Programs or no programs?

Question

I'm having a small outdoor wedding. I'm struggling with the program. I wanted to honor the people involved, so that was easy. However, when I write out the parts of the wedding I don't know even what they are called -- besides, this whole thing is short.... do people even need to know what's going on when? I'm thinking about just not doing programs at all.
Then again, this has been my tactic a lot with the wedding -- if it doesn't seem all that important or its trouble, I've just gotten rid of it.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can honor the people involved with your speech. Programs, in my opinion, are not necessary and are just an extra hassle and extra cost.

Answer 2

I think programs add a nice touch and honor the people involved. They also make a nice keepsake for those involved.

Since you are having a small wedding anyway, it really won't be expensive to print them yourself. Just create the design and then take them to office depot or staples and have the copied or printed from a disc.

I like the idea of 1 page either a long half page, or even a 5X7 or something.

I would simply title it
The Marriage Ceremony Uniting ___ & ____

and then list the other participants
Officiant (minister or person who performs the ceremony)
Parents of the Bride
Parents of the Groom
Maid of Honor
Bridesmaids
Best Man
Groomsmen
(or you can just list attendants)
musicians


Of course if you want to skip it, I don't think that would be a problem, but I would encourage you to do them you can design them anyway you want and leave anything you don't want out.

Here are a few sites with more info, good luck!

Answer 3

Since you are having an outdoor wedding it would be nice (and probably really appreciated) by your guests if you had some sort of fan they could use. They have templates you print out in Word from your computer and put together with a ribbon and they unfold to be a fan.

Easier, and probably cheaper is to order the flat woven fans for each guest. Use a nice piece of scrapbooking paper to print off a small basic program (you can do four on each sheet of 8'' x 11'' and glue it to one side. Place them on the chairs, perhaps with a chilled bottle of water.

Guests will appreciate bieng able to keep cool and can also use them during the reception to stay comfortable if you are having that outdoors as well. It will cost you about a dollar each, maybe two, and not that much trouble.

Answer 4

Frankly, I have never actually read a wedding program. There have been a couple times when I've used them to fan myself on a very hot day, but when I'm not handed one at all, I usually am grateful because it's one less thing I have to worry about not leaving behind so as not to hurt the bride's feelings. Unless you're doing something at least half your guests won't comprehend without a program, I wouldn't bother having them at all.

I'd save the money and forget about wedding programs. After all, pretty much everyone coming to the wedding knows you and the people you're closest to, so they don't need a cast list, and they know more or less how a wedding works, so they don't need a synopsis.

And if it's going to be a very hot day, I'd find a cheap folding fan much more efficiant and much more welcome. Oh, and I usually carry one of those in my purse.

Answer 5

Unless you are having a really small wedding, most of his family has no idea who your sister is and they consider it quite important to find out who they are now related to (as opposed to which one was your roommate in college) Personally the reason I like programs is b/c I like to know who those people standing up there are. I love when it puts

Maid of Honor, Ashley Johnson, cousin of the bride
if there is a soloist, most people like to know who is performing and what the title of the song is.

Thats the only really important part. Mine had the part about who is getting married, date, and a line drawing of the church written the same way the invitation is
day, the date of month
Two Thousand and Seven
Seven o’clock in the evening
Name of Church

Then the next part was the order of ceremony

Prelude
Seating of Grandparents and Mothers
Processional: Air on a G String
Bridal Processional
Opening Prayer
Introduction and Charge to Couple
Declaration of Intent
Scripture Reading
Solo:
Exchange of Vows
Blessing of Rings
Pronouncement of Marriage
Lighting of Unity Candle
Solo: I Will Be Here
Blessing on the marriage
Presentation of couple
Recessional
Postlude

B/c thats the order of the ceremony at my church (but you'd want to verify with your minister)
Then on the other half (the back of the program) I put the people

Officiating Minister
Parents of the Bride
Grandparents of the Bride
Parents of the Groom
Grandparents of the Groom

Attendants

Maid of Honor:
Best Man:
Flower girl:
Bridesmaids:
Groomsmen:
Ushers:

And then since I spent a lot of time on the musical selections I had the Musical selections during the prelude listed but thats entirely optional

and a little paragraph
To our friends and family, we thank you for joining us on our special day. We are grateful for the love and support you have given us over the years and will cherish the memories we share with each of you. ~signature

At Home: (our address)

We bought slightly long, narrow card stock paper and ran it to Staples or Office Max and had them print it. The church had a line drawing already. All we did was type it up on Word and have the Office Store print it off for us

A program really only takes maybe 30 minutes max to do and only costs something like $8 to print it off. Or a lot of churches will do it for you. They give you a template and you have to turn it to the guy that prints the church brochures each week. It's such a simple thing really that you might as well do it. You are right--it isn't all that important, but its such a simple little touch that people really appreciate.

Answer 6

No one ever cares about the programs. It's a waste of time, money and effort.

You are having a small and short affair, so why making a program.

Do not worry, you will honor your wedinng party enough on the rehersal dinner, the wedding party gift and during the ceremony, reception and by sitting them on the head table. If you are having a DJ, you can honor them as well by annoucing your Bm and GM.

Good luck

Answer 7

I have to kindly disagree with those who say programs are a waste. They're really not if you're going to have guests who aren't familiar with who your wedding party is, who's singing or what they're singing or who's reciting the poem, who the parents and/or grandparents are, etc? It's just a nice way for your guests to stay informed on what's going on during the ceremony you've invited them to! Programs don't have to be hard work. If you want to make it extremely simple, just take 8.5x11 paper and print on both sides of it and fold it in half to make a booklet. Or something really simple and unique that ties into having a small outdoor wedding. Make a fan program. It's just a wooden stick with card stock stapled to it and you print whatever you want on both sides of the card stock which doubles as a fan. Very handy, especially if it's warm out. Here's a few websites that you could order them from or you could just make them yourself but take a look at these sites to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Answer 8

I had a big wedding in a church and I didn't have a program. Most people have been to enough weddings that they know what to expect. Programs are a big waste of money. I agree with you - If it doesn't seem all that important or it's trouble, just get rid of it.

Answer 9

Programs are totally optional. Don't feel like you've got to spend a lot of time and effort on them or have them at all. Particularly if most of your guests know your wedding party, there's really no reason to have a program. Most people are pretty familiar with the traditional wedding format and what comes when, so they don't really need one. Most get tossed in the trash on the way out anyway.

If you do decide to have a program, check out theknot.com for some help on how to word everything and what everything is called, "Processional," "Recessional," etc.

Answer 10

The last wedding I went to had programs and it was new to me. They listed all the people involved as well as had the typed words to all the readings that were made. Including that and pictures, it will take up alot of room in a tri-folded brochure.
If you need help, send me an email!

Answer 11

We're not doing programs. Usually only about 5% of people at the wedding save them for any reason, and the rest either ignore them completely or just read them during the ceremony because they're bored. It's an unnecessary expense in my opinion.