Being asked to be an usher at a wedding is a real honour. You might be wondering what a usher does at a wedding? After my own wedding this year and being an usher at my cousins wedding, I thought it would be a good idea to share my experiences and tips.
Groomsman Job Cards
I was at a wedding last weekend and saw a great idea! One of the ushers had a little card with a list of jobs on it. Ok this might be a bit overkill, but the wedding day itself is very hectic and it could help makes things go a bit smoother.
The card was roughly A7 paper size (7.4cm x 10.5cm). It had the name of the usher at the top of the card and then a bullet pointed list of tasks/jobs!
Everything went smoothly at the wedding so I guess the cards worked! Although one usher did forget his waistcoat (but then it wasn’t on his list!)
Usher Jobs
Meet at the Venue or Ceremony location well before the arrival time on the invites, I would recommend at least an hour. This will give you time to smarten up your outfits, collect buttonholes and organise orders of service.
When guests start arriving you might have been asked to relay information such as where the bathrooms are, where to sit in the ceremony, is flash photography allowed, where to park and of course distribute orders of service. Try to have a think about what people might ask you and if needs be, write it down on the back of your Groomsman Job Cards. You might need to take an umbrella in case it rains and you need to cover guests while they arrive.
Between the ushers, you might be tempted to chat to each other about who was drunker at the stag do, don’t, there will be a time and a place for that at the bar later on, get the job done and enjoy yourselves later!
It’s great to see people you haven’t seen in ages but try not to chat to people for too long you don’t want a huge line building up as this will increase the pressure on you, there will be plenty of time to chat to people later in the day.
Figure out how many orders of services you have and how many to give out e.g. it might be one between two – don’t be afraid to say this to guests, but if someone demands one then don’t argue the point, as a) you won’t have the time and b) Great Auntie Mavis will win.
You should have an idea where people are sitting and which seats are reserved for the bride and grooms party, don’t forget traditionally it’s groom’s friends and family on the right, bride’s on the left
Its generally known that the best man is a funny guy for the day but that doesn’t mean you can’t help break down barriers and help bring the two families closer together. Decide which usher will accompany the bride’s mother to her seat, this is a nice touch as it means she is not walking in on her own.
After the ceremony you might be responsible for helping organise photos – introduce yourself to the photographer and let them know to give you a shout if they need any help. You may also help organise transport to the venue if needed. A great tip I learnt is to give the venue a call when the bride is leaving to give them a heads up that the newlyweds are on their way, things don’t always go according to plan but this will coax the venue to be prepared.
Final thing I’m going to say is, enjoy it!
