Wedding Trends, Wedding Planning, Wedding Tips
8 Tips on Planning Your Destination Wedding Weekend Activities
Oct
Having your wedding miles away from your hometown or city means you are not only planning a wedding day but you are also organising a mini-vacation for your friends, family and loved ones. Of course, the wedding should always come first as there are dozens of details that need to be set and planned for the main event. However, since you are throwing a party a plane ride away from home, it would be great to include activities and events that the entire wedding party will enjoy.
As you plan for your weekend getaway with your guests in mind, here are a couple of tips we have rounded up to help you make the most out of the destination wedding.
Give a hearty welcome.
Start the wedding weekend with a bang and give the guests a warm welcome. Welcome dinners are customary for destination weddings and the couple or either parents of the bride or the groom can host the party. If you are leaning towards a more laid back welcome party, have a beer tasting instead or a simple cocktail party with wine, champagne and appetizers. The idea is to just get everyone acquainted and for the couple to formally meet everyone right before the formal wedding program starts.
Highlight the local scene.
Whether it is the guests’ first time in the place or not, it is great to integrate the local culture into your planned activities to fully appreciate the city or country. Gather interested guests to do a cooking class or arrange for a scheduled castle tour or museum visit. Taste the season’s best at the farmers’ market for a more casual group activity that everyone can enjoy together.
No need to break the bank.
The wedding is for the couple (or whoever is hosting) pay for as you have sent out formal invitations to everyone. The weekend activities, however, are not the couple’s obligation, except if you really want to splurge on making sure the guests have a great time. To avoid miscommunication, include an itinerary of the scheduled activities in the guests’ welcome bags or to be given out during the welcome dinner. As the activities are optional, you can add in the prices of each day tour or the total cost of the said activity. Don’t forget to assign a contact person, probably from the bridal party, who can oversee which guests will sign up for which activities.
Explore the great outdoors.
Go on a short hiking trip with the group or book a group yoga session right on the hotel grounds. Especially for city-dwellers, this wedding weekend might be a great chance for them to soak in the fresh air and bask in the golden sunlight.
Don’t forget the little ones.
If your family and friends are bringing along their kids to the wedding weekend, make sure to plan activities that include the little ones. The trip to the farmer’s market, yoga classes and even for the cooking classes, check to see if the little ones can participate so everybody gets to have a great time together. For adults-only activities, help the parents find a local babysitter or organise a team that can look after all of the kids while the parents enjoy a night out with the other adults.
Have fun during the night.
If most of the guests are going to spend their days going around town and doing the sightseeing on their own, you can shift to gathering the group during the night time instead. Go on a pub crawl with the bridal party or get together at the local watering hole to get a glimpse of the nightlife at that side of the globe.
End the weekend in style.
A morning-after brunch is the usual last item on the weekend itinerary, right before some guests head to the airport and while others transfer to the other side of town. Bid farewell to everyone with a small token that can remind them of the fun times you have shared during the short wedding weekend getaway. It could be a handy pack of locally made snack they can munch on during their trip home or a small useful personalised favour they can use daily.
