How are you greeting guests?

At my first wedding we went around table bu table at the reception to thank them. I loved that way because it didn’t take any time out of the cocktail hour, and it didn’t rush anyone for the ceremony. I think that’s what I’ll do for this wedding as well.

I have experienced all three options as a guest, and the receiving line and row dismissal are my least favorite. You are just standing there, waiting (and waiting), where as for the table greeting, you can at least eat, drink, sit and chat. We are choosing the table visit option for our wedding.

We have a big family. A receiving line has always been a good staple over the years and worked well ! We intend to have one after the church ceremony and would like to socialize during cocktail hour as well.

For our wedding, we did a receiving line and walked around to each table during the reception. We wanted to spend time with our guests as much as possible.

We had each table come up to us to take a picture with us. It... mostly worked?

Having a sweetheart table also allows guests to come up to you. Receiving lines and such aren't very common in my area - generally it's a take a picture with each table kind of deal.

Easier, honestly, because then the other guests have things to do while you greet/take pictures.

We are just going to greet guests at their tables, its always been the best form at the Weddings i have been to

Hello Michelle:
Team "greeting them at the cocktail hour" here.
The table visit is something my FW wanted but I vetoed this because I really hate this option and we both hate the receving lines as guests:

1- It takes forever (our guest count is 120-135 (not final)).

2- We're not sure why the guests would congratulate our parents, hug them/shake their hand! Seriously!

We are going with the cocktail hour. We are going to try to get all the formal pics out of the way prior to the ceremony so this way we can actually mingle with the guests and enjoy some of the food we paid for. I always felt weird doing the table greeting since people are eating and it’s hard to talk with a mouth full of food and besides, I wanna eat too!

If we don't get to see everyone during cocktail hour, we plan on going by each table at the reception!

When we got married, we went to each table during the reception to thank each guest for coming.

I hate table visits as a guest. It makes dinner take forever because you have to get to everyone and we also get interrupted while we're eating. I am VERY pro receiving line or row dismissal. It takes like 20 minutes, then you can be free to mingle as you want to at the cocktail hour/reception without being worried about speaking to every guest.

We're hoping to quickly eat in private (possibly during cocktail hour after we've finished family photos), and then while everyone else is eating/grabbing food stopping by each table to say hello. It all depends on what we're able to do with the location our ceremony and reception will be taking place.

We will be doing a quick thank you toast, and are also hoping to get a chance to speak to most guests during cocktail hour. Neither one of us are a fan of receiving lines or dismissing by rows. They just seem like unpleasant inconveniences for the guests. Not to mention, they are incredibly time-consuming; cutting Into time that could have been spent on photos and cocktail hour.

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This is my exact experience.

View Quoted Comment People congratulate parents when their kids reach milestones....that’s something people do.

In asian culture we have welcome/entrance photos. what these are, is that after the guest comes in and signs in at the guest sign in table, the couple is waiting right there with a photographer to take a photo and greet the guests as they arrive. at the end of the night that guest gets an actual printed copy of the photo inside a thank you folder!

it takes FOREVER! i literally stood there for like an entire hour greeting guests as they came in. but i will admit that that was probably the only time i really got to greet and say hi to a lot of people for the rest of the night and for many it was the only photo they'd be able to get with the couple.

We'll be doing a thank you toast and briefly going around to the tables during the reception. It's an afternoon hors d'oeuvres reception, so no formal meal that we have to worry about interrupting. If we have time, we'll also greet some guests during cocktail hour.

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You know what works you. Great idea.

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I agree with this. Everyone we know has said all pictures beforehand so you can mingle with guests is the way to go. One of my anxiety triggers is people always trying to talk to you when you're eating so I completely understand the aversion to table visits for that reason.

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I agree with you. As a guest, I've never seen table visits but trying to talk while eating is always uncomfortable. Receiving lines with the couple only) and row dismissals go very quickly and you get to greet everyone.