Wedding Invitations

Movie theatres, certain areas in hospitals, school lunchrooms, public libraries, wedding ceremonies.  What do all of these things have in common?  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.  

These days, you will very often open a wedding’s ceremony program to find a note reminding everyone to silence their 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 preferred by etiquette.

Let’s not overlook some folks, though, and remember that the silencing of cell phones should not be limited to wedding guests.  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.