The 5 Most Common Wedding Guest Complaints

Find out what most irks guests at a wedding and learn how to avoid these common planning pitfalls (expert advice)

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You’re getting married and your ultimate goal is to make your wedding day 100% perfect. The last thing you want is for your friends and family to have a terrible time and spend the next 50 years whispering about the things that should have been done differently.

Most people have attended at least one wedding that was really bad. By knowing the common complaints, you can ensure that your wedding is a beautiful experience for you and your guests.

1. Not Knowing Where to Go

One of the most common complaints of wedding guests is being unsure of where to go or what to do. This is usually accompanied by awkward moments of looking right and left, hoping that someone will step in and direct them to the correct area. To avoid this problem, enlist help by designating someone as the “point person.”

Have your point person greet guests and let them know where to go or what’s happening next. This way, your guests will not be left wondering where they should sit and what they should do.

2. Left without a Ride

For guests in the wedding, a common complaint is being left without a ride. Many brides and grooms arrange transportation from the hotel to the wedding, but they neglect to provide transportation from the reception back to the hotel. If you can arrange transportation, do so. If not, make sure that there is a way for your wedding guests to call a cab, catch a bus or find some other way to leave the reception.

If necessary, print up cards with phone numbers or other important information. You certainly don’t want to leave your guests wondering how in the world they will make it back to the hotel or home.

3. The Speech That Never Ends

Speeches can be charming, witty, funny and enjoyable for the wedding guests to hear, but they can also be way too long, boring and conducive to fits of dozing. Make sure that your speech conveys the emotions you’re feeling, but keep it as short and sweet as possible. A good speech should only last a few minutes and should be refreshing for guests to hear.

Gently pass this information to all those giving speeches at your wedding. While you may appreciate the Maid of Honor’s 15-minute trip down memory lane, your guests probably won’t.

4. A Table of Strangers

Most wedding planners, brides-to-be or maids of honor decide which guests should sit at which tables. This part of the planning is very important because guests will feel uncomfortable at a table with people they don’t know. Imagine sitting at a table where everyone knows everyone else – except for you. Or worse, imagine if no one knows anyone else at their table!

Make sure to plan the seats wisely so that everyone can converse and have a great time at the reception. You should make sure that everyone will know at least one other person at their table well enough to feel comfortable chatting with him or her. This will keep your guests happy and will be one more step toward the perfect wedding!

5. Time Between the Wedding and Reception

While the bride and groom are extremely busy trying to get their things together, their affairs in order and everything else, they probably aren’t thinking too much about the time between the wedding and the reception. The guests, however, will have to find a way to kill that time, and if it’s a long time, they may be stuck twiddling their thumbs.

An hour or two is about the perfect amount of time between the wedding and reception. If you must, have a few helpers who can help you get everything together so that you can be on your way sooner. If you’re unable to hold the events within an hour or two of each other, try to make other accommodations for your guests.

Can your reception hall or location be opened for waiting guests? Can you have a light snack prepared for those guests who will be waiting? By making sure that your guests are occupied, entertained and taken care of, you will be ensuring that they have a great time at your wedding!

While it’s really difficult to make sure that every single detail is perfect, you can take care of the most common wedding guest complaints. If the major things are under control, things will flow much more easily on your wedding day, and it will be remembered for its beauty and joy rather than for the things that went wrong!

Member Comments

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miss_em2010

11/19/2009 at 05:38 pm

#1 Guest Gripe I hear (among family AND friends) is being hungry after the meal. My 65 year old father is not interested in "cute" looking entrees aka. a slice of beef w/ one potato and an asparagus...he just wants something filling! ESP. at an all day event.

No one likes feeling hungry...esp when you are "stuck" somewhere and can't go and grab a snack. I honestly feel food makes or breaks an event based on personal experience.