How to plan pre and post events for your wedding weekend.

Over the past years there has been a significant rise in 3 day weddings. This involves and pre wedding party or dinner, the wedding day itself and then a post wedding brunch. These events have grown in popularity due to more couples having destination weddings and wanting to make their wedding more of a holiday for their guests. Its also evolved from the American tradition of the rehearsal dinner. As these events are becoming more and more popular its only right that I do a blog post on how to plan the best pre and post wedding events for your guests.

Pre-Wedding Party/dinner

This event will be the first time everyone is together and the first time they will all be able to catch up and meet other family and friends. Its best to make this a laid-back casual affair as people will be so excited to see family and friends that they want to spend their time chatting instead of needing to do certain things at a certain time. Depending on the time of year upscale BBQ’s or Hog Roasts can work really well for this kind of event or an informal seated meal like a family style or sharing platters would be another great option.

Its best to do this event late afternoon/evening especially if you have guests flying in for the wedding as it will depend on when their flights get in and how quickly and easily they can get to the venue. You also want to allow them to have plenty of time to relax once they arrive. I also wouldn’t suggest having this event go too late as you want everyone to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the wedding morning and not stumbling in in the early hours of the morning and waking up on the wedding day with minimal sleep and hungover! That’s what tomorrow night is for!

Ideally you would be able to do the pre party at either the same location as the wedding day itself or where the majority of guests are staying for the wedding as you don’t want your guests to have to travel too far in order to get to the event. The easier the better!

THE WEDDING DAY !

Post wedding day brunch.

The wedding day may be over but that doesn’t mean the celebrations have to end. The post wedding brunch is the perfect way to bring everyone back together reminisce about the wedding and share stories and photos.

As with the pre wedding events you would want the brunch to be in either the same venue as the wedding or where the majority of wedding guests are staying especially as you may have a few guests staying in bed a little longer after all the partying! The venue for this is something important to consider as it will also affect the amount of guests you have attending.

The menu for your brunch can be a host of different options, from food stations, traditional seated brunch, grazing platters, seafood towers and of course a cocktail bar for all the bloody Marys and mimosa’s! The choice is yours but of course remember you may have some hungover guests so the better alcohol soaking up food the better!

I would suggest hosting a brunch a little later in the day around 11am/12pm as this give guests time to have a lay in, relax and recover before getting ready. However if you know you have guests that are leaving earlier maybe put on a grab bag for them to take with them on the road so they don’t feel like they have missed out.

These additional events allow you to stretch out the wedding celebrations and make the event last a little bit longer. It gives you more time to speak to your guests and spend time with everyone. Although it may seem like a lot more work to put on these additional events, remember to keep it simple. The guests are there for you and these extra events allow them to spend more time with friends and family. The big event is the wedding day these are just little added extras that make the whole weekend feel extra special for your guests.

If you feel like its too much but really love the idea of a 3 day wedding, Delegate! Bridesmaids, Maids of Honour and Best Men love to help with this kind of thing. If you are hosting these events at a venue the hard work is done for you! Let the venue know the kind of menu you are thinking off and then they can arrange everything for you! Alternatively look into a wedding or event planner who can do everything for you so you can sit back and enjoy with your guests!