There’s nothing more fun than seeing your cousin hit them back with your college friends, or catching your brand-new in-laws chatting it up together with your childhood next-door neighbours. wedding dresses are only for togetherness, but attempting to wedge it right into a few hours can be hard. Enter: wedding weekends!
We love this trend since it lets couples disseminate the merriment and infuse much more of their personalities into the celebration. Two keys for any successful and stress-free wedding weekend? Think away from the box and delegate, delegate, delegate!
Here are a handful of ideas for pre- and post-wedding fun to help you get started.
Introduce your town via a scavenger hunt.
If your guest list consists of mostly out-of-towners, they’ll be itching to understand more about it. Put together an easy scavenger hunt which will lead them using your favourite restaurants, shops and sites. Clues range from general (“Grab a coffee in the café using the green awning”) to non-public (“Take an image in front of the place where John proposed”). Use a photo-sharing app to gather all the snapshots. You can hand out prizes to top scorers after the weekend, but playing for bragging rights is equally as fun!
Rally guests having a grown-up field day.
Nothing brings strangers together as an old-school tug-of-war. Sort guests into teams in advance, and plan several field games to start the weekend. Classics like egg toss, obstacle courses and kickball will always be winners, but you can mix in silly or serious games your friends and relatives might like. Trivia is effective here, too! This is a good way to get non-wedding party friends involved – they may be team captains or MC the games. Even people who don’t seem like playing will like cheering around the festivities.
Make everyone feel included by having a welcome reception.
Rehearsals and rehearsal dinners are fairly standard along with a great way to spend some time together with your closest family members before the special day. But if you've got a number of guests arriving the night before, consider also hosting a welcome reception. This can be as low-key as s’mores around a campfire so that as involved like a multi-course dinner. Let your personalities shine and provide guests with an idea of what to expect at the weekend! An intimate, casual wedding might demand coffee and desserts, while a dramatic affair can begin off having a one-of-a-kind musical performance.
Keep the power high together with your own twist on brunch.
Not a large brunch fan? Not a problem! The morning after is the chance to showcase your favourite bites that could have been too casual or otherwise on-theme for that main event. Bring in tacos from your preferred food truck or let guests build their very own Chinese takeout in classic paper containers. Food doesn’t even have to be around the menu! Invite early birds for any morning hike or get crafty friends together to show centrepieces into take-home bouquets.
Save the send-off for Sunday.
One big plus with a sparkler send-off or perhaps an end-of-the-night dance is that it clues guests for the reason that the event is coming to a detail. Consider saving your big farewell for the very end of the weekend. Rent an incredible vintage car, place on one more white meghan markle wedding dress, or simply give a little wave on the balcony. Post a teaser on your wedding website to let everyone know to stay around, after which ride off into the sunset the easiest way you know how!
