Are ushers still a thing?

Have I misread something or did you just say you have several elderly guests attending a ceremony without seats? .. and a huge staircase?

By "the ceremony isn't seated" do you mean the seats aren't assigned? Or that there will not be places for your guests to sit?

^^I think she means not assigned seats, at least I hope so'

And yes, ushers are still a thing! They help things more faster and fill in seats equally.

I meant assigned seats, sorry!

Oh that makes more sense.

I'm confused; you are having most people stand and you have a giant staircase and elderly relatives???

nope.

I usually see the groomsmen do this.

If you want to have an usher go for it. My FH and I feel like it is a consolation prize in our wedding (like you are not a groomsmen but be an usher) and for that reason we are not doing it. Also our BP is made up of friends and family not just family. But that is not a generalization to all weddings, it is just the case for ours!

Honestly, I do not see why your guests would be bringing suitcases..... and if your seats are not assigned then you should not have ushers. I feel like ushers are for taking people to their assigned side/seat.

ETA: clarity

I'm so relieved that you clarified that! No seating at all would be awful, while I have never heard of anyone assigning seats for the ceremony portion of a wedding.

I don't see any need for ushers. You can just block off the first couple of rows for family, and if elderly relatives need physical assistance maybe ask a member of the wedding party or a close family member to help.

We're having ushers; I see them at most bigger weddings/fancier venues (We're having 200 guests in a historic ballroom, if we were going with a smaller wedding in a rustic venue, we probably wouldn't have any). When I was talking to my FH about whether anyone would feel slighted to be an usher instead of a groomsmen, he said he and his buddies really wouldn't care. May not be true for all guys, but I put it down to the guy mentality around weddings.

Thanks ladies! You're going to be seeing a lot of me. No one in my family or friends have ever had a wedding ceremony. Flying blind here!

My FH 17 yr old brother and my 18 yr old brother will be our ushers. We are also having them as 'ring secret service' to put a funny spin on having adult ring bearers since we don't have any young children we know that well! And to give them something else to do to be part of the wedding

My FH is an usher in a wedding next weekend.

We had my 4 nephews as ushers (ages 15-22), their sisters were my bridesmaids.

I'd like my brothers to be my ushers since they aren't in the WP so hopefully it's still a thing!

Yes, they're a thing! Sometimes it's the DOC or setup crew. They usually have them for public spaces like beaches or resorts I believe. I've got one for our ceremony because we're going to be on a popular beach and you know how nosey people are!

Ushers are a thing if you want them to be. Sometimes, people have ushers who are not part of the wedding party at all. Sometimes, they have members of the wedding party also act as ushers. And sometimes they don't have ushers. You can do it however you like.

I am having my cousin be an usher. He is 14 and I really wanted him to be a part of my day but he's too old for a ring bearer. He will help seat grandparents

We had our groomsmen be ushers and it worked out perfectly

We had DH's two younger brothers be ushers and, from what I heard, they did a good job.

I've seen male and female ushers. They still play a role in modern weddings. Best wishes!