Get Me To The Church On Time

“Get Me To The Church On Time” is a song from the musical My Fair Lady and this post isn’t about that, or even Church – I was just thinking about wedding day timings and the idea that “it’s the Bride’s prerogative to keep the Bridegroom waiting”. Whether it’s a Church, a civil ceremony or a humanist wedding blessing, this is one wedding tradition that you can forget in my humble opinion and here’s a few reasons why.

First, it’s just rude. Of course the Bride will make an entrance, everyone is there waiting for her arrival, to see the dress, to see the Bridegrooms reaction as sees her for the first time etc etc etc.

Being late causes stress – is she coming? Is she OK? What’s happening?

It’s quite usual for things just before the Ceremony to take longer than expected – maybe the traffic is heavier than expected, one of the bridesmaids has a problem, the photographer needs a little longer to get everything covered and captured for posterity. So please make sure you make a plan – talk to your hair and make-up artist, your photographer, your driver, make sure you have plenty of time.

If you are late for a Church wedding your minister may well take offence and your ceremony may “get off on the wrong foot”. If you are having a civil ceremony with a registrar they will probably have another wedding to get to after yours and have to rush, or maybe even cancel because they don’t have enough time. If you are having a humanist celebration then you may be OK, but it’s still not ideal.

People don’t like to be kept waiting – FACT. If your nearest and dearest are all seated and ready for the wedding and you’re late they won’t thank you for it. If you have any children or babies at your wedding their parents will probably be able to keep them quiet for the duration of the ceremony, but if you arrive late the children will me more fidgety.

If you are late it may throw out the timings for the rest of the day, the meal etc.

One last thing, if you are late YOU LOSE time for the rest of the day – time you will never get back.

Please make sure you make a plan to Get me to the Church on time.

And finally, here is Stanley Holloway’s version of “Get me to the Church on Time”