Every industry has its own lingo. I worked in insurance for a while and we basically had our own language in the office. The wedding industry is no different. When we first got into the business and mingled with fellow wedding tycoons, I was completely lost. I was looking around for a decoder app that I thought everyone else secretly knew about.
My 5th grade teacher taught me that there is no such thing as a stupid question. So, after humbly asking people who speak fluently WIT (wedding industry talk), I can officially hang with the big dogs.
Wedding industry employees are not the only people that need to know this jargon. Brides and mothers would be wise to learn some key terms as well. A lot of places and wedding websites will use this lingo and just expect you to understand the gibberish they are saying. We have compiled the most common ones for you and created a little cheat sheet for when you meet with your vendors.
Wedding party acronyms:
BTB: Bride to be
MIL: Mother in law
MOB: Mother of the bride
MOH: Maid of Honor/Matron of honor
SIL: Sister in Law
Wedding Ceremony:
Blusher: a veil that has a portion to cover your face. This was super traditional but over the past few years, fewer and fewer brides are doing it. Which now makes it super chic to do.
Bustle: If you have a lovely long train, a bustle will allow you to transition your gown from ceremony train to no train for the reception. There are different types of bustles like an American Bustle or a French Bustle. Talk to your seamstress and have them show your MOH how to bustle your gown so when you are ready to dance the night away, someone there knows how to tie your train up. And if you think your MOH might be 5 glasses in the champagne, you might want to ask your Aunt Nellie to do it for you.
Day of Coordinator: We all know that wedding planners and coordinators are expensive. When it comes down to three extra bottles of champagne for your guest or a wedding coordinator, you are going to choose the booze. Another option if you are in a money crunch but still want someone to be in charge of the day, you can hire a day of coordinator. Most of the time they will be there for the rehearsal and the wedding day. They will help with making sure everyone knows their cues for the ceremony, taking this stress off of you or a family member. If you have a rowdy group of gentlemen, a day of coordinator can keep them in line. Now you can sit back and enjoy that extra bottle of champagne you were able to get and celebrate your big day.
Unity Ritual: There is usually a portion of the ceremony where the Bride and Groom will join together and perform an act of unity. This is a time where you can customize your ceremony to fit your personality. It can be an act that is historical, spiritual or just meaningful to you. Some ideas for you would be the common lighting of the unity candle, making a time capsule to be opened on a monumental wedding anniversary, planting a tree, washing each other's feet, signing a family bible, circling the groom, breaking of glass, or participating in communion.
Reception:
Flip: This is the newest term that I have learned. Sometimes you choose a venue where the wedding ceremony and the reception are going to be held in the same room. This will mean that you might have to “flip” the room from ceremony to reception. This can be very tricky. You certainly do not want guest witness this happen (no one wants to really see what happens behind the scenes) so this is a good time for first dances, cocktail hour, toasts, greetings, ect. You pretty much are just distracting them from realizing what is really going on. Make sure to ask you venue if they will flip for you, or are you responsible for assigning people to do this for you.
High Boy: a pub height table that is perfect for a more casual reception or cocktail hour.
Family Style: setting tables up so that everyone is sitting together and there are not separate tables. We do this with our wooden tables and everyone has loved this look. It is a nice change from people everyone having to sit at separate tables and really gives off a homestyle, cozy vibe.
Sweetheart Table: a table that seats just the Bride and Groom. It will be decorated a little more than the other tables, maybe including extra garland, "Mr. and Mrs." signs, and champagne glasses. It will be set in a position that can be seen by everyone.
Receiving line: This is the easiest a best way to make sure you greet all of your guest. After the ceremony and you are introduced into the reception, you and your new husband/wife will stand together and have the guest form a line to see you. This will allow everyone to have a chance to see you and you can get all of this done at one time and be able to enjoy the rest of your evening.
Action Station: This is something that will really add to your reception and make it different from everyone else’s. An action station an interactive part of the menu. It could be an attended station, a do it yourself station, or even a custom chef station. So, what does any of that even mean? Some examples are a meat carving station, a mashed potato bar, made to order waffle station, iced raw bar, hot sandwich station, Mexican nacho spread, mac and cheese bar and my personal favorite, Foxy Food’s biscuit bar. This is usually set up by itself and will sometimes have a server, if needed.
What are some sayings or things that you heard while you were wedding planning? We try our best to be a plethora of knowledge for our brides, but that cannot happen without your input. Drop us a line or leave a comment with words, phrases or acronyms that you learned while planning.
And as always- Stay cool, fools
-C