Guests Arriving After The Bride

When my car pulled up ten minutes late I saw my Mum angrily chivvying a couple of uni mates in who had been having a fag and then as I was walking up the path to the church with my Dad I heard a car screech up behind me and turned to see some work colleagues frantically getting out of a cab. I had to hide behind a handy Yew tree to allow them to get in before me. I was fuming but only because I didn't want anyone to see me before I got into the Church.

I know that a couple people then came in late during the ceremony but I only know because they told me afterwards, I didn't notice at all during the service as I was so engrossed in OH. When I spoke to them later they told me there were no traffic problems, they were just late. Rude!

The person i'm most worried about arriving after me is OH!! haha he is late to EVERYTHING but i think he knows life wouldn't be worth living if i was waiting for him on our wedding day haha ... as for guests i think il be a sneaky one and put an earlier start time on the invite...i can't stand lateness it's SO rude! if i was late for a wedding i would probably wait outside so as to not disturb the ceremony...although i would only be late due to matters out of my control e.g traffic etc x

This seems to happen at a lot of weddings. I am evil and always make a point of photographing the tardy guests, lol. I have even had tardy guests stop the bride as they squeeze past her in the doorway of the church to take her photo! I have seen far more than I wish I had, lol. Don't worry about the tardy guests tho, just enjoy th day, all that matters is you are marrying the man you love.

A note about suggesting guests arrive 15 minutes before, you may have to meet with the registrars before the ceremony, and often my brides have had to be there 15 minutes before the ceremony time, so keep that in mind too.

As someone who is early for everything and cannot bear being late, I'm not sure this would do down well with me at all!

I'm sure I wouldn't notice, but (unless of course, there is an accident or similar) I just don't get it.

Saying that, at least some of our guests will have to use the M25 on our wedding day. It already gives me the willies!

Ditto this! But then again if you know you have to use a busy stretch of road you would allow extra contingency time, no?

It seems that *we* all would but there appears to be a significant elephant of the wider world who don't think about these things from the stories on this thread!

? this really tickled me in a super childish way!

I've just remembered what happened at our other friend's wedding. The groom's best man is known for always being late for everything but we gave him the benefit of the doubt and said that he wouldn't be late for his best friends wedding!!

Cue 10 mins before the ceremony starting and my friend is asked if he would be the best man as K hadn't turned up yet!!

K and his girlfiend and 2 others swanned in about 20 minutes late, after the ceremony had been conducted!! I was so annoyed for the bride and groom. They tried to blame it on the friends, who were driving saying that they couldn't find the car. But it turned out that they woke up late, then K wanted to get a different tie and his GF wanted to get some breakfast so they made the friends wait!!

It was so rude and when we found out what actually happened we couldn't believe it! My BM let rip at him and told him exactly what she thought about the whole thing!!

We put that guests need to be seated by 1:45 (ceremony starts at 2) so I hope people will be there in plenty of time. However, I have some family from Ireland who just don't think there are time limits on anything and OHs mum is late to everything! We've told her she has to be there by 1:30 to start greeting guests as then she will be there by 1:50.

This is a large part of the reason why we decided to provide transport for everybody ? I can't stand lateness; fair enough if there genuinely is an unavoidable event like a crash, but I think we all know some people who are perpetually late and it can't ALWAYS be because there's been a car crash!

As it happened there was less traffic than we thought so my dad and I 'hid' by parking near the entrance so we could see people come in but they couldn't see us. I had my usherette text me when both coaches had arrived and I then sent her a message to send out the BMs so we could go in together.

At my first wedding one of my mates (a man) turned up 20 mins late AND in jeans AND a jumper with a stain on the front.

I still give him grief about it to this day!

Partner and I are having our wedding at a registry office, He has to arrive 30 minutes before and me 15 minutes before. We have to fill in a pack and give numbers as well. I'm probably going to be evil though and state that if anyone turns up lae, they are not to be allowed in. Its my day and its about me and partner, if their late they can wait outside.

This is a valid point as often time keeping can be a cultural thing. One thing though to keep in mind is that if your wedding runs late for any reason, there can be consequencies. Often churches have other weddings after yours.....registrars have to shoot off to other wedding venues....Although not frequent, I have seen weddings delayed significantly by other weddings running late. One vicar told the couple to return after the following two weddings so that they could sign the register......at a civil ceremony(Luton) the ceremony was delayed by over an hour due to previous weddings having run late.....

I am never late to anything - I can't stand not being punctual!!! The one person who H2B and I know has the huge potential to be late..Its his best man, my FBIL. He is late to EVERYTHING. We've already told him that our ceremony starts an hour earlier than it actually does. He'll also be staying with H2B the night before the wedding (I'll be at my parents' house) so it'll be up to H2B to kick him up the arse! He'll have no choice but to be ready on time as he will have to leave with H2B!

My bestie, I and our OHs had to travel from Peterborough to Cambridge for our other bestie's wedding. We allowed 1hr for travel (for a normally 30-45 mins journey) to get there half hour early. There was an accident on the road, it was gridlocked, the bride was on time and we got there just as she was waiting outside.

Sometimes it's no fault of the guests...

.

I would ban them from the bar too....just to "punish" them for being late to your ceremony?

I get paranoid at times and worry that this will happen so I gave my maid of honour a job. She has a list with all the guests so she will send me a txt when everyone is there and then I will turn up. The bridal car will keep taking me round in circles until my CBM confirms the numbers! lol Seriously.

.

Seeing as we've got 6 guests and all but one are arriving together, they all enter be there by the time I get there or I won't be happy!! Just my MOH is a bad time keeper so I've told her I'm arriving 15 minutes earlier and she has to be there before me.

S x

Cambridge is obviously bad for this! My friend got married there recently, and OH and I travelled separately as I had to work in the morning. I got the train and was there in plenty of time, but OH was driving and had my clothes with him. It should be ~1hr 15 mins to drive, and he allowed well over 2 hours, but got stuck in an accident and only just made it about 15 mins before the ceremony started. I managed to change and run to the ceremony just in time, but he had to iron a shirt and couldn't do it. He saw the bride arriving so didn't go into the ceremony, but in hindsight he could easily have snuck in at the back during one of the hymns.

At our wedding, there was a major train delay on the line from London so a few of our guests arrived while I was meeting the registrar outside, but I honestly didn't care. OH was more bothered by his aunt and uncle who arrived 2 hours early and wanted to chat to him while he was running around trying to sort out last minute stuff!