Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Wedding Wednesday: Why We Chose A Receiving Line

For us, greeting and thanking each of our guests was really important, and having been a guest at weddings in the past, we knew that going table-to-table during dinner, you're bound to miss someone.  Since we chose not to do a first look and would be taking our portraits during the cocktail hour, we decided to do both a receiving line and table visits to make sure we saw everyone at least once.  After the wedding ceremony, we lined up with my parents and Mike's dad for our little receiving line.  We chose not to include our 10-person bridal party because we thought that would take way too long, and how awkward is it to introduce yourself to 180 people who are friends with your friend's parents?  Instead, our bridal party lined the steps of the church and practiced their bubble-blowing skills.  (More on that in a little bit.)  While the idea of the receiving line is traditional, I switched it up a bit, having us lead the line, even though technically my parents were the "hosts."  This made it so much easier to introduce our parents to people only we knew and really worked well for us.  







After guests saw us, our fantastic greeters gave everyone bubbles for our "grand exit."  Bubbles were the perfect choice!  They were eco-friendly (unlike rice or confetti) and there wasn't any clean up afterwards (like with rose petals or sprinkles).  To be honest, I think the groomsmen had the most fun out of anyone with the bubbles.
Just FYI, do not buy bubbles from Oriental Trading.  There were ugly, white bar code labels that took up 3/4 of the bottle on all of the purple ones and for FIVE HOURS on the way up to Maine, I scraped labels off each of them.  I only ruptured like 6 of the bottles and cut my fingers about 8 times haha.




Funny story, our favorite photo from the "grand exit" is from my college friend, Brenna (@bdfeel11).  How fantastic is this angle and the ladies' hair?!  Thanks so much, Brens!!  I love that you can see her taking it in the photo above, too.


Before we loaded up in the limos, we took portraits with our bridal party outside the chapel, and I will be back with those next time!

Click here to see a full list of all of our wedding posts, and now it's your turn: share your own post with Macy and me for our weekly Wedding Wednesday linkup below:

19 comments:

Veronica-VeroSays! said...

I love how nice your line looks. We are opting out of this. We have a small wedding guest list so we are sure it will be simple to do while at the reception. Love seeing what everyone else has done!! Linking up!

Xo

P!nky said...

What a wonderfully lovely, traditional idea. I had thought about doing one, but our timeline wouldn't allow it. We went into DC for our wedding party pictures and it didn't allow for much extra time. I think that's amazing you were able to receive all of your guests!

A girl I knew did Oriental bubbles and they were not cute at all. They were sticky and super hard to open.

Unknown said...

I think it's really nice you did a receiving line! we didnt have the space to do one so we went around and said hi to everyone at their tables (which took fooorever!) xo jillian - cornflake dreams

Mary @ Eat Drink and Be Mary said...

The bubbles are a really cute idea, and that's awful that you had to peel off all the bar codes.

Nichole @ casadecrews.com said...

We didn't have a receiving line, but I love them at weddings! I love all your photos!

Rebecca Jo said...

I actually like the receiving line because as a photographer it 1. gives me a chance to catch my breath... 2. gives great pics of smiling, greeting faces. & 3. gives your guests a way of feeling connected to you while waiting for you to finish up pictures.

Macy V said...

The photo your friend took is amazing! I LOVE that you can see all of the Bridesmaids hair styles and then you two kissing in the background...perfect! I think we are going to do the same type of receiving line that you did, with us leading and our parents behind. It will save time for the dance floor ;) Happy Wedding Wednesday<3

Amanda Elizabeth - Meet @ the Barre said...

The bubbles are so great! We couldn't use sparklers I was so sad. I sent my dad to get glowsticks an they were way too small oh well!

Anonymous said...

Totally did the bubbles (from OT of course, also haha). I swear we had the same bridesmaids dresses. I love your idea for a receiving line!

Megan @ Chicago Girl said...

Part of me wishes that we did a receiving line, but we escaped for 20 minutes on our own instead. We hung out in the museum we had our reception in, and just ate some food, drank some bubbly, and took it all in. Then we went back to the cocktail hour. Best part, was taking pics in the museum. Nothing like a photo with Svengoolie. I love the pics. They look amazing!!!!

Kristina said...

We were supposed to do bubbles but only one person picked them out of the basket near our alter! What a waste of 149 bubbles, lol! We skipped a receiving line because we did pictures before and had time time during cocktail hour to mingle.

Jen said...

I have always thought that a receiving line is a great idea! :)

Rachel said...

Such great photos! I kind of wish we had done a receiving line so we could have cut down on the rush of catching up with everyone later in the evening, but hindsight's 20/20.

Jacquelyn @ Due South said...

I LOVE the bubbles!!

Krista said...

I love the bubbles! We were supposed to have them but the rain kinda ruined that. That shot your friend got looks so good :)

Laura Darling said...

I love that you did a receiving line! We weren't able to at our church because we had to be out by a certain time, but we did the table visits at the reception! And the bubbles are great! Good for you for scraping all those labels off!

Elle Sees said...

i love knowing the tips and tricks from the behind the scenes of weddings. i've never been married before, so i like to know these things!

Annie L said...

I think that's a great idea, and so many fab pictures from it!
xo Annie
New England Romance

Lisa C said...

My sister did a receiving line at her church wedding, but we didn't. We got married at a botanical garden, so we really didn't have a place to do one.

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