Greeting guests

We are going to get it all done during cocktail hour. Our friends just did that at their wedding and it worked out great. Agree with your coordinator 100%

We started talking to people at cocktail hour since we did all posed photos before the ceremony. After we both ate dinner, we split up in opposite directions to start talking to tables (we only had 12). We both ended up being able to chat with all the tables and still had time to spare.

We were able to have multiple conversations with each of our guests which was awesome.

I’ve noticed this is a favorite question for you to ask. Are you trying to figure out what you and your fiancé will do?

We do it during the beginning of the reception when people start coming in and we also do it when we go around tables - i feel like at least going around tables was just another way of seeing everyone and getting more pics

This actually worked for us. We had 100 guest and made our way to every table to greet every individual. We did it during dinner. After everyone had their food we walked around to each table telling everyone thank you and how much we appreciated them being there. It didn’t take long at all or cut into anything else on the agenda.

I actually walked around twice. The first was to say thank you and the second was to make sure everyone was doing okay and having a good time.

We did some during cocktail hour, then because my husband and I were fed dinner FIRST, we decided to get up when we were done eating and try to make more rounds before the cake cutting and dancing. We still did not get to everyone (most though I would say) but I did not hear of anyone being “upset” over this because I think the ones we didn’t get to were well aware that it would be hard to talk to all 96 guests in a 5 hour reception (some of them even left early without saying hi). I will say that most of those people were my husband’s parents’ friends who probably knew they were only there because they’re close to his parents (in their circle, it’s expected to be invited to a kid’s wedding because you’re close to their parents even if you aren’t close with the kid).

We made our way around to most people at cocktail hour. At the reception, I spoke to those who were missed at cocktail hour. I made sure to spend extra time with a handful of guests who traveled far. We had 59 guests.

I met our guests on the dancefloor, and purposefully met with the older guests who stayed seated and talking. We had 85 guests, not too large to miss anyone. We don't do receiving lines in my circles. To me, they are a bit stuffy like 80s movie "Working Girl".

We did table by table greetings and got to everyone. We did this while guests were being served. We ate before the ceremony so we could make time to do this, as it was important to connect with each and every guest. Our reception true to your coordinators assessment lasted beyond the minimum 4 hours and lasted till 2:30 am due to cultural reasons.

I'm going to try to get a picture with each guest/couple/party. That way I can send them with the after wedding thank you cards and ensure I talk to everyone. We're having no more than 100 people though.

I'm with your coordinator (although my mom definitely isn't lol). Our reception is on the 15th floor, so I think it's safe to assume all guests will be taking the elevator up. We're planning to greet people as they walk in to the cocktail hour space and ask one of the coordinators to get our picture with the guest/ group with an instant camera. The photo will be used for the guest book. The camera also saves all the pictures on a memory card, and we're planning to get prints to send to everyone in thank you cards.

Table visits are a nice idea, but you could miss someone who got up to get a drink, is in the bathroom, etc., and I think the bride and groom deserve to enjoy their meals after paying for everyone else's. We plan on going around to tables if there's time, but I want to make sure that we at least say hi to everyone beforehand so nobody feels slighted because we wanted to eat and have a timeline to stick to lol.

We plan on greeting our guests during cocktail hour. There are a lot of reasons for us choosing to do a first look and take pictures before guests arrive before the ceremony. On top of it easing our nerves to have a moment together beforehand, our coordinator and photographer said we won't be crunched for time to get pictures in before we start losing light and we will be able to greet and thank our guests for coming during cocktail hour This will allow us time to sit and enjoy our meal during the reception and join in the fun. We will stop by any tables of people we don't get to talk to during cocktail hour.

We did table visits. My mom was really pushing for a receiving line, but we knew that would take so much time and it's not done at weddings in our area anymore. I've never seen one at a wedding and my MIL says she hasn't seen one in 30+ years. We did some of the table visits before dinner (like during the salad course or open dancing, since some tables didn't really get up to dance) and some after. The only thing was when we got to some tables, almost no one was sitting there since they were all up dancing or enjoying the weather outside. So technically we didn't quite get to greet everyone. I wish we had another hour so we could have.