After the ceremony, we lined up outside the church for our receiving line. Our receiving line took WAY longer than we thought it would take, and sadly shortened our picture time inside the church.
Congratulated by the In-Law's:
Then it was time for posed pictures with family and bridal party:
With our fabulous parents:
With our Bridal Party:
And our readers, Ben and Kerry:
This is my favorite picture of the day...aside from the random man in the left hand corner, which we'll have our photographer edit out before getting our prints and albums made.
I love the vintage look to this one...makes me think of our parents.
Then it was time for lots of pictures outside by the church!
A passerby came up to us and asked us what the significance of the
tunnel was, and asked if it was it where we met? Um..no sir...I did not meet my
husband in a dark tunnel under the Cross Island Parkway... k? Thanks.
It's merely a cool photo-op! Other than the major wind tunnel we were in...oops!
Receiving Lines: I was so torn on whether or not I wanted to have one. This is what I found on the knot: Q.
Is it necessary to have a wedding receiving line? Our wedding is at 7 p.m., immediately followed by a formal wedding dinner. We are stretched for time as it is. Plus, there will be around 350 wedding guests. What is appropriate?
A.
Sorry, but you gotta have one. With that many guests, there's no way you'll ever greet them all personally otherwise! Any time there are more than 50 guests at a wedding, you should have a receiving line. Try not to look at it as an annoying obligation. It's actually a very polite thing to do: Give each of your 350 guests a few seconds to hug you and wish you well before the blur of the reception begins for you and your new spouse. You'll also get to meet guests you may not yet know (maybe relatives from the other side of your new family). Yes, this will take a bit of time, but it's worth it. You won't regret it, and neither will your guests.
Now, I don't particularly agree with the above. I think if the wedding is immediately following your ceremony, especially at the same location, then let the festivities begin!! You'll have extra time to greet people during cocktail hour. But for us, we have 2 1/2 hours in between our ceremony and cocktail hour, so there is plenty of time to do this. Plus, there will still be time for our out of town guests to go back to the hotel and check in before getting picked up by the shuttle.
On one hand, I didn't want our guests to have to line up, wait in a long line, and then awkwardly say "hi" to people they, or we, don't even know (and there will be a lot of "first meetings" like this at our wedding) before leaving the church.
On the other hand...people have been doing receiving lines for centuries. Mainly, if I say "hi" to everyone during the receiving line, I won't feel as pressured to go around to every single person to say "hi" at the cocktail hour and reception, and that to me is a BIG plus and also why we are going to do the receiving line.
But now this leads me to my next question: Do we have our guests throw something at us as we leave the church? I really hadn't planned on doing that...but I don't want to lose out on a great photo opportunity.
Personal: This is my friend Christina - how great are these bubbles?
I researched possibilities and there are a lot of different "items to throw" ideas out there! I also found this interesting:
While tossing rice became most popular in America, many countrieshave their own traditions. In Morocco, figs, dates, and raisins are thrown to encourage a "fruitful" union. Italians traditionally shower the newlyweds with sweets and sugarcoated nuts. (The word "confetti" may derive from the root for the Italian word for "confectionery.") In Korea, the groom's father tosses red dates at his new daughter-in-law to bring fertility. In France, wheat greets the happy couple. Eggs represent new life in some European countries and are thrown at newlyweds. An old Irish tradition has the couple being pelted with pots and pans (ouch!) in honor of their new domestic life.
Eggs?? pots and pans?? figs and dates? This was very interesting, but not appealing to me in the least. I also read that the rice killing birds thing is an urban legend, and they actually won't die from eating thrown rice. I thought that was true!
As you can see...I'm getting down to actually having to make these little decisions which have been so easy to put off until now. So tell me, "Did/Are you do/doing a receiving line" Also, any ideas on great creative things to throw after the ceremony?
