Weddings By Sandy

Have you ever wondered if you should have a receiving line after your ceremony? Well let’s run through the pros and cons.   How long will this take?  What if the weather isn’t so great…will your guests be inside or outside while they are waiting in line? What about those that have physical disabilities and can’t stand in line?  Which members of the wedding party should be in the receiving line?  Where and when the receiving line should start?

Well let’s run through the pros and cons. First of all you’ve just finished your ceremony, you are excited, and relieved that it is over and maybe you want a few minutes alone with each other…but wait you have a receiving line to get into. If you have just a few guests maybe it will take 15 minutes, but what if you have invited 100, 150 or more guests, you may be there an hour or more! Shaking hands, getting hugs and kisses (where is the antibacterial gel? Swine flu!). Can’t you do this after dinner? You could be getting photos done while your guests are getting refreshments. If you take the time following dinner then you can speak to each guest and spend a little bit more time with them, than in a receiving line. If you meet and greet each person after dinner, then you may not have as much time to dance and have fun…so what should you do?  So many couples complain that the day just becomes a blur and hardly remember anything about their day because most of it was spent making the rounds greeting guests!

For practical purposes, it’s good advice to limit the number of people in your receiving line. You will want to greet each guest and have your guests move quickly through the line (guests dislike standing in a slow moving receiving line) and avoid any delays to your reception getting under way.   So, who should be in the receiving line? 

A receiving line can be as long or short as you like and at its minimum include the bride, the groom and the hosts of the day. To speed things along, it is practical advice to just include those members of your bridal party who need to participate in the receiving line.  It is not unusual for only one set of parents to stand in the receiving line and the other set to mingle through the crowd of guests meeting and greeting them.  The Maid of Honor and Bridesmaids generally participate, but the Groomsmen and ushers do not. Only children of the bridal couple participate in the receiving line other children who may have participated in the ceremony do not.

Your receiving line is a guarantee that you will meet and greet each individual guest, so where is the best place to have the receiving line?  Choosing the site for the receiving line is important.  You are going to be standing there for at least 15 minutes maybe more.  Choose a space that is not going to feel crowded such as in a hall way, sidewalk, under a grove of trees or on the dance floor.  Where ever you choose to stand, make it comfortable and easy for your guests to walk by on their way to the reception. Also make sure there is plenty of ventilation so the bride doesn’t get overheated and so sweat isn’t pouring off the brow of the groom.  You might also want to consider when to hold the receiving line, immediately following the ceremony or just prior to the start of the wedding reception. 

Whatever you decide to do, make sure your line moves quickly so you don’t waste a moment of your special day.  The goal is to have fun! 

Check out this article sent to my by the fabulous folks over at MissNowMrs.com

Definately worth the read….

I do I Do’s!
410-340-3224
e-mail:info@WeddingsbySandy.com
Give Yourself the Gift of Wedding Day Peace of Mind.

MissNowMrs.com
Navigating the Name-Change Process

Are you changing to your new married name? As the name-change process can be seemingly undefined, we, at MissNowMrs.com have made all efforts to simplify this process and make it more enjoyable for you!
MissNowMrs.com was created to save you the hours of time typically spent on research and form completion. We are here to assist you in changing to your married name, answer questions, provide you with your options, and most of all allow you to focus on the fun of being a newlywed! Have questions? Call us at: 800.301.9296.
Here is how it works:
After your wedding you will want to request at least one additional copy of your certified marriage certificate to use during the name-change process. Some state and U.S. Government offices need a certified marriage certificate as legal proof of your marriage before they can process your name-change request. Other offices will accept a photo copy of your marriage certificate.
When you are ready to get started, you are welcome to register for an account with us at: www.MissNowMrs.com where you will have six months access to your account through your email and password. We will ask you a series of questions online, which generally takes about 25 minutes. Keep in mind, you may log out of your account at any time return to pick up where you left off. Once you have finished, you may print off all of your auto-completed forms. Along with each state and U.S. Government form, we provide you with detailed filing instructions and the mailing addresses for each one, specific to your location. Once you have submitted your name-change forms, each office takes about two weeks to up-date their records and they will return your documents to you with your new married name! We look forward to assisting you go from Miss…Now…Mrs!
Congratulations on your marriage! www.MissNowMrs.com

Provided by Reverend Sandy
Weddings by Sandy
410-340-3224
e-mail: info@WeddingsbySandy.com

 I often get asked what is an officiant and what exactly do they do? Officiants, primarily officiate weddings, funerals and other ceremonies; meaning they say the words that unite a couple in marriage or sends an individual to their final resting place. Many Officiants work part-time, very few work full time.   

Most of what an officiant does is behind the scenes, the 10-30 minutes they spend talking in front of an audience is just the finished product of all of the background work that can take an average of 10 hours of work per ceremony.  This can and does include consultations, scheduling appointments, dealing with no-shows of couples and families who are often busy, forget or who are late due to illness or grief; fielding inquiry emails and phone calls to check availability.  Writing the ceremonies can sometimes can take months of work including facilitating couples to write multiple drafts, proof-reads, approvals, updates, modifications, last minute changes, re-approvals, special rituals, writing vows and reading choices for weddings and other special ceremonies.  Conducting research for particular non-traditional ceremonies; knowing where to look and of course obtaining the education and experience related to finding the right information.  Ceremony practice time, both privately and at the rehearsal for the wedding.  Travel time to and from the rehearsal and ceremony, waiting and interacting with other vendors before and after the rehearsal and ceremony. Following ceremonies, actions such as signing legal documents like the marriage license and certificates for a variety of ceremonies are also part of the job. Managing the business of officiating, such as advertizing, bridal shows, networking and other things associated with running a business.  Filing the legal documents collected from the ceremonies with the appropriate county office either through mailing or delivery.  Financial management such as collecting deposits, fees and payments due; paying legal and fees for insurance.      

Conducting a ceremony requires an officiant to reads the words uniting the couple in marriage; stands the entire time during the ceremony; reassures the nervous bride and groom that everything will be FINE; conducts last-minute free marriage counseling; communicates needs and wants between the couple, DJ, and photographer; greets people as they arrive for the wedding; answers questions about “What church do you preach at?”; pins on corsages and ties men’s ties when they have no clue how to do it; carries any and all items that may be needed by the bride/groom such as tissue, aspirin, bug spray, safety pins, stain remover and lots of other items; acts as child psychologist for reluctant or shy children in wedding party; says “no problem” when the groom forgets the wedding rings and I have to think of an excuse to delay the ceremony for ten minutes without the bride finding out exactly why; ad-libs as children decide they don’t want to do what the bride/groom wanted them to do; ad-libs as the weather decides not to cooperate; uses her “big voice” when the audio equipment does not cooperate; gets to see the love and joy on the bride and groom’s faces as they repeat their vows to each other; gets to say, “I pronounce you husband and wife”; gets hugs from bride and groom before I have to leave.  Finally, the personal sacrifices–time lost with significant others on the weekends.  Typically officiate work is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

The most important part:

Your Officiate is a consummate professional without which there would be no marriage.
It is the least expensive cost in a typical wedding, yet the only required part.
You can have a wedding without flowers, DJ, expensive dresses and fancy food.  You can’t have a legal marriage without an Officiate, Minister, Priest or going to the court house.