Receiving line or grand entrance?

My mum wanted a receiving line too, and I really wasn't keen, but our lovely wedding coordinator pointed out it would take around 40 minutes (about 120 guests) and so that made it easier for me to say no to my mum!

I didn't want people waiting in line, and being bored and the concept felt very stiff and formal to me. Plus didn't want to lose 40 minutes!

We made effort between courses to go up and say hello to people, mingle etc, so everyone was welcomed, etc.

One of the most magical moments of my wedding, and actually my life, was me and my hubby walking into the "Great Hall" of our venue, after the reception drinks, with everyone cheering and clapping and looking so happy. Our grand entrance - was so amazing, and we wouldn't have had that with a receiving line.

We are using our car adam's driving us too the reception venue, so we plan to park up somewhere for a little time on our own to let it all sink in and then we will probably just sneak in when everyone is busy having tea and eating cake. =]

I didn't even know what a receiving line was until I read this haha but enjoy the limelight if your brave enough and do a grand entrance!!

I hate reviving lines. They take so long to get through and there is a small part of me that worries about all of the germs!

we were announced into our room and like claire everyone stood and clapped and cheered. It was lovely.

We also circulated the room during the wedding breakfast and also between the afternoon and evening.

This. There are still people out there that don't wash their hands after the toilet. Freaks me out. My sister is pretty hardcore OCD and the first think she said when my mum suggested was it was ""eww think of all the germs, you'll need to take your anti-bac"

Mums always come up with suggestions you have to subtly bat away. Some were great, and some were the receiving line,and also her "brilliant" idea for my BMs to serve cake to everyone! Thought it was a ridiculous idea. Wanted my bms to let loose and have fun (get maybe a little squiffy) rather than worrying about serving 120 guests cake (when we had teams of waiters and waitresses doing this funky coordinated serving food thing)

That's precisely why I want a grand entrance. I just want to hear for the first time, Mrs S. We get to our reception venue at about 5:00pm with the buffet open at half 5 so there will be half hour for interacting then. Speeches and cake cutting at 6-6:30 with an evening buffet opening at 7:30 and disco at 8, that's a whole hour between cutting the cake and the evening buffet for us to greet everyone! My Mum keeps changing the timings of things or saying it won't matter if this doesn't happen at this time. To be honest I'm a little worried about her making her own schedule for the day! Think I'm going to type up what I plan to have & do, email it to her and let that be that!

MrsStobe13 xx

ha I love that I'm not the only one who thinks like this!

Think typing up a general plan and emailing her is a good thing, and let's your mum know who is in charge of the timings.

Thankfully our breakfast is a lot small than some here. We're having 40 for the whole day and 70 in the evening. A recieving line would still take about 20 minutes and we don't get to be declared as Mr & Mrs. Just spoke to H2B about it and he said it's all very showy but he'd prefer to be declared Mr & Mrs as it sort of makes it official that we've beaten the odds - soppy bugger!! lol

MrsStobe13 xx

Entering the room to a piece of carefully chosen music is great fun. My daughter gets married on Thursday and she will come bursting into the room to the 1812 overture. We can't have canons so all the guests will have a party popper to use at the point where there should be canon fire in the music.

It's not everyones cup of tea but it suits my daughters daft personality perfectly. The 1812 is special to her as she played 1st violin in an orchestra that performed it at a concert.

I've seen a lot of weddings that have had a receiving line...lengthy and traditional. On the other hand, entering to music raises the energy in the room and creates fun and interaction. My partners daughter entered to the Benny Hill tune!

We did the grand entrance, leave the receiving line for the Queen.

I loved my grand entrance- reciving line is way too stiff for my liking and I hate it and another one for all those breeding germs ? plus I loved talking to all my guests around the tables

Sort of thing I'd do!! Lol. H2B and I wanted to add lots of giggles because that's just who we are. We've had loads of formal overtones thrown at our wedding and it's quite quickly become a big formal hoo-ha (with my brother's friends being invited to the evening for the sakes of muscles with the clearing up, ? anyway!). i think for us it has to be The Contours. I know my Dad would love it! lol.

MrsStobe13 xx

It is so much fun! You won't regret it and its a good choice of tune.

I'll have to covince H2B.. Trying to get him to agree to me buying a bit of vinyl so we can practice our dance in the lounge! Here's hoping lol

MrsStobe13 xx

I hate receiving lines, they are so formal and awkward.

As Bill Haddon says, you can have both. My BiL did this. They lined up with their parents outside the door to the hall, and greeted everyone as we walked in. Then once everyone had found their seats, the parents came in, and then we were asked to "be upstanding for the bride and groom" and they came in. I think that's just as much a grand entrance as if you've been hovering around while everyone goes in.

We had a receiving line too, though ours was outside the chapel before we went in for the blessing service (we had a civil ceremony first and then the blessing was a short walk away). It was pretty fast-moving, certainly not the amount of time people have quoted above. It was lovely to be able to greet everyone so early in the day and hear their congratulations, and for our parents to be briefly introduced to our friends and each others' families.

As for the germs thing - surely you'll be speaking to/hugging/shaking hands with all your guests at some point during the day anyway? I'm not sure that there is a significantly increased risk of lurgy-spreading by putting all of those interactions close together.

So, in summary, although they're not popular on here, I think they can work quite nicely, and certainly don't mean you have to lose out on your "grand entrance," but if you don't want one, you don't have to do it.

I've been to weddings where they have had both as Bill described.

I'm not a fan of receiving lines, they are boring to queue up in most of the time.

We didn't have one, we were announced into the room. Mr C went round to each table in between courses to make sure everyone was spoken to (I wanted to go too but dress was too big to keep getting in and out of my chair, although our table was in the middle so I could speak to most around me anyway).

We've decided...Grand entrance it is! Can't stand boring and formal bits, plus as H2B pointed out I have nerve damage in my wrist. Shaking hands with 30-40 people could end me up with a very swollen hand! lol

MrsStobe13 xx