Weddings are beautiful. They bring families and friends together to celebrate a new chapter in life. There are a couple of weddings I have attended in the past few years that were so amazing and fun, but there have also been the ones where you just sit at a table waiting for the hours to tick by so you can go home. Here’s a list of three things that people do wrong at weddings and how to avoid those mistakes:

Sit-Down Meals

Some people may love having a sit-down meal at restaurants, but that’s because they have a say in what they are going to be eating. At weddings, this kind of service is not always available. They don’t have a large four or five-page menu that you get to pick and choose dishes from. No, when you have sit-down meals at weddings, often guests are forced into eating whatever they have on the short menu prepared for you. If you don’t like what they are planning to give you, well too bad because that is all they are serving. It just makes more sense to offer a buffet rather than sit-down meals. That way, you are not being forced into a meal you do not want to eat. You have a variety of options, and the beauty of buffets are that you get out of your seat and run into family and friends on the way or in line. From my experience, people are much more satisfied with buffets than planned sit-down meals.

Assigned Seating

Assigning seats for people may seem like an organized way to plan out a wedding, but sometimes it causes frustration and boredom in a lot of people. Imagine having your closest family members assigned to a table across the room, and you are stuck with acquaintances or even strangers that you don’t really want to talk to or be near. Then if you choose to ditch your seat and hang out with family or friends across the room, you’re bumping someone else out of their assigned seat. It’s a vicious cycle. Having the freedom to choose where you want to sit--or the people you want to sit with--is the best way to go about any event. Assigned seating sometimes works, but sometimes it really doesn’t. Let people choose their seats and you will save them from discontent and or complete, awkward boredom.

Loud Mics and Music

It’s nice to have background music playing during weddings, and speeches are great. But when the music is so loud it physically hurts to listen and you’re forced to try and read people’s lips, there’s a bit of a problem. Also, if people speak and you only hear mumbles and indistinct words, it might be safe to say that the microphones need to be turned down slightly. The only way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to repeatedly test things before the wedding or its reception. Diving in and assuming things will go perfectly on your special day won’t prevent the situations where everyone at the table turns to one another and asks, “What did they just say?” or exchange grimaces from excessively loud music.

I love weddings, but when they involve the elements above things are boring and frustrating. From my experience, the best weddings give freedom to their guests. Otherwise, people will just be grouchy and complain about the above mistakes the whole time. On the bright side, though, experiencing those kinds of mistakes makes for great inspiration to rant and discuss in an article!