Receiving Line: A Must or No?

Ooooooo. Girl!! I have opinions but my pad is almost out of juice. Hold on. Finding a plug and stuff.

We are skipping it for sure! We will be greeting and thanking guests at our cocktail hour. Receiving lines suck!

Absolutely not.

&ALC is that a no to having one? Or not having one?

Skip the receiving line and do the table visits

In all honesty receiving lines remind me of funerals so we won't be doing one at our wedding we will going around to tables after dinner and greeting and thanking everyone we will also be giving out gum or mints to our guests as well it's a tradition for our families to give out gum and mints btw lol so totally up to you that is just my opinion of receiving lines

I'm not doing a receiving line. I'll just hop around to the guests, give them hugs (the ones who are okay with hugging) and thank them for coming to the wedding.

Yahoo! I'm plugged in.

Receiving line PROS from a photogs POV: during receiving line photog has time to set up lighting for family formal shots. OR photographer has time to high tail it to the reception venue and get detail shots prior to guests coming in.

Receiving line PROS from a B and G POV : during this time, you will have greeted and thanked every guest for coming. Your reception will not have to include table visits. Also, if there is any kind of gap between ceremony and reception a receiving line is the most efficient way to close that timeline gap.

CONS : receiving lines take up time. I do not recommend them f you need to take family formals/location pics in between ceremony and reception.

We're not having one due to church space constraints (Saturday afternoon confessions) and a lack of desire for one (they seem a little awkward). I'd rather get people to cocktail hour faster and chat with everyone at dinner.

I suppose it sort of depends on your locations/timeline and how many guests, but don't feel you need one.

How many guests do you have?

@Kathleen thank you for posting! That's something I hadn't thought about as far as our photographers POV. And @Michelle our church is 2 blocks (literally you can walk from one to the other in under 10 mins) so that gap isn't designed to be too bad (about 20 mins from ceremony to cocktail hour)

I recently went to a church wedding that had a receiving line and let me tell you...It took like 45 minutes to get out of that fucking place. Like, I started to feel claustrophobic and trapped, we were looking for an alternate way out and ended up searching through the church's kitchen/etc and there was NO OTHER way out! I was about to bust a window. On top of that it took so long the couple actually didn't have enough time to get all the photos they wanted. So that's all I got to say about that.

@Bee our guest list has around 150 maybe a little less but I have some SO and plus ones to account for.

The receiving lines at the few weddings I have been to that have had them (seems like most do not) have dragged on forever. There always seems to be those few guests who do not want to stop talking to the bride and groom when everyone just wants them to move along. I will just be visiting with my guests at the reception.

Personally, not a fan of receiving lines...always thought they were so inpersonal n just trying to get people thru. We will be visiting tables n guests thru-out the night.

Good post. I didn't even know what a receiving line was

We aren't doing one! It will take forever and we want to be able to get family pictures done immediately after. Our plan is to go around at each table, after we eat and talk to people. We also plan to take a picture with each table! Our friends did this at their wedding and we thought it was a neat idea!

I truly think that receiving lines should be thought of from a strategic POV with regards to the Bride and Groom and photographer. Nobody likes them but they can be very useful. At some point throughout the day the couple should acknowledge every guest and if that time is most convenient for them between ceremony and reception, then go for it.

KisstheKochs has another wonderful option.

No one likes receiving lines. Everyone but the couple in the bridal party feels awkward just as the guests do who greet them. We're doing table visits.