Do you have this concern?

[Girls-best-friend]

Do you worry about the guest showing up late and thereby causing you to have empty seats in your wedding video/pictures? This is something I am concerned about. I am considering putting a false start time on the invite. Seems like most of the people I know are always late. Of course lateness is one of my pet peeves anyway. The only thing that I don''t like about putting a false start time on the invite is for those who are on time they will probably be unhappy. And having others feel like I am running late doesn''t appeal to me since I have such a good record of always being early. Of course it is the wedding day, don''t people usually make allowances for lateness? I supppose....I could always place the blame on HTB.

 

[MelissaSue]

First of all.. unless you are getting married in a VERY small venue or church there will undoubtedly be empty seats during your ceremony.. My church most likely won''t even be 1/4 full for my wedding.. and I haven''t been to a wedding with completely full seats unless it was a place where they set up exactly the amount of chairs for the # of guests..

I wouldn''t put a false start time on your invites.. I would plan on starting a couple minutes later.. but only 3-5 minutes.. If you put a fake time.. guests will arrive early and get REALLY antsy.. The wedding I was just in was scheduled to start at 1:30 and by 1:20 almost all of the guests were there. There were a few straglers.. but everyone was still seated prior to 1:30.. People know to get there early.. Even my chronically late fiance got to the wedding 15 minutes early! There is also the chance that YOU (or your limo, your flowers, your fiance etc) will be running late for the wedding.. which is yet another reason not to put an earleir start time. I was at a wedding where they didn''t allow enough time for the limo to go and pick up the groom and groomsmen so everything ran about 20 minutes late.. REALLY ANNOYING.

I think you should give your guests enough credit not to be late.. and plan on starting at the same time you put on the invites.. And if there are a few late comers.. its really NOT a big deal. If you see a bunch of people missing you can wait... but keep in mind that there will also always be people who say they are going to come who won[''t show up at all!

 

[heart prongs]

If anyone is going to be late, it''ll be the bride!!! I am a notoriously late person...sorry, can''t help it -- I do always get to work on time though! On my wedding day, I was so proud of myself for being ready early for the first time in my life. But, you know what...the ceremony still started 20 minutes later than it was supposed to because of photos, people lining up, etc...Guests will come in late, but only a few. Definitely don''t worry too much about it!!!

klr

 

[abradabra]

I''ve debated the whole false start time thing as well, saying the ceremony will begin at 2:30 instead of 3

0. I went to a wedding of one of my fiance''s friends, where about six or seven people arrived after the bride had already walked down the aisle--which I found incredibly rude.

To be honest with you, I don''t think it''s unreasonable to have wedding guests be bored while they are waiting for the ceremony to begin because you''re spending a lot of money to entertain them for the evening, they can entertain themselves for a few minutes.

That being said, I am having a wedding in a city where no guests live, so they wouldn''t have anything else to do. Perhaps you could put the true time on the invitation and when you give guests itineraries when they check in make it a little earlier? Or perhaps you could only vary the time by like 15 minutes or so.

 

[elepri]

I don''t care about the empty seats but I do care about people missing the wedding. We put 5pm on the invites but won''t start tll 5:30. I know it''s not very consderate of our punctual guests but no one in my family has ever shown up on time for anything so half an hour seems like a safe margin to me.

 

[Girls-best-friend]

Our wedding is going to be outdoor under a tent so we will be placing the amount of chairs to match the guest. Unfortunately most people I know don''t get anywhere on time. Drives me crazy. At my girlfriends wedding guest were showing up as the bridesmaids were coming down the aisle. Can you believe one person even tried to run down the aisle before the next girl started her walk. The usher had to grab her by the arm. Believe it or not she had an attitude about it too. She invited 150 people and when the ceremony started there were maybe 50 people there. The ushers didn''t even try and seat everyone together so they were spread out all over the church. Looked really tacky.

I think I will put a false start on the invite and maybe just let my reliable friends and family who are always on time know the real time. My other girlfriend did that for me. She started and hour past her invite time. Her church was full though every seat taken. I still got there half an hour early.

I am pretty sure I won''t be late on my wedding day. I am never late for anything. No matter how big the occasion. Of course that''s not to say one of the vendors won''t screw it up. At any rate I think its worse for a person to show up late to your wedding than for you to start late. I''ll probably supply water bottles for the guest just in case they get thirsty and its a hot day. I just know empty seats are gonna drive me crazy!

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Date: 4/21/2005 12:20:40 AM
Author: Girls-best-friend
Our wedding is going to be outdoor under a tent so we will be placing the amount of chairs to match the guest. Unfortunately most people I know don''t get anywhere on time. Drives me crazy. At my girlfriends wedding guest were showing up as the bridesmaids were coming down the aisle. Can you believe one person even tried to run down the aisle before the next girl started her walk.

Don''t mean to crash on your thread, but this is so true!!! On my wedding day, my new husband & I were walking back up the aisle during my processional and some of my invited coworkers were just showing up!! They missed the whole ceremony!!

 

[rfath]

And here I thought I was turning into a bride-zilla for doing the same thing...

I''m putting a ''start time'' of 6pm on the invites, but the ceremony won''t start until later. I know that people will end up late, but more important was working with our officiant, a rabbi who doesn''t mind performing a non-denominational service, but was a bit sad that she''d be working before sundown on the Sabbath. We''re working to accomodate her.

 

[Cath]

We had a "false start" on our invites -- 6pm when the actual ceremony started at 6:30. We were told it is done all the time. Guests who arrived early were treated to some pre-ceremony champagne, and we also had our musicians start playing classical music about 15 minutes before the actual ceremony to keep the guests entertained.

 

[CanadianGal]

One of my bestfriends had a false start time for their wedding too. They were also concerned about the punctual guests getting a bit ansy and bored, so, they made a powerpoint slideshow of some pictures, and short video clips. It started with them when they were babies , and depicted how they grew up , met , fell in love, their engagement, planning their wedding ... they were even able to somehow find the time to get some pictures in there from their rehersal, and rehersal dinner etc. This was played for about 20 mins before the ceremony with some soft music. They also had a few of their friends go around with a video camera before the wedding so people could wish the happy couple well ... something available before the cerermony and during the reception .. which they loved to watch after the wedding.