After shooting weddings for the past 5 years, I’ve seen my fair share of nuptials and the wedding guests that come along with them. For today’s Wedding Wednesday post, I’m going to give y’all a little insight on all the different wedding guests I’ve seen and loved over the years and a little bit of advice to keep in mind while planning your own wedding guest list.
Also, my friends over at The Black Tux sent me this more than AMAZING Wedding Guest Style Guide that your guests can use when planning on their outfit for your Big Day! (…and hey! I won’t tell if you use the guide as a ‘cheat sheet’ either when planning for your own outfits at the weddings you’ll be attending while you wait to become a Mrs!) By the way, The Black Tux is a great resource for all you planning Brides-to-be out there (& lots of man-candy to look at! Woo!) Instead of having to go into your local tux rental shop and sit for what seems like HOURS with your Groom as he gets fitted, you can shop for his tux online, rent it from there, and have it shipped right to your door. WHAT? Where was this when we got married! Would’ve saved us loads of time (& less boredom!)
When it comes to your guests, I’m a mix between a cruise ship photog & a NINJA When I’m behind the camera, I capture guest portraits in all sorts of ways. Back when I first started shooting, I used to go up to the wedding guests while they were seated and ask to take their picture while seated as a group. While I loved this because I could capture a large number of your guests using only a couple of frames, I felt more like an annoying cruise ship photographer going around to snap pictures of everyone at dinner. Now I shoot guests with a more candid (read Ninja-like) approach. I frame a group of guests in my camera and then I click the shutter. I feel as if Brides would much rather have images of their guests laughing with each other while at cocktail hour than a really posed image of guests leaning in with a gigantic centerpiece blocking dear old Uncle Ted. The only thing I’m not good at is trying to act natural when guests have “caught” me taking Ninja-like photos of them. They’ll look at me and I’ll just have that deer in headlights look and awkwardly walk away. Hehe! 
There will ALWAYS be THAT ONE GUY Sad, but true. There will always be that one guy or that one family who shows up late during your ceremony. They’ll walk in during the welcome or the first prayer and make all kinds of rustle when trying to find their seat (preferably in the middle seat of the row!) Don’t even get me started on the late comers when the ceremony takes place in a very echo prone church sanctuary. Bottom line, it’s distracting. So save your perpetually late guest the embarrassment and DON’T start on time. Yes, I know. It sounds crazy, but don’t plan on starting your 4:00 ceremony time right at 4:00. Invitation times and actual ceremony start times should have at least a 5-10 minute “buffer” built in. So when your invitation lists 4:00 for your ceremony start time, really know that you’ll really be walking down the aisle by 4:10. This will give your late guests a chance to find their seats without causing a disruption AND it’ll keep the aisle free & clear for you to take your walk towards your soulmate! Trust me, I’ve seen a Bride’s aisle walk that was shared with a late arriving guest, and it wasn’t fun photoshopping the guest out of the images while the Bride and her father were walking down the aisle! 
Make your guest list early & keep it ORGANIZED You don’t have to invite EVERYONE to your wedding, because trust me, when it comes time for that final head count to give to your caterer…the bill will add up! (We ended up having to pay $2000 EXTRA the week of our wedding day JUST to our caterer because our guest count was through the roof!) Make your guest list in the early stages of your wedding planning so you can keep track of budgeting and know exactly how many guests to expect on wedding day. A good rule of thumb, if you invite 100 guests, plan on anywhere from 20-30 not being able to make it! Also, keep a master guest list that will include spots for the guest’s name, address, if they’re invited to a shower or not, and a slot for a gift if they brought one. That way you can keep everything right there within the list all in one place…don’t worry, you’ll thank me when it’s time to write your guest ‘Thank You’ cards. 
Don’t be fooled by your RSVP list either This one is a doozy. YES, you sent out RSVP cards along with your invitation. YES, they checked the YES box saying that they will GLADLY be there, and YES, they’ll be bringing along their 4 kids as well. But on wedding day, when you DON’T see them & they’re NO where to be found, you’ll know that their RSVP card got you good. For everyone who RSVP’s YES, plan on guests not showing up even after they’ve RSVPd. But things do come up and people will get sick or something will happen that will keep your RSVP’d YES guest away from your wedding day. But have no fear, even your RSVP’d NO guests might show up, or even guests who didn’t RSVP at all!
Give your guests the power to POST! Giving your guests the ability to post about your wedding day gives your guests something to do while waiting for their table number to be called for the buffet. It makes your guests feel apart of your wedding day and makes them feel extra special when you’ve posted one of their pictures they took as your Facebook Profile pic (while you wait for your wedding day sneak peek from me, of course!…but trust me, seeing my images as profile pics for my #EmmaLooBrides makes me SO HAPPY!) Make sure to think of a cute & creative wedding day hashtag for your guests to follow, post to, and trend throughout the night. Also, use the hashtag for all things wedding related, like when y’all apply for your marriage certificate, or when you finally book the flights for your honeymoon. Giving your guests insight on your entire engagement, not just the wedding day will give your guests a little bit of insight into your relationship! We chose #Headed2Hinson for our wedding hashtag, and I’m not going to lie…I LOVE going back within the hashtag from time to time to relive our wedding day through our guests eyes. They captured things that I didn’t even notice and they made me feel so special when I got to watch a video of Phillip and I running through our trail of sparklers. Giving your guests the opportunity to capture your wedding day through their eyes is SO much fun! Let your guests know of the hashtag either on a chalkboard somewhere at the entrance of the ceremony or reception, on the ceremony program, or within the invitation suite. (Now, more on hashtags later AND I’ll even let y’all in on why I’m totally not ok with an “unplugged wedding” in some upcoming blog posts!) 
Say ‘Hi’ Please, for the love of everything wedding…go around to each table or try to say hello to every single guests! Even if it’s just for a quick hug around the neck and saying “thank you for making it tonight”, your guests will surely appreciate it! I absolutely love following the Bride and Groom around and snapping pictures of them hugging their guests and thanking their guests for being a part of their wedding day. It’s refreshing to me to see Brides and Grooms get up from their sweetheart table and actually interact with their wedding guests. Phillip and I didn’t even eat at our wedding and I was perfectly ok with that! We wanted to spend our times going up to our guests and talking with them! Now we weren’t able to see EVERYONE, but we did try! Like I said, your guests will feel so special and those sweet gestures are what separates the good weddings from the “that was the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been to” weddings. 
Remember before when I mentioned that Style Guide that TheBlackTux.com sent me? Well here it is! It’s super helpful for all types of weddings and I’m sure you’ll be able to use it for all upcoming weddings! 
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