Top 10 Wedding Guest Complaints
- 1. An inconvenient date.
Think it over before asking guests to forfeit spending Christmas or the Super Bowl with their loved ones to celebrate with you. Hosting during a holiday may disrupt traditions they'd prefer not to miss, and in the case of a sporting event, you may find that guests are MIA because they're sneaking off to catch the score or watch it on a nearby TV.
- 2. Invitation confusion.
There is nothing more frustrating than when a guest assumes they're receiving a plus-one you had no intention of inviting
- 3. Seating snafus.
After the victory of compiling (and finalizing) your guest list comes the challenge of seating arrangements. It's part art, part science: Who will combust next to whom or become fast friends?
- 4. Pulling out the wallet.
How much do guests dislike cash bars? All the pros are in agreement that cash bars are a major no-no. You'd never ask a guest to pay for a drink in your own home, so why should the wedding be any different? However, that doesn't mean you have to fork over the cash for an open bar if you can't afford it.
- 5. Climate crisis.
Every frequent wedding-goer has experienced an event that was either scorching or freezing cold. Subjecting guests to extreme weather conditions will severely cramp their style.
- 6. Inedible food (or lack thereof).
When I was no older than eight or nine, I went to a family party that I'll never forget. But it wasn't the bride's poufy princess dress or the heartfelt recitation of vows that I remember most. It was the McDonald's my cousin Vinny and I were allowed to eat afterwards, gleefully dipping fries into ketchup in the back of the car (because the food at the reception was so terrible).
- 7. Never-ending toasts or photo montages.
I wanted to sink into the floor at one wedding I attended where the Best Man's speech was so long-winded that the chorus of "boos" was deafening. Add a couple of glasses of champagne to the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster.
- 8. DJ, please stop the music.
I've heard complaints about weddings where the thump-thumping of techno music began the second that the couple walked through the door and didn't end until the cake-cutting. (Grandma was afraid to step foot on the dance floor, lest she get clocked in the head by a stray fist pump.) At another wedding, the music was so loud that my mom escaped to the bathroom to rest her pounding head, only to find a group of other guests camped out there for the same reason.
- 9. Disorganization to the max.
I once attended a wedding where the cocktail hour became two-and-a-half hours long because the bride and groom wanted more photos in the moonlight. Imagine the look on guests' faces when we finally sat down to our seats and waited another hour and a half before dinner was served.
- 10. Ungracious hosts.
"We only saw the bride when she walked down the aisle!" or "It's been a year and I still haven't received a thank-you card!"
