What is the role of your Ushers?
If you’re having Ushers for your wedding at The Ashes Barn Wedding Venue then it’s always a good idea to tell them exactly what is expected of them, they aren’t just there to look cool!
Your wedding is an incredibly important event in your life and when your lifelong mates and family members accept the responsibility of participating in your day, it’s worth taking the time to brief them properly on what you’d like them to do.
So what is the role of your ushers?
A Warm Welcome
From my point of view as an Event Manager it’s great when there are a few eager and responsible gentlemen around to help things go smoothly. One of their most important tasks is to welcome the guests as they arrive.
Guests are often a tiny bit nervous as they arrive for a wedding, some of them may never have been to wedding that’s not at a church before, some guests may be arriving on their own, some may have travelled from afar and not really know many of the other guests; in these cases nothing puts them at ease like a warm welcome and a smile from an usher who can direct them into The West Barn.
In the case of single ladies arriving for the wedding, it’s lovely if an usher offers his arm and walks her to her seat.
A Helpful Hand
Most of your guests will never have been to The Ashes Barn Wedding Venue before, they won’t know where to hang their coats, where the toilets are, where they’re supposed to be at any given point.
It’s one of my jobs as your Event Manager to give all this information to the Ushers early in the day because people will gravitate towards them with these questions, as they stand out as someone in charge in their lovely suits.
Therefore, it’s helpful if the Ushers arrive at least one hour before the Ceremony so I get a moment to chat to them before guests start to arrive.
Rounding Up!
Most couples have a short list of key family and bridal party photographs which they’d like taken on their wedding day during the drink’s reception.
These are communicated to your photographer in advance and it’s a great idea to give your chief usher the list and the task of rounding up those key family members as and when the photographer is ready for them. The Best Man isn’t the best choice for this as he’s often in the photographs.
Inviting Guests to the Wedding Breakfast
If you’re planning on doing a Receiving Line, where you welcome each guest into the East Barn personally for the Wedding Breakfast then it’s really helpful if the Ushers are on hand to help invite just a few guests over to the barn at a time.
That way if it’s not the best weather, because they’ve staggered the guests, it prevents just one big queue forming outside of cold guests waiting to go through the Receiving Line.
Looking Cool
Let’s not forget that Ushers do look cool! Secretly they love dressing up in the fine suits and I love it when they play with the attire slightly, I remember one wedding where they all looked very traditional until you caught a flash of their socks which were all different fluorescent colours!
I’m often called upon to remind the Groom, Best Man and Ushers that it’s etiquette for the bottom button of a single-breasted waistcoat to remain undone, (something to do with a rather portly Edward VII back in the day!).
The Best Man
I know that I haven’t mentioned the Best Man here, that’s because he has his own incredibly important job, he’s there to support the Groom, look after the rings and do a fantastic speech! He’s not the best person for any of the tasks above as he’s got enough to do, bless!
Wedding Specialist
Hopefully now you know what the role of your ushers is. Remember that if you don’t fancy having any ushers then that’s absolutely fine.
Your Wedding Specialist will be on hand all day to help guests and make sure things run smoothly for you. But if you are having Ushers, make them earn those suits!