They are the first human contact your guests will have when they attend your wedding. They are the ambassadors of your good will, and show your guests the level of consideration you have for them. They are men or women who are classy, helpful, and ready to assist your guests prepare for your ceremony.
 
 

Any wedding ceremony with twenty or more guests should be assisted by an usher. At fifty to one hundred or more attending, two ushers is a minimum. The really large affairs (300+ attending) should have four or more.

Although we often think of male ushers smartly dressed in tuxedos tending wedding ceremonies, this is not a complete picture. The ladies can fill this role too (usherettes). And children, both boys and girls, fill this need as well. They need only be old enough, and competent enough for the task at hand.

Although a tuxedo (for both guys and girls) renders the smartest look on an usher, a suit for the guys and appropriate dress for the girls works just as well. A tuxedo however, is a visual identifier of his or her role.

Your ushers need to be at your rehearsal session where there will learn from me, if they do not know it already, the correct etiquette of an usher as well as his/her responsibilities.

Ushers assist arriving guests in acclimating to your wedding. They answer questions, they give directions, they pass messages, they adjust seating, help the elderly, take children to the washroom, they handle mid-ceremony disturbances that you and I cannot.

And yes, they escort VIPs to their seats as shown at left. This classy young man learned at rehearsal that his lady is to be escorted on his left, while her husband follows them and is centered between them (for photography purposes). The usher's arm is up and horizontal and his hand is in a lightly closed fist. She is on his left arm so that he may draw his sword with his right (which shows you how old this tradition is; that's why women walk to the left of their gentlemen).

I do realize that some wedding ceremonies cannot have ushers but try your best. Furthermore, ushers only escort immediate family member females to their seats- not the general audience! Your ushers should say to these guests: "The bride and groom ask that you be seated wherever you wish." In this way your audience in their seats will have a balanced look, rather than mostly favoring the bride or groom's side.