Receiving Line????

From what I read a receiving line is where you stand in line and thank your guests one by one for coming. I read it takes a long time depending on the size of your party and it can be kind of boring so we are doing a meet and greet.

We are having a small break between the ceremony and the reception because the catholic church required us to be done early AND because our Dj is only giving us a certain amount of time.

That being said we are going to be announced at the cocktail hour and mingle with our guests then. That way we can say Hi and thank them all for coming in a more relaxed way. I hope the plan works... Fingers crossed. Lol

I had such a small group, it really wasn't necessary.. we made rounds to everyone at the wedding, so I don't think anyone was missed... but at a more formal affair, I could see it.. I've been to several weddings that had one and it was always nice to say hi, but you do feel rushed to say "hi" and "bye" because there's a long line behind you ;P

We only have 44 people in total (including the groom, bridal party and myself) attending the wedding, we should have enough time at the reception to greet everyone, would we be ok to not have one

I hated receiving lines in the military for the balls I vote no... If your inviting people to your wedding they'd better know who you are and with 44 people I think you'll get the chance to see and say Hi to everyone without having a formal pain in the booty receiving line

Personally I agree with Jen, they might feel rushed. Maybe you could go around and say hi while they are eating?

We are having buffet so plan B is that whoever we missed at the "meet and "greet" will get greeted at dinner. We get fed first so we should be done just as everybody else is starting to eat. We figured we would go around to the tables then and say our thank yous...

I think you will have plenty of time to greet your people throughout the evening.

Ugh, you don't need one. We also had a small group and did NOT plan on the receiving line. But somehow it just happened that people started coming up to us after the ceremony to congratulate. It was a mistake, because we had to cut it short so it was just bizarre.

Another thing is that people often times include their families. So basically you spend time congratulating people you don't know. I would skip it.

Well we don't have anyone but family coming so we will know everyone there but i see where you ladies are coming from, every wedding i have been to i feel like you wait in a long line to get a hand shake or hug and then rushed on.

Thank you for all the advice, NO receiving line for sure.

Also when you have one with families and or bridal party it's another part of your wedding you'd have to orchestrate and it's something else that can go wrong, it's extra stress for new reason in my opinion

I'm just jumping in to emphasize Mrs. S's point... we accidentally had a receiving line as well and it was so dumb. I was waiting for my 94 year old Aunt to come out of the Church to say hi to her because she wasn't coming to the reception, and somehow H and I got stuck greeting all 176 guests... THEN we went to cocktail hour and then we went around to each table. It was nice because we really did talk to everyone at our wedding, but it was exhausting.

I'm not planning on having one because it does take a long time to greet everyone besides I'm afraid people will want to take a quick pic and we're under a timeframe because I want to make it to the park for pictures before it gets dark. We're getting married late afternoon in April so the sun will be setting around 7 or so.

Oh and from a bridesmaid perspective, being IN the recieving line is veeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrry awkard! People shaking your hand and hugging you.. for being in the wedding.. weird..

Great question Thank you for asking. I wondering how this was going to work with our timeline. My cousin just got married a few weeks ago. They did something I have never seen before. At the end after they were married, they dismissed each row and met them at the end where you would hug them and congrat them. They thanked their guests for coming. My fiance didn't like it, but I thought it was genuine and organized. There was sweet music playing in the background. I do feel it can be awkward. My cousin's dress had a very long train. It was absolutely beautiful. She looked like a princess. They was so much detail to it and it was not cheap. I am very clumsy. I felt so awkward when I went to hug her, my felt fabric under my shoes. I shrieked, "Oh, no" I thought I stepped on her dress. Luckily, though it was the aisle runner. After dinner and the toast, they went to every single table and chatted and spent time with them. They impressed me with how they were attentive to

Their guests. I am not sure what I am going to do yet. I have to get a bubble picture of us leaving. I am not sure who is going to get this organized. I do not think I will do one. We will, though make sure we spend time, after everyone has eaten by mingling.

Will do what wassoon2b did...BP not necessary to stand there while people say congrats and i know not everyone invited will come to the church so i dont think it will take long

We didn't end up doing a receiving line, but ended up with a surprise one. We were waiting for everyone to exit the church, so we could get family pictures taken across the street. Well we are waiting, everyone else is leaving the church and stopping to congratulating us, hugging us, etc. It was nice.

Be careful about hugging guys with dark suit jackets! I may have left some makeup on some of the guys shoulders or chest.

I am against doing one as well. It's just MORE time inbetween ceremony and reception. We're going to try hard not to take a bajillion pictures and get to the reception in a reasonable amount of time and I can only imagine how long and awkward a receiving line would be.

We didn't have one because we only had 62 guests and we hung out with them all weekend.

My daughter was going to have one to kill some time after Mass. Since she was only allowed a 2:00 Nuptial Mass, and the reception began at another venue at 5:30, 45 minutes away, she wanted to kill time. However, due to the divorce(her father and me) and the awkwardness it could present to people who haven't seen each other in 18 years, her receiving line was only going to be her DH and her and it would not be in leiu of going to each table during the reception. They still did that during the dinner hour.

However, on the day of, it was hotter than hell, so people grabbed a bottle of water we had chilling outside of church and ran to their cars.

Our ceremony is outside and the reception inside at the same location. As we exit at the end of the ceremony we will line up between the ceremony area and the building entrance along the walkway everyone will go down and briefly greet everyone. Guests will then go inside for appetizers while we stay outside for pictures. Then spend a little more individual time making our rounds after dinner.

With your wedding size it's not necessary. We had about 135 guests and I didn't want people to leave before I got a chance to get to their table... but because I am one that dislikes them normally we had only myself and my husband in ours.... I don't think it's necessary for my BFF to be congratulated for my marriage lol. We went to 2 weddings last year and they had between 15-20 people in their receiving lines WTH

Kay:

You definitely do not have to have a receiving line. With a small guest count as you have, you and your new husband can go around to each table and great all the guests, and spend a bit of time talking with everyone. It's more personal, and since your wedding ceremony and reception are all in one location, it's more convenient.

Hope that answers your question! Please feel free to contact me if you would like help with anything else!