If you’ve started planning your wedding, you may know by now that a lot of people have opinions about it.

“You have to do this.”

“You should definitely do that.”

“Don’t forget about yada yada…”

It gets to be a lot. But this is your time! Not anyone else’s. Well, except for your fiancé of course!

There are so many wedding aspects out there that people may expect you to incorporate into your day. If you feel strongly about any of them, then absolutely go right ahead and you do you. But I’m going to share with you 6 common wedding traditions that I have seen many times that can totally be nixed to make your life easier. 

1.    You really don’t need a receiving line after the ceremony. 

Despite what you’ve heard or experienced at other weddings, a receiving line is completely unnecessary. In case you aren’t sure what it is, this is where you and your wedding party and parents all line up after the ceremony and greet each guest as they exit. It’s honestly a little awkward for your guests as they try to come up with what to say, and you’ll just hear “congratulations, beautiful dress” a hundred times. The receiving line also eats up a lot of portrait time and just moves the reception back later. You can totally skip this tradition and just catch up with your guests at the reception!

2.    You don’t have to wait until the aisle to see each other for the first time.

This is a hard one because it was a beloved tradition for a very long time. But the good news is, it’s no longer taboo to see each other before the ceremony. So many couples are opting to set up a first look earlier in the day in order to get wedding portraits done and out of the way. This allows you to get to your reception much faster after the ceremony and get the party started. Your guests will thank you!  

3.    Skip the aisle runner. 

Save your money and don’t bother with an aisle runner. They almost never look as nice as you imagine it to and they get all wrinkled, torn and crooked usually before the bride even makes an entrance.

4.    You don’t have to choose between your friends. 

You have narrowed down your friends and selected the most special people in your life to stand up with you, and now feel pressured to put them in order of importance and choose a best man/maid of honor. Unless there’s an obvious choice, you really don’t have to choose between friends. Let there be two. Or only have bridesmaids so they can all work together to make you feel extra special. And my favorite suggestion…do some sort of friendly competition and let someone win the title! There is no point in making anyone feel less important than someone else simply for tradition’s sake. Another one is that you don’t have to have the same number as your fiancé. I promise, I will still make the pictures look good with uneven numbers! Ask who you really want to ask and do what makes you feel comfortable!

5.     A Ceremony Exit Is Not a Must. 

While these can be fun and cool photo ops, a ceremony exit is sometimes kind of awkward. Let me explain! This is because most of the time, you still have some portraits to take so you aren’t actually leaving. Here’s what happens. All of your guests stand outside with their rice or bubbles or whatever and wait for you to come out. You come out all excited, walk through the crowd, get to the end.. and then look around wondering what to do now. It’s pretty anti-climactic if you aren’t actually leaving. So unless you’re legit exiting the ceremony to hop in the limo and head somewhere else (an idea I love), don’t feel like you have to fit one in!

6.    Throw Out the Seating Chart 

One of the biggest stressors couples seem to have is mapping out a seating chart. One solution, let people sit wherever they want. What you can do instead is place a “Reserved” sign on a few tables near the head table and let your immediate family know to sit there. Everyone else is perfectly capable of choosing a seat. Another idea I’ve seen and loved was setting name cards at the entrance of the reception so your guests can place their own name where they want to sit and save their seat. Side note, if a seating chart is important to you and you choose to make one, don’t forget to include a table and seats for your vendors (photographers, videographers and djs). You don’t need to leave us favors or anything, we just usually take our break during dinner and get a quick bite!