What Wedding Guests Actually Care About?

One of the most common pieces of advice given to engaged couples is that their wedding day should be "all about them." Yes, generally speaking, that is the case. This is your big day, therefore you should take your time making decisions so that you can feel confident in them. You should remember your visitors while making your checklist of necessities; many of them will travel long distances, arrange for child care, take time off work, and shell out a lot of cash just to be there.

While most wedding guests may not focus on the minor particulars, there are a few things that they will appreciate. Here are a few easy tips for throwing the wedding of your dreams without having to compromise on the comfort of your guests.

While the vast majority of your invitees probably won't pick up on the countless minute details you slaved over, there are a few that will be sincerely appreciated.

What Wedding Guests Care About?

Timing

If you want to have a reception in the evening, having your ceremony earlier in the day could create a long gap. If you can only have a morning ceremony, you might have a brunch reception in the afternoon. To keep your out-of-town guests occupied during the afternoon, you could, for example, arrange for a city tour or hospitality suite. If guests think there is too much time between the ceremony and the reception, they may decide to skip the ceremony altogether.

In every aspect of life, timing is crucial. When possible, try to eliminate any downtime that can cause your guests to feel bored and restless. Keep things to a minimum by capping the ceremony at one hour (unless it's a religious ceremony that necessitates more time), keeping the toasts at the reception short, keeping the first dance song to just one verse and chorus, and starting the cocktail hour right after the ceremony.

Timeliness is important to guests. There will be fewer smiles and more frowns if you start your wedding later than planned or if you list an earlier start time than intended to prevent late arrivals. The morning of the wedding, make sure you leave plenty of time for hair and makeup, pictures, and travel by setting an alarm an hour earlier than usual.

Registry

Many of the engaged couples we know are dreading the task of creating a wedding register. It's possible that they're combining households and hence have less furnishings needs. The fact is, most wedding guests would prefer an online registry where they can easily purchase a gift they know the couple would love. This way, they know you'll like the gift and they don't have to lug it across the country to your wedding.

Choosing a variety of things from a registry is another popular request. Guests will appreciate having a wide range of options, so include both larger, more expensive gifts and several smaller, more economical items.

When & Where

Whether they're coming from across town or across the nation, your guests will want as much advance notice as possible so that they can schedule time off, book flights, and make other arrangements (such as for childcare) as necessary. Weddings on Fridays and Sundays are rapidly overtaking those on Saturdays, and some couples even choose to have their nuptials throughout the week, so giving guests plenty of advanced notice can help ensure everyone can make it.

The location of the venue (or venues) is of interest to guests because they may need to rent a car in addition to spending the night in a hotel. Booking blocks of rooms at many hotels can provide your customers more flexibility in their accommodation budgets.

Choose a location that is conducive to the comfort of your guests. Don't hold an outdoor wedding in the middle of winter, to provide just one example. And if it's going to be an outdoor event, make sure there's a place for people to go in case of sudden downpours or gusts of wind. Make sure everyone knows ahead of time if they'll be inside a building that doesn't have heating (like a barn) so they can dress warmly. Notify guests if the ceremony will be held on the beach to prevent women from wearing stilettos.

Make sure everyone knows if the ceremony will take place inside, on a beach, or on a large, rural property. For their convenience, it is helpful to know what sort of footwear and clothing is appropriate, as well as the level of difficulty involved in gaining entry. Weddings at Melbourne's Vogue Ballroom are nothing short of enchanted.

Parking and Transportation

If there's any chance that your guests might get stuck in the hotel, the ceremony, or the reception location, don't do it. If you can afford it, make sure your guests have access to reliable modes of transportation, such as an all-night Uber code, taxi referrals, or a shuttle service connecting major venues. Serving alcoholic beverages increases the need for reliable transportation.

Visitors typically comment most frequently about parking and getting around. They may wonder if they can use a ridesharing service like Uber or Lyft to and from the event, or if they need to hire a car. The best present you can give your loved ones is safe, sober transportation home after a night on the town.

Cocktail Hour

The cocktail hour also requires precise timing. For most attendees, an event that lasts for two hours is a waste of their time. If you want to avoid having your wedding images spiral out of control, it's important to have realistic expectations with the photographer. For one thing, guests get bored waiting around for seats, and for another, the food that was only supposed to last an hour generally runs out, leaving everyone hungry and drunk.

An Open Bar

You should prioritise stopping by the bar as much as possible. Be sure you have a wide selection of both alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks available, and stock up accordingly. When in doubt, it's better to have more than less. The most common complaint heard from wedding guests is about the cash bar, so if it's in your budget to do so, try making it an open bar instead.

