Rox asks:
I recently had a ceremony which was in a very sunny/hot location, I asked the guests multiple times to move over to the ceremony area but they all resisted and stayed in the shade. I walked over and specifically asked them to move over and some did but some still didn’t. It wasn’t until the amazing but stern looking photographer waved her camera at them and asked them to move did they do so. I am a very outgoing and direct kind of gal (husband says bossy, I say leadership skills) but I couldn’t get them to move. What’s your tips?
Honestly, I’ve got nothing on this one. I would have done exactly the same thing Rox did: asked them a couple of times to move into the ceremony space, but if they didn’t, I would have left it. Yes, it’s a bit crap that they obeyed someone else and not the celebrant, but ultimately we can’t force them to do anything they don’t want to do.
I have tried guilt tripping guests on occasion – “you don’t want Bride and Groom to think you don’t love them, do you?” – but that only works sometimes (although it generally works well for getting people to sit in the seats).
This is a tough one, humans are weird and stubborn.
The way I present most pre-ceremony housekeeping is under the theme of “this is how we, the community surrounding the couple getting married, show them that we care. That everything that we do, say, and demonstrate today is our way of showing that we love them and that we care for them. One way we do that is by clapping or cheering at times in the ceremony that are applause worthy. Another is by putting our cameras and phones away so we can be present in the ceremony, and know that the photographer has the shots. Another way is for us to fill the seats and to gather in close so that as they are standing here, and they take a glance toward their crowd, they feel surrounded and loved, not watched from afar by people who don’t care that much.”
And everyone gathers in pretty quickly.
Love this! Guilt trips often work!