Your wedding day is the most important, special, fabulous day of your life. And it goes by in a flash. You’d be surprised how many couples say they enjoy their wedding day but, “it was over before I knew it.” While we can’t slow down the day or help you remember each detail, we do have a great solution for prolonging the celebration: a wedding weekend. 

Who says you can only celebrate your wedding on one day? More and more couples are choosing to extend the wedding celebrations to include three full days of fun with family and friends. Here’s everything you need to know about planning an unforgettable wedding weekend experience. 

What is a Wedding Weekend?

A wedding weekend incorporates all of the traditional wedding day elements, and then some. The typical components of a wedding weekend include a welcome party, rehearsal dinner, and send-off brunch. In between these main activities, there are organized get-togethers and free time for guests to explore the area. A wedding weekend is like a mini-vacation for you and your guests to ensure a spectacular wedding guest experience. 

Benefits of Planning a Wedding Weekend vs. Wedding Day

• 

For couples, the main benefit of a wedding weekend is the opportunity to celebrate their wedding for more than one day. However, there are two other benefits of these long celebrations:

1. A wedding weekend provides more time to relax with your family and friends. 

From the moment you get engaged until your wedding day, you experience a whirlwind of emotions. While there is definitely fun and excitement throughout the wedding planning process, there is also stress and worry as you try to solidify all of the details before the big day. Hiring a wedding planner alleviates a lot of the stress leading up to your wedding. And having a wedding weekend alleviates the stress of the actual day. 

Weddings are fun. There is no doubt about that. However, for the couple of the evening, weddings don’t tend to be very relaxing events. Rather than truly getting the spend your first married moments enjoying your new husband or wife, you are tasked with thanking each of your guests for coming, while doing all of the traditional wedding things, too: first dances, cake cutting, bouquet toss, and more! 

A wedding weekend minimizes the pressure to greet, thank, and entertain all of the guests at your wedding. Because the truth is, it is nearly impossible to interact with everyone in such a short amount of time. Wedding receptions typically last for four hours. If you have a 200-guest wedding, and you spend just one minute with each guest, you’re only left with 40 minutes for all of the other wedding activities. It just isn’t doable, which means you don’t get to interact with every guest on your wedding day.

Enter a wedding weekend. From the welcome party to the farewell brunch to the activities in between, you have plenty of time to interact with each guest, so you don’t have to worry about doing it at the reception. 

Expert Advice: If meaningful moments with your wedding guests are most important to you, consider planning a micro wedding. With a guest list of under 40 people and a wedding weekend, you truly receive the gift of time. 

2. A wedding weekend provides more things for out-of-town guests to enjoy.

For wedding guests who aren’t local to the area where you are having your wedding, a wedding weekend is important. By not only having multiple planned celebrations but also a detailed list of things to do, your out-of-town guests can make the most of their weekend celebrating you. 

• 

• 

How to Plan a Wedding Weekend: 3-Day Itinerary

Here are the basic elements of a spectacular wedding weekend experience.

Welcome Party

A welcome party is the first opportunity for family and friends to come together in a relaxed environment and start the celebrations! This event takes place a day or two before the wedding. It is a much more casual event than your wedding reception. Here are ways to make it a fun and memorable experience:

• Have a themed welcome party, like a fiesta with a taco truck!
• Make sure there is food and drinks available, like appetizers or a food truck and ice-cold beverages.
• Have welcome bags or small gifts for your guests (consider including items they may need at the ceremony or reception, like a hand-fan during the summer).
• Set an end-time so you don’t party too far into the night and feel exhausted on your actual wedding day. 

Rehearsal Dinner

The rehearsal dinner happens a day or two before the wedding and is typically reserved for the wedding party and close family members. It is more formal than the welcome party and often includes a plated dinner and champagne toasts.

While you are enjoying the rehearsal dinner, this is where your detailed list of things-to-do comes in handy for out-of-town guests who don’t know the area. Here are ideas of what to include:

• Your favorite places for dinner (even suggest your favorite dish!)
• A nearby hike, waterfall, or scenic outlook for your adventurous guests
• A list of your favorite coffee shops, bakeries, or antique shops 
• Any must-do activities or must-see attractions you know your guests will enjoy

Send-Off Brunch

The farewell or send-off brunch is the last gathering with family and friends before you leave for your honeymoon. This is a casual event that offers guests a chance to say goodbye and offers you a chance to thank guests one last time before everyone parts ways. Not all of your guests will still be in town, but it is a nice gesture for those who are. A couple of tips for planning your send-off brunch:

• Have a themed brunch that ties into your honeymoon location. (Off to a tropical island? Serve fruity drinks to get the party started.)
• Consider hotel checkout times (usually 10-11am) so you don’t plan the brunch too late, giving guests nowhere to go in the in-between.
• Have your brunch in a relaxed environment like a family member or friend’s backyard or a banquet room at the hotel where a majority of your guests are staying.

• 

• 

Plan Your Wedding Weekend with Antonia Baker Experience

Now you’re dreaming about the perfect wedding weekend for you and your guests. We can make it a reality for you! At Antonia Baker Experience, we know what it takes to plan a spectacular wedding weekend. From the welcome party to the farewell brunch to everything in between, let’s make your wedding unforgettable. Contact us today!