How to plan a wedding weekend
You’re getting married, and your family is all traveling from out of town to attend your wedding! How exciting! The only thing is, the wedding itself lasts a day at most, but probably more like half a day for your guests. So how can you make your wedding the *reason* to travel and remember the weekend they spent in your city?
This is where your wedding weekend agenda comes in.
What’s a wedding weekend?
Simply put, your wedding weekend is the weekend surrounding or closest to your wedding! You can plan events and activities that will take place throughout the weekend as optional activities for your guests, whether local or traveling from out of town.
Planning wedding weekend activities for your guests adds a few more tasks to you pre-wedding to-do list. But, by planning a few extra events for your wedding weekend, you are sure to have an unforgettable wedding. If you want to plan an epic wedding weekend, but already feel like your plate is full, ask for help! Your bridesmaids and groomsmen will likely be more than willing to lend a hand in the planning and preparation. Send this post to them to get the ball rolling!
What should be included in a wedding weekend?
There are endless options of events you can plan for your wedding guests during your wedding weekend. Your plans should reflect the culture of the city, so that your guests get to experience all that your wedding city has to offer. You don’t know when your guests will get the chance to travel to your city again, if ever, so why not curate the best weekend vacation for them to get the absolute most out of their travels?!
You can plan a…
- Welcome dinner
- Brunch
- Happy hour
- Recreational activity (golf or a pickle ball tournament are great for a sporty crowd)
- Backyard BBQ
- Movie showing
While all of those ideas would be great for the entire guest list, you can also get specific about segments of guests. Have a spa/pamper morning with all the ladies, or a cigar lounge evening for all the gentlemen. You may bachelor/bachelorette activities the weekend of your wedding, and your maid of honor or best man could include some of your guests who aren’t in the bridal party if that fits with your desires!
You will likely have wedding duties to attend to during the wedding weekend as well; things to which you can’t just bring your entire guest list along. Even during times when you don’t have a specific party, outing or event for your guests to attend, and cannot be with them, be sure to provide them with a list of your favorite local spots!
Be sure to include:
- Restaurants (include casual and fine dining alike!)
- Date spots that are special to you and your fiancé
- Museums
- Outdoor spots like parks, bodies of water, or hiking trails
- Attractions unique to your city!
With all of these options covered, your guests will never get bored and they’ll think of you everywhere they go!
There are quite a few ways you can provide this list to your guests: post it to your wedding website, include it in your wedding invitation, and/or create a custom brochure and tuck it into the guests’ welcome packages that they’ll receive when they arrive in town. Do any one of those, or do them all, and you just created an unforgettable wedding weekend. You will remember your wedding weekend as the best weekend of your life, and now your guests will too!