Are programs necessary?

If you don't want them getting tossed, simply include the couple's new address. This ensures most of them at least make it home to an address book before being pitched.

Don't bother with them if you are having a short and simple ceremony. Now if you have lots of music or people reading verses or poetry, you might want to do programs (which can be made really in expensive), but I would not worry about it all.

I agree that they are not a must, but they can be very helpful to guests. For example, I am having a mass, with Holy Communion. I do not want to take it for granted that my non-christian guests know what Communion is, so I added a lil' blurb on what it is.

I want to add directions to my reception, but I am afraid of crashers! Some people asked to come to the ceremony only (they were not invited to the wedding).

THey are def not a must. We haven't enough room on our tables for programs or menu cards. Someone on here suggested a "Who's Who" type program giving info and pics about different people involved in the wedding and thanks to all those who came. I am going to put them in my welcome bags.

They were important for us, because we were having a Jewish ceremony with several nonJewish guests. The programs contained the entire text of the ceremony, with transliterations and translations of the Hebrew portions. They also contained explanations of all the Jewish customs, a memorial to two recently deceased relatives, and directions to the reception venue.

In other circumstances, I don't think they are necessary. A guest who has never seen any of the members of the wedding party before is probably not going to see any of them again, and is unlikely to be interested in knowing that this one is a cousin and that one is a college friend.

There are a lot of people who like them as a keepsake. Not all of them get thrown away.

I am not doing programs.

I think programs are needed to help people understand what is happening and to tell people who is in the wedding party. I used a free template from online and there are plenty of sites that have free wedding program templates. If you want to dress it up go to Kinko's and get some colored card stock paper.

We are not doing programs. We thought it would be a waste of money and time.

We didn't have a program... I think most people know how weddings go... and if they don't let them be surprised.

I like the "surprise" element, Brian. We are doing a few extra things at our ceremony... so we'll just let them be surprised!

To anyone who wants to do programs, you can buy an expensive box of programs and print them out yourself on-line. They should come with instructions, but if not, you can do a search on-line to access the correct template.

This is actually a really good point!