Forecasting Your Wedding Party Activities in the Menu Cards
At many wedding receptions, you’re likely to find menu cards in the center of the table. Traditionally, these cards would simply list what foods were being served that evening. For example, the card may break down the meal into sections: appetizer, entrée, dessert.
While traditional menu cards can be valuable, particularly if your guests need to know how many courses will be served or what items are going to be included on the buffet, they can be even more useful. One way to successfully do that is by including information about the activities planned for the night on the cards as well.
Wedding ceremonies have programs which outline the order of events. For example, you would list all of the individuals performing solos or reading poems (Poems 1, Poems 2, Poems 3, Poems 4) during the ceremony in the order in which these elements are included. You do this so your guests know what to expect, so it’s only right to do the same thing for your guests at the reception.
Creating a Reception Schedule of Events
To do this, you should begin by making a list of all the activities you plan to have going on at your reception so you’ll be able to decide which ones to list on the cards and to finalize your schedule for these activities. If you’re having your menu cards printed at the same time as your invitations, you’ll need to make all of these decisions much earlier than normal but at least you won’t have to worry about them later.
Some of the activities you might consider listing include the couple’s arrival at the site, the announcement of the couple, the serving of the food, the toast to the couple, the couple’s first dance, the start of cocktail hour, the cutting of the cake, the bouquet toss, and the departure of the couple. If you’re having any other special entertainment or if you’re meal is being served in multiple courses you can include these details as well.
Making Tough Choices with Your List
The hardest part of adding these activities to your menu cards is going to be approximating the times for each to begin. Even if you’ve been to lots of weddings, it’s difficult to estimate just how long each activity is going to last. Some couples resolve this by only including two times on their menu cards: the arrival and departure of the couple. Others don’t include any times but just list the order in which the events occur.
You’ll also want to limit the activities you list so they will all fit on a single-sided menu card – the most standard version used in the industry. You can sometimes find alternatives, such as the menu cards that resemble tents, but these are often smaller and may make it even more difficult to list everything you want to include.
Another option is instead of listing the activities on the menu cards, you could include them on a separate page of the wedding program or you can create larger versions of the list then display them around the reception hall, possibly near the seating charts or the buffet line, where your guests can easily see them. After all, guests who know what to expect usually have a better time than guests who have no idea what’s going to happen next at your reception.
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