Seating Charts

Wedding reception seating charts are, surprisingly, crucial. Although it is not required to assign specific seats to each guest, it is helpful to let them know which table they will be sitting at. This will enable attendees who are attending the party alone or who don't know many people feel less out of place. If you're inviting someone who doesn't know many of your other friends or family members, let them bring a plus-one if they want to. Your loved one will appreciate the choice, and you will feel better knowing they won't have to host two unhappy guests.

Wedding receptions with open seating are becoming more common, much to the chagrin of the guests who attend them. Place cards aren't required, but escort cards or seating maps that direct guests to a certain table can help them feel more at ease. When guests are allowed to sit wherever they like, those closest to you may end up sitting far apart from everyone else. In this case, you may take our word for it: it's not a good plan.

A Short Ceremony and Speeches

The point of providing entertainment is to ensure that no one has a dull moment. That's why you should try to keep the evening from getting boring at any point. Your guests are there to see your vows and perhaps hear a few heartfelt speeches, but neither should take up too much of their time. Keep things brief and simple for the sake of your guests.

Entertainment

Few of your guests will recall the specifics of your wedding's decorations and layout, but they will remember how much fun they had. You will not go forgotten if you put in the time and effort required to choose a fantastic DJ or band. The full dance floor and the unwillingness to call it a night will be talked about for years to come.

Food & Drink

The timing of most wedding receptions suggests that guests will be served food. One of the greatest guest gripes is the lack of investment in cocktail hour meals. In most cases, there won't be much time to have lunch before the cocktail hour because of travel, getting ready, and getting to the wedding. Melbourne Wedding Caterers: What to Look for. Stop your search right here, since Vogue Ballroom offers what you need.

One of the most crucial aspects of organising a wedding is ensuring that guests are well fed at the reception. Bad food is the surest way to ruin a celebration. Your guests should be pleased with the cuisine you offer them; this does not mean you need to hire a five-star chef. Never leave your visitors hungry, especially if the drinks are flowing freely, and provide plenty of food during the event.

Guests are still wary about the alcohol service, even though most weddings have switched to open bars rather than cash bars. Because so few people nowadays keep cash on them, it's important to let guests know how far the next ATM is in case they need to withdraw money.

A Variety of Music

Your wedding guests will be staying up late, so make sure they have plenty to keep them entertained. The success of a party depends on the quality of the music played. If you play a variety of old and new, slow and rapid tunes, you can guarantee a pleasant time for all. Keep in mind that people need to be able to talk to each other, so keep the volume at a manageable level. It could also be a good idea to hire some extra acts to perform during the reception. One example is a flower crown creation station, another is a cigar bar, and still another is a magician. Those who don't want to dance can nonetheless enjoy themselves.

The Newlyweds

People go long distances to celebrate your marriage with you. They understand that you have many demands on your time. Amazingly, seeing the happy couple there, smiling, and enjoying themselves ranks high on the list of what guests desire most from a wedding.

What Wedding Guests Don’t Care About?

The First Dance

Think about this. You've had a few beers and are now having a great time at the photo booth or catching up with an old friend at the bar while wearing a wig. Do you have five minutes to stop what you're doing, gather with a group, stand awkwardly close together while listening to a slow music and watching two people move around? It was a leading enquiry, to be sure, but it wasn't completely off base. If you want to wow your guests (you might not, and that's fine), pick an enthusiastic song, "introduce" the dance floor for 30 seconds (or long enough to take a few shots), and get the jiving started off on the right foot.

The Cake

For all the weddings you've been to, can you name more than three cakes? Not to mention how they seemed, let alone how they tasted. We both sincerely apologise for not being able to recall the last time we ate a piece of wedding cake, which may have been due to the fact that we didn't get any or that we were already six drinks into the reception. We adore a good Insta-worthy wedding cake as much as the next person, but the reality is that these works of art are rarely appreciated on the actual day they are served.

And a lot of effort and resources are invested in those spongy, towering animals. We won't even begin to discuss the custom of shoving everyone into a room and yelling "shh" over and over again while you carefully cut a cake. A cheap and entertaining option? Have all the bakers on your guest list contribute something (they won't bring anything half-hearted if they know those bad guys will be exhibited) and arrange it on a cute table.

The Cake Cutting

Guests don't want to come over for the cake cutting like pulling teeth. There's no doubt that this is a touching moment for the happy couple, but at this point, your guests are eager to get the party started so they can dig into the cake when they grow hungry later on. In search of the most delicious Wedding Cake in Melbourne? Stop looking, since you've found the right place in Vogue Ballroom.

Wedding Favour

Big-ticket, out-of-date things include matchbook novels, bookmarks, koozies, and terrible-tasting sweets shaped like bridal gowns. These days, guests at weddings couldn't care less.

