How to Tell Guests the Wedding is Starting

I would have a pause in the music followed by an increased volume for the processional song.

Following... Congratulations on ur engagement ❤

Like pp said, there was a pause in the music, and then the officiant welcomed everyone and mentioned (again...) that the B&G's preference was for phones and cameras to be put away for the ceremony. The DJ then started the processional music and at that point it was pretty obvious the wedding was starting.

EDT: daughter had a venue coordinator, who from the back of the ceremony site was able to coordinate with/signal both the DJ and the officiant that the bridal party was ready to begin.

I was wondering about this as well! Just curious, are you having a day-of-coordinator? Also something I'm struggling with!

My officiant walked first and then asked everyone to silence phones then the processional music hit

I had a Catholic Mass wedding, and I had to to think about this too. I opted to end my prelude music with a piece that ends very loudly, as a way to indirectly signal to people that the wedding is about to begin. In my mind, I thought if the music was too loud to chat over, either people either go sit down or will assume the wedding procession has begun. Per my husband, people got the message and got settled by the time the next piece started and the mothers walked down the aisle.

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That's a good idea, thank you!

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Hi date twin!
Congratulations to you as well I hope your planning is going well!

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I like the idea of having the officiant say something, just to make sure people get the hint. I agree; once he's stated to put away phones, that should give people a clue. I don't have a Day of coordinator set up per our budget, but we've had a lot of people offer to help so I'm sure we could figure that out.

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Sadly, I don't have one for budget reasons. But like I said to MOB So Cal, we've had a lot of offers from friends of family to help out, and I think we could potentially take one of them up on their offer for a role that is like the Day of Coordinator, since I really don't want to be worried about everything running smoothly on my wedding day.

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I think this is what I'm leaning towards Thank you!

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That's a really good point. People can't talk if they can't hear each other LOL. I like the way you think.

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I'm right there with you, can't afford but trying to see if we can stretch the budget a little.

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Everyone on here says it's a good idea, so I'm thinking it'd be worth it. But we've been stretching our budget with things for about a month now (added videography and some other stuff) and I'm thinking there isn't much more to stretch, and I'm still 3 months away

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Yeah, I totally understand. There are some who will do it hourly, even just the ceremony! I found one for $100/hr, still trying to decide if it's worth it. We meet with her on Thursday.

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That is awesome! If I could find one that cheap, I'd probably splurge. Maybe I need to luck a little harder. The ones I could find were all billed by the day, and the costs were too high to be worth it.

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I found her on Thumbtack! That's a great place to look.

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I think this is what we will be doing.

This is why rehearsals are done for one thing. The bride generally has a different dramatic song for her entrance from the rest of the prelude music. The parents (who usually attend the rehearsal) will stand when the bride's entrance song starts playing. Unless you are having a flowergirl who is the last one to enter before the bride, the maid/matron of honor is the last one in to stand up at the front. When she steps into the place, the new music starts and people stand for the bride, the folks in the front row being first to lead everyone.

Following - thanks for this.