You are in love, you got engaged, congratulations are in order, and you are very excited to make your Big Day dreams come true. You meet with your planner and all of a sudden find out that you need to speak some secret language you’ve never learned! You hear questions like: “Are you doing a first look?”, “Are you having a receiving line?”, “Any special dances?” And you get completely lost!
But don’t worry, after learning three foreign languages (not even including the wedding language) and working in this industry for 7 years, I am a real expert in vocabularies! I put together a nice dictionary that will help you understand what everyone is talking about. There is a big chance I forgot something, so make sure to add your own in comments!
First things first! The people!
B - Bride
G - Groom
Wedding party - Bride and Groom, all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, flower girls and ring bearers
MOH - Maid of Honor/Matron of Honor - the chief bridesmaid
BM - Best Man
Flower girl - a girl or girls walking down the aisle before the bride scattering flower petals
Ring bearer - a boy or boys caring the rings down the aisle (if not kept by the BM
MOB - Mother of the Bride
FOB - Father of the Bride
MOG - Mother of the Groom
FOG - Father of the Groom
The Wedding Day essentials!
Bridal Prep - Bride getting ready with her family and bridesmaids
Groom’s Prep - Groom getting ready with his family and groomsmen
First look - Bride and Groom seeing each other before the ceremony
First touch - Bride and Groom spending a few moments with each other before the ceremony without seeing each other, usually holding hands on opposite side of the door or wall
Processional - walking down the aisle before the ceremony
Recessional - walking back up the aisle after the ceremony
Receiving line - greeting all of your guests and receiving congratulations as they walk out of the ceremony
Cocktail hour - hour of hors d’oeuvres before the reception
Reception - the party! (Dinner, dancing & special events)
And the fun part! Reception!
Grand Entrance - the announcement of the wedding party and the newlyweds at the beginning of the reception
Special dances - dances that are specifically planned for the party
First dance - the first dance of Husband and Wife
Parent dances - traditionally, the Bride dances with her Dad and the Groom with his Mom
FD dance - Father Daughter dance (Bride with her Dad)
MS dance - Mother Son dance (Groom with his Mom)
Anniversary dance - Emcee invites all married couples to the dance floor to slow dance, then starts releasing them one by one based on the duration of their marriage until the couple who has been married the longest is the only one dancing, the couple gives advice on how to love each other for that long
Money dance - guests form a line and pin bills to the Bride’s and Groom’s attires to slow dance with them
Toasts - traditionally made by the BM and the MOH, but sometimes also by the parents of the couple
Open mic - any guest can come up and give a speech
Cake cutting - Bride and Groom cut their cake and feed each other
Bouquet toss - all the single ladies come to the dance floor and the Bride tosses her bouquet, the girl who catches it is believed to get married next
Garter toss - the Groom pulls the garter off the Brides leg with his teeth and tosses in to the single men, the man who catches the garter is supposed to get married next
Sometimes the guy who caught the garter puts it on the leg of the girl who caught the bouquet
Open dance floor - everyone is dancing!
Grand exit - Bride and Groom leave the reception with everyone gathered around (can be done with sparklers, soap bubbles, glow sticks etc, or an epic or decorated car)
Know or remember something else? Feel free to write it in the comments!
