Recently, apart from the wedding and the rehearsal dinner, a third and fourth event has become a staple of many wedding weekends: the welcome party and recovery brunch.
Between planning a wedding, rehearsal dinner, and any other wedding weekend activities, there are a lot of details and decisions to manage. So why add more to the mix? Well, we’ve laid out our top three reasons why we think welcome parties, post-wedding brunch and wedding weekends are worth it.
1. MORE TIME WITH LOVED ONES
Your wedding is often the only time in your lives where everyone that you love will all be gathered together at once. And to celebrate you and your fiance nonetheless! Because of this, we love the idea of extending this special moment and getting even more time with all of your friends and family who may have traveled far and wide to be there to celebrate.
A welcome party allows you to gather in a much less formal setting and have a more casual catch-up with your loved ones. Definitely a win! A post-recovery brunch allows you and your guests to re-hash the wedding night, exchange photos and see each-other one last time before heading off back to everyday life.
2. RELIEVE SOME PRESSURE
Welcome parties tend to relieve some stress for both you and your guests by getting the meeting and greeting out of the way on the first night.
For you, on your wedding day, there are so many moving parts and and demands on your time while you’re simultaneously trying to live in the moment and soak it all up. It can be a true challenge to make sure you’ve had a chance to chat with all of your guests and thank them for coming and supporting you on your wedding day. A welcome party in advance of your day more likely ensures that you will get time with everyone and alleviates the pressure you’ll feel to squeeze it all in over the course of a few hours during your wedding reception.
Similarly for guests who may not know many other guests, welcome parties can break the ice a bit! A welcome event allows your best college friend to meet your fun cousins or your coworkers in a lower pressure setting, so that when it comes to finding a seat during the ceremony, there’s a familiar face or two in the crowd.
3. CREATE AN AMAZING GUEST EXPERIENCE
We may be partial to this perk, because it’s what we do best, but we love to see a well-executed welcome party that serves as the perfect lead-up to the wedding day. Including subtle design clues that tie the welcome party to the wedding is a fun way to build anticipation for what the guests will see tomorrow. In addition, it’s another opportunity to express your personal style. Maybe you love disco balls but want a more traditional wedding day. The welcome party is a great event to have some unconventional fun with in terms of design and experience.
If your welcome party takes place at your wedding venue, it also allows guests to familiarize themselves with the space in advance. Which is certainly a pro as well. Who wants to be panicking trying to find parking right before the ceremony?!
With all the above, we can certainly say we are fans of welcome parties and full wedding weekends – whether it be a series of full-blown formal events, or some that are more of a simple gathering, count us in!
Ness McGovern Events & Design is New-Jersey based wedding planning company, specializing in full-planning and design services, we service New Jersey, