We all know that the wedding is about you, the happy couple, and planning decisions should reflect you and your partner. But, you also want your guests to enjoy your wedding day too, and to remember it for all the right reasons. Unfortunately, sometimes things are not to the guests’ liking, and you have wedding guest complaints (which you may or may not hear about).
The biggest wedding guest complaints can be placed into one of the 6 following categories:
1) The Bar
2) Comfort Level/Temperature
3) Food
4) Waiting/Lag Times
5) DJ
6) Location
However, with just a little fore-thought (and, for the most part, no extra cost to you), these wedding guest complaints can be avoided.
1) The Bar Complaint:
Who really enjoys going up to the bar, ordering a drink, only to be told “That’ll be $5.50.”? Wait. What? Aren’t they supposed to be your guests?
When you invite someone over to your home for dinner, do you charge them then? Of course you don’t. So don’t charge them here.
What guests want are some refreshing, tasty drinks to choose from, and not to have to pay for them. I get that bars can be expensive, and that the #1 reason couples choose a cash bar is to save some money. Instead of expecting your guests to foot the bill, work with your venue/bar service beforehand to come up with budget-friendly bar ideas.
Try these money saving tips:
• Serve only beer and wine (no liquor)
• Offer a signature drink or two during the cocktail hour only
• Close the alcohol-service portion of the bar an hour before the end of your reception
2) The Comfort Level/Temperature Complaint:
No one likes being too hot or too cold, and that is one of the quickest ways to make guests want to leave early.
For an indoor event, make sure the climate control is set to a reasonable temperature (which is likely to be lower than what you’d set your thermostat at home, because the natural body heat in a room full of people will make it warmer). Make sure that when guests are seated, there are no air vents that will be blowing hot or cold air directly onto them.
For an outdoor event, avoid making guests sit in the hot, scorching sun or freezing cold. Even being too windy is no fun. To help keep cool: Rent fans. Offer plenty of cold, non-alcoholic beverages (alcohol and heat do not mix well). Ceremony programs can double as hand fans. To help keep warm: Provide wraps and blankets. Rent space heaters. Have a coffee/hot chocolate station.
When you invite someone over to your home for dinner, do you charge them?
3) The Food Complaint:
You’re spending plenty of time and money on a great menu. Make sure your time and money have been well-spent. You don’t have to have a lavish spread fit for a king, but you do want to serve food that is tasty, appealing, and satisfying.
The biggest food complaints guest have are:
• The food is cold
• It tastes bad
• There are no dietary restriction options (Put a line on your RSVP card asking guest to write in any dietary restrictions/allergies)
• The “I don’t know what that is on my plate” (Serving something different is one thing, serving a “mystery meal” is another. Stick to the familiar)
• Not enough food during cocktail hour
4) The Waiting Complaint:
This may be the most common of all wedding guest complaints, and can you blame them? No one likes to wait, especially for an excessively long time period. It’s booooooring.
The most common waiting complaints are:
• A long gap between the ceremony and the reception
• Standing in a long line for the bar or restroom
• Waiting through a litany of never-ending toasts and speeches
• Waiting for the couple to finish with their post-ceremony photo session (I know you want all those great pics, but please keep to the schedule. If your post-ceremony photo session doesn’t last longer than your cocktail hour, your guests will be fine)
• A cocktail hour that is two hours, or more. (There’s a reason why it’s called a cocktail “hour”)
• Waiting for the couple to come back so the next item on the schedule can happen. (Don’t make your guests have to wait because you want to get just one more picture, or to smoke a cigarette)
• Dinner being served late
5) The DJ Complaint:
The most common DJ complaint is that the music is just too darn loud. You don’t want guests retreating to the bathroom so they can ease the pounding in their heads, or worse, leaving your reception early.
And on the flip side, another DJ complaint is that the music isn’t loud enough. When people in the middle of the room have to strain to hear, and the people furthest away can’t hear at all, it’s a problem.
Other common DJ complaints are:
• Playing bad music
• Playing too many fast songs
• Playing too many slow songs
• The DJ is lame or cheesy
• The DJ is boring on the mic (we’ve all hear the ones who say in a monotone “It’s time to cut the cake,” “It’s time for the first dance,” etc.)
6) The Location Complaint:
This one is probably the second most common of wedding guest complaints, (and can cause some guests to decline the invitation). Now I’m not talking about the actual venue, but where the venue is located. Of course you want your guests to be happy once they’re there, but the getting there shouldn’t be difficult.
When choosing your venue, ask yourself:
• Is it easy to find?
• Is it close enough to the ceremony site so that your guests will only have a short drive?
• Is there adequate signage for guests to find? (You don’t want guests driving back and forth because the venue sign is too small).
• Does it have plenty of parking? (If not, seriously consider offering a shuttle for your guests).
• Is the terrain easy to walk on, or will guests have to maneuver through a rocky or wooded area, or along dirt (and potentially muddy) paths?
We’ve all heard of different wedding guest complaints, and unfortunately may have experienced some as well. Have you seen/experienced something at a wedding that you didn’t like? Let me know in the comments below.
Photo Credits:
Plate of Food – Lukas via Pexels
Glasses of Champagne – Jonatan Svensson Glad via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Couple on Dance Floor – Parekh Cards via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
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