Spending time with guests

We only had 55 people but we were able to see everyone. We did a first look and some pictures before our wedding so we could join the cocktail hour which helped us.

The easiest way is to take 20 minutes after the ceremony to "release" rows or do a receiving line. That way you speak to everyone for sure. But I dont' know why it's difficult to mingle with your guests once you're at the reception. I'm sure we also spoke to and spent time with everyone and we had 200 guests but we also wanted to speak to everyone.

I think some people get frustrated when B&G don't mingle at all and just hang out with themselves or their bff's during the reception. You have to be intentional about it, but you invited these people so you should WANT to spend time with them.

We plan to mingle with our guests during cocktail hour and right after dinner. We want to make sure we hit everybody up as early as possible in the evening before anyone leaves, and before drinks start flowing and we get into “party mode” (so we can hit the dance floor hard and not worry about mingling). We plan to do a thank you speech before dinner, thanking everybody for taking time out of their schedules to share the evening with us (just to be sure every single person knows how grateful we are in case we somehow miss speaking with someone). We are also hosting a thank you brunch the next day for all our guests, where we will have another opportunity to mingle with them.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this. Make the time at the cocktail hour, release rows, mingle with guests or don’t invite them.

View Quoted Comment A brunch sounds awesome!

View Quoted Comment Excellent idea

We went to every table to greet everyone!

in my culture we have welcome photos where basically after the guest signs in at the guest sign in table, we are right by it to greet them and take a photo with them. they get to have a print out of that photo at the end of the night as their keepsake. but again this is only something that works when people come on time so that means we don't get to greet everyone in the beginning either. so we go around to the tables sometime.

We're doing a "sip and stroll" in lieu of a cocktail hour... well, I guess it's still a cocktail hour, haha. Anyways, guests will sip their drinks and stroll through the different gardens (we're getting married at a Botanical Garden). There'll be games and hors d'oeuvres on the patio too. We're hoping this open format will give us time to see guests between pictures! We're also going to go around to tables during the reception. FH doesn't dance, so he'll def be mingling! I'll be chatting on the dancefloor.

We’re keeping it intimate to 30 guests and having a dinner reception, no dancing or events so we can spend more time with everyone.

I have about 56 guests so after the dances and toast I like to go visit the tables. That being some I rather not see because they annoyed me and only reason they are coming is because they family. I will go there say hi and bye lol

We went around to every table and said hello to everybody. I did have a guest who got mad because I didn't talk to her for very long yet i saw her at cocktail hour,took a picture, talked for a few minutes before I had to get bustled and then when we went around the guests tables before dinner and took another picture. I just found that strange.

We're doing a Welcome Event the first night, a First Look to ensure more time during cocktail hour, and going to attempt to at least thank everyone for coming individually.

We also went around to every table to greet people quickly. I tried to stay a little longer at tables that family members that I barely see. I had one family member get a little mad because they did not get to talk to me one on one but I told them if they wanted to, they can always talk to me after the honeymoon. I did not feel all that bad about it, since this was my wedding day and, if they really wanted to talk to me, they can always call later.

Hello Michelle: we are greeting them at the cocktail hour. We're doing a 1st look, so most of (maybe all) official photos will be done before the ceremony and we will enjoy most of (or the entire) CH.
Otherwise, we would have opted for a receiving line, even though we are not fans of this: our guest count is 120-135, (not final yet) so it would take forever! But I really hate the table visits thing,even more than the receiving line.
And we know we will dance and mingle with them (including at the open bar LOL) during the 'after dinner and first dance' portion of the reception!

View Quoted Comment The welcome event is an excellent idea!

View Quoted Comment Sounds like a great plan to cover all your bases!

My venue does a two hour cocktail, first hour is for photos for the families and then the next hour is for the bride and groom to mingle with their guests before dinner and dancing. I like this much better than a recieving line. I do not want to stand there and talk to people forever.