Flowers and Décor

The cynicism in us is starting to show, isn't it? However, keep in mind that this is for your guests. Do we think that the time and effort spent creating a magnificent bouquet and carefully placing a variety of distinctive touches throughout the venue will result in a pleasant visual and aromatic experience and stunning photographic souvenirs? Yes! But we doubt that your visitors will recall the hundreds of paper balls you strung up or the thousands of dollars you spent on spray painting flowers blue. Likely not. Certainly, design a themed event that serves as a showcase for your location, but don't worry about the details.

The Dress

For us, the most enjoyable part of planning a wedding is looking through bridal gown photographs and picking out the perfect dress for the bride. The focus here should be on the guests, all of whom will agree that the bride looks beautiful in any dress. While a beautiful wedding gown can certainly make an impression, the level of revelry at the reception is not typically dependent on the bride's choice of attire.

Photos

It's a well-known fact that the vast majority of humans dislike being photographed. If you want everyone at your wedding to have a good time, it's best to avoid a situation where large groups of people have to be herded in for posed photos with the bride and groom. Both being photographed in front of an audience and watching from the sidelines while waiting to be called up yourself are not particularly enjoyable experiences.

There's obviously a status factor at play here, as indicated by who is and isn't solicited for photos. If you insist on having staged photos taken, do your best to get them done quickly while keeping the guests entertained and well hydrated. The best wedding photos are candid and unposed, but one of the most common complaints we hear from newlyweds is that they wasted too much time standing about shooting shots.

Those extras that are nice to have at a wedding (if you have the time and money for them) but not essential.

Things like elaborate stationery, elaborate ceremony programmes, and towering centre pieces are details you care about but that your guests may not notice. Keep this in mind if you're having problems economising, figuring out where to make lavish purchases, or figuring out which details to prioritise. Your wedding guests are primarily interested in the few points listed above.

Conclusion:

There are a few easy tips for throwing the wedding of your dreams without having to compromise on the comfort of your guests. Give as much advance notice as possible so that they can schedule time off, book flights, and make other arrangements (such as for childcare) as necessary. Notify guests if the ceremony will be held on the beach to prevent women from wearing stilettos. It is important to know what sort of footwear and clothing is appropriate, as well as the level of difficulty involved in gaining entry. When possible, try to eliminate any downtime that can cause your guests to feel bored and restless.

Make sure you leave plenty of time for hair and makeup, pictures, and travel by setting an alarm an hour earlier than usual. An all-night Uber code, taxi referrals, or a shuttle service connecting major venues could help guests get around after a night out. One of the greatest guest gripes is the lack of investment in cocktail hour meals. Never leave your visitors hungry, especially if the drinks are flowing freely, and provide plenty of food during the event. Wedding receptions with open seating are becoming more common, much to the chagrin of guests who attend them.

If you're inviting someone who doesn't know many of your other friends or family members, let them bring a plus-one if they want to. Place cards aren't required, but escort cards or seating maps that direct guests to a certain table can help them feel more at ease. If you play a variety of old and new, slow and rapid tunes, you can guarantee a pleasant time for all at your wedding reception. It could also be a good idea to hire some extra acts to perform during the reception, such as a flower crown creation station or cigar bar. A cheap and entertaining option?

Have all the bakers on your guest list contribute something (they won't bring anything half-hearted if they know those bad guys will be exhibited). If you're looking for the most delicious Wedding Cake in Melbourne, stop looking, since you've found the right place in Vogue Ballroom. Big-ticket, out-of-date things include matchbook novels, bookmarks, koozies, and terrible-tasting sweets shaped like bridal gowns. The focus here should be on the guests, all of whom will agree that the bride looks beautiful in any dress.

Content Summary: 

• This is your big day, therefore you should take your time making decisions so that you can feel confident in them.
• While most wedding guests may not focus on the minor particulars, there are a few things that they will appreciate.
• Here are a few easy tips for throwing the wedding of your dreams without having to compromise on the comfort of your guests.
• While the vast majority of your invitees probably won't pick up on the countless minute details you slaved over, there are a few that will be sincerely appreciated.
• When & Where Whether they're coming from across town or across the nation, your guests will want as much advance notice as possible so that they can schedule time off, book flights, and make other arrangements (such as for childcare) as necessary.
• Choose a location that is conducive to the comfort of your guests.
• Don't hold an outdoor wedding in the middle of winter, to provide just one example.
• Notify guests if the ceremony will be held on the beach to prevent women from wearing stilettos.
• For their convenience, it is helpful to know what sort of footwear and clothing is appropriate, as well as the level of difficulty involved in gaining entry.
• Many of the engaged couples we know are dreading the task of creating a wedding register.
• The fact is, most wedding guests would prefer an online registry where they can easily purchase a gift they know the couple would love.
• This way, they know you'll like the gift and they don't have to lug it across the country to your wedding.
• Choosing a variety of things from a registry is another popular request.
• Timing If you want to have a reception in the evening, having your ceremony earlier in the day could create a long gap.
• If you can only have a morning ceremony, you might have a brunch reception in the afternoon.
• If guests think there is too much time between the ceremony and the reception, they may decide to skip the ceremony altogether.
• In every aspect of life, timing is crucial.
• When possible, try to eliminate any downtime that can cause your guests to feel bored and restless.
• Timeliness is important to guests.
• There will be fewer smiles and more frowns if you start your wedding later than planned or if you list an earlier start time than intended to prevent late arrivals.
• The morning of the wedding, make sure you leave plenty of time for hair and makeup, pictures, and travel by setting an alarm an hour earlier than usual.
• If there's any chance that your guests might get stuck in the hotel, the ceremony, or the reception location, don't do it.
• If you can afford it, make sure your guests have access to reliable modes of transportation, such as an all-night Uber code, taxi referrals, or a shuttle service connecting major venues.
• Serving alcoholic beverages increases the need for reliable transportation.
• They may wonder if they can use a ridesharing service like Uber or Lyft to and from the event, or if they need to hire a car.
• Cocktail HourThe cocktail hour also requires precise timing.
• For most attendees, an event that lasts for two hours is a waste of their time.
• If you want to avoid having your wedding images spiral out of control, it's important to have realistic expectations with the photographer.
• The timing of most wedding receptions suggests that guests will be served food.
• One of the greatest guest gripes is the lack of investment in cocktail hour meals.
• In most cases, there won't be much time to have lunch before the cocktail hour because of travel, getting ready, and getting to the wedding.
• One of the most crucial aspects of organising a wedding is ensuring that guests are well fed at the reception.
• Never leave your visitors hungry, especially if the drinks are flowing freely, and provide plenty of food during the event.
• Guests are still wary about the alcohol service, even though most weddings have switched to open bars rather than cash bars.
• When in doubt, it's better to have more than less.
• The most common complaint heard from wedding guests is about the cash bar, so if it's in your budget to do so, try making it an open bar instead.
• Wedding reception seating charts are, surprisingly, crucial.
• Although it is not required to assign specific seats to each guest, it is helpful to let them know which table they will be sitting at.
• This will enable attendees who are attending the party alone or who don't know many people feel less out of place.
• Wedding receptions with open seating are becoming more common, much to the chagrin of the guests who attend them.
• Place cards aren't required, but escort cards or seating maps that direct guests to a certain table can help them feel more at ease.
• The point of providing entertainment is to ensure that no one has a dull moment.
• Your guests are there to see your vows and perhaps hear a few heartfelt speeches, but neither should take up too much of their time.
• Keep things brief and simple for the sake of your guests.
• Few of your guests will recall the specifics of your wedding's decorations and layout, but they will remember how much fun they had.
• You will not go forgotten if you put in the time and effort required to choose a fantastic DJ or band.
• Your wedding guests will be staying up late, so make sure they have plenty to keep them entertained.
• If you play a variety of old and new, slow and rapid tunes, you can guarantee a pleasant time for all.
• Keep in mind that people need to be able to talk to each other, so keep the volume at a manageable level.
• It could also be a good idea to hire some extra acts to perform during the reception.
• Those who don't want to dance can nonetheless enjoy themselves.
• People go long distances to celebrate your marriage with you.
• They understand that you have many demands on your time.
• Amazingly, seeing the happy couple there, smiling, and enjoying themselves ranks high on the list of what guests desire most from a wedding.
• The cake For all the weddings you've been to, can you name more than three cakes?
• We adore a good Insta-worthy wedding cake as much as the next person, but the reality is that these works of art are rarely appreciated on the actual day they are served.
• We won't even begin to discuss the custom of shoving everyone into a room and yelling "shh" over and over again while you carefully cut a cake.
• Have all the bakers on your guest list contribute something (they won't bring anything half-hearted if they know those bad guys will be exhibited) and arrange it on a cute table.
• Guests don't want to come over for the cake cutting like pulling teeth.
• There's no doubt that this is a touching moment for the happy couple, but at this point, your guests are eager to get the party started so they can dig into the cake when they grow hungry later on.
• For us, the most enjoyable part of planning a wedding is looking through bridal gown photographs and picking out the perfect dress for the bride.
• The focus here should be on the guests, all of whom will agree that the bride looks beautiful in any dress.
• While a beautiful wedding gown can certainly make an impression, the level of revelry at the reception is not typically dependent on the bride's choice of attire.
• The cynicism in us is starting to show, isn't it?
• However, keep in mind that this is for your guests.
• Certainly, design a themed event that serves as a showcase for your location, but don't worry about the details.