We've already looked at ways to introduce your bridal party to the rest of your guests, be it a quick picture and blurb about them in the ceremony programme, or a photo with them holding a sign that explains who they are to you. But what about the rest of your guests? They all need to get to know each other too. Here are our top three novel ways to get your guests up to speed on each other.
Ice breaker cards
These are the perfect way to let your guests get to know each other at their own table. There is often plenty of sitting around chatting at the table, and there's a lot of time between when they first sit down and when it's time to get on the dance floor. You can tailor these yourself according to the table, depending on how well they already know each other. If you're putting together a table of your family, who don't need 'ice breakers', maybe change the questions to things like, "Who's speech do you think will be the longest?" or "What's your funniest memory of the bride/groom?" For the tables of friends or colleagues who don't all know each other, you can put in the standard questions, "How do you know the bride/groom?", "When did you meet the other half?"
Guests chart
To give your guests a quick lowdown on who's who at your wedding, consider making your seating chart come with labels on each guest for how you know them, along with their table number. This fabulously organised chart has the guests grouped into family and friends who know the bride, the groom, or both. They also have symbols that signify whether they know them from their home town, University or from work. This is the perfect, quick breakdown of who's who at the wedding for guests to glance at during the drinks reception before dinner. Alternatively, you can keep the seating chart separate to this chart so that guests who don't know many people can easily find out who they're sitting with based on the who's who chart. This will save a lot of time with awkward conversations and small talk.
Guesterly magazine
Take the info chart one step further and create a miniature magazine for all your guests to enjoy with information about as many of your guests as you want. It might sound incredibly time-consuming, but it's not with Guesterly. With less than €5 per booklet, Guesterly does the work for you. When you input your guest list and connect to Facebook, the guests' profile pictures will automatically load into their slots. The magazine is quickly designed for you and you can edit the style and colour as well as the images of the guests and any additional information you want to add in about them. It's the perfect way to introduce your guests to one another and the perfect keepsake from your wedding, especially if you had some of your budget set aside for favours.
Image credits: Chart: Glamour | Ice breakers: Pinterest | Booklet: Guesterly