Greeting guests before the ceremony?

Monica, we did all of the above It worked out very well and I would not have changed a thing!

I was thinking of doing the same thing! Except my mom has mentioned a few times that my dad would like to walk me up the aisle. I'm not huge on formality so I guess I need to see if FH and dad really want that stupid aisle walk. I would so much rather stand and greet people as they come in

The only concern I thought of while reading your post was people taking too long and maybe getting held up - but you've already thought about that I say go for it!

We are planning to do this, I don't want to miss a moment of the wedding! Especially since we are having a cocktail hour before the ceremony.

I agree with WW Lynnie this might take awhile. Guest tend to show 10-20 mins before so 60 guests could easily take longer

We are planning to do this as well. We are doing a First Look then cocktail hour, then ceremony followed by dinner and dancing.

We do not want to miss our cocktail hour especially with the Martini Bar Ice Chute!

People won't talk your ear off, they just want a smooch and an "ooh and ah" moment

Sounds good to me

I've been to two weddings where the bride and groom did this. Both couples had super casual weddings, so it worked. Honestly, it takes people by surprise, so usually it's just a quick hug and hello.

It sounds fine in theory.

If I was a guest though I would be thrown off and have a total socially awkward moment talking to the bride and groom. It would throw off the ceremony for me and I would want to talk to them again afterwards or feel forever embarrassed with the first impression I gave to the bride and groom. Maybe it's just my social anxiety.

Keep that in mind if you have any guests like me.

A small word of caution, if you run late because you are greeting your guests, everything else will run late the rest of the night. Your vendors probably have specific times that they agree to start and stop. My officiants will charge extra if you run late. The food can't be held indefinitely. Your DJ and photographer probably are charging you for a specific number of hours.

^ Yes, what Brandy said.

Unless your officiant is invited to the reception, s/he may have another wedding to go do.

@A&G we're going to greet guests before the ceremony because the idea of everyone seeing me for the first time as I walk done the aisle gives me a lot of anxiety. I would prefer to just greet everyone in a slightly more casual atmosphere. I don't like attention, and the idea of having all eyes on me like in most weddings where people see the bride for the first time that day as she walks down the aisle makes me very uncomfortable.

I think that as long as you know your guests pretty well, and that they won't talk so much to you that they make you late to start the ceremony, there is nothing to worry about. Or if you know you're inviting one or two people who you know might try to talk your ear off, just have your parents standing near by so that they can help deal with the chatty person.

I love this idea

We've done this numerous times. As others have mentioned, you have to keep the timing under control.

I'd do cocktail hour first, then the ceremony.

We are doing this. We are going to do a separate greeting-the-guests gathering for me and FH. Like one in the living room, the other in the back yard. Then we'll tell them to go sit down and we'll start the ceremonies. It's a Jewish wedding so I think it's technically called kabbalat panim in my case, but he isn't Jewish and I'm just reformed, it's just a tradition that sounds good to us. We are picking and choosing what to include. For example we are not fasting before and I'm not covering my face with a veil.

Eta: we also are inviting just over 60 guests. I think if the wedding is huge this wouldn't work.

I'm going with traditional!! I don't want anyone to see me !!

I love this idea.

We are doing all of our pictures earlier in the day and most of our guests are family who will be in the pictures, so we might just pop in to say hi before the ceremony.

Thanks for the idea!

We also got ready together and had no bridal party -- had family walk down the aisle before us!

We did not formally greet the guests, and did a first look after I put my dress on (he never saw it before) however, we did have a small "welcome" reception for the half hour before the wedding with champagne so people could mingle, catch up, and meet each other and relax before the ceremony began -- it also allowed for family members to reconnect. Everyone seemed to love that!

If you're already doing things pretty no traditional then I would say go for it. I did go to a wedding last year that was pretty traditional except they did that. It was so weird I thought to arrive and bride and groom are just wondering around socializing.