Wedding Invitations

Here’s a little riddle for you: how is your wedding ceremony like a movie theatre? Don’t spend all day racking your brains trying to come up with the answer, we’ll tell you right now. The way that your wedding ceremony and movie theatres are the same is that both places need to remind guests to shut off their cell phones while there.

Believe it or not, it’s become quite usual for brides to have to print in their ceremony program a note about silencing cell phones. Some wedding venues even have it listed, front and center, in their event guidelines and regulations, to remind guests to silence or shut off cell phones. A gentle reminder in the program is the most ideal method to ensure no one’s raucous ring tones interrupt the quieter and more tender moments of the wedding. According to Emily Post, absolute wedding etiquette expert, it is also acceptable to have a little sign by the guest book at a ceremony. Mrs. Post notes that a verbal announcement (something like “The ceremony is about to begin; could everyone please make sure their cell phones are silenced?”) would be acceptable wedding etiquette, but the written reminders are more preferable.

The silencing of cell phones should not be limited to wedding guests, though. All too often, members of the wedding party neglect to shut off their phones, only to discover the error at a very inopportune moment in the ceremony, for instance, while in the middle of the vows! Many wedding venues or wedding coordinators are there to assist the wedding party just prior to the ceremony; you could ask them to be in charge of making sure the bridesmaids and groomsmen have silenced their phones.