you can totally skip, especially if you don’t want hugs.

I didn’t even think about this.
I wonder if my fiancé wants this... he’s been the more traditional one.
I thought about using the stairs in our venue to stand on to take family photos after the ceremony but I didn’t think about the small group of people who would be going straight into the cocktail hour/reception area. 🤔

I'd go with table visits instead of a receiving line!! That way you guys can easily mingle with all your guests, greet them in small groups, and keep your distance!

I would skip the receiving line. I agree with the comments above it is more outdated and not often done any more. Table visits are definitely a thing, and that’s what we are going to do. My fiancé and I are going to have dinner privately for 15 to 20 minutes and then walk around during the rest of the dinner portion while people are still at their tables and have our photographer go with us so they can take a photo and that keeps us moving and elimates time wasted at each table.

View Quoted Comment I'm actually surprised by how many people think its outdated. I've not been to one wedding in the last 10 years that skipped this.

We did table visits. We were served our food first at dinner to ensure we finished eating first. Once we were done eating, we made our rounds to all of the tables and spoke to everyone. It worked out perfectly.

View Quoted Comment Same. I have never been to a wedding (including very recent ones) that did table visits as the only greeting interaction. They either have a line or dismiss guests, both immediately following the ceremony.

View Quoted Comment It could be a regional thing! Here, it has really phased out.

I feel like table visits are a good way to go. I'm not a hugger either, but I was kind of redesigned to the fact that I'd still have to hug a lot of people... until covid started. It might depend somewhat on where you live, but for the most part, I think if you walk around with a mask on, people will get that you don't want to hug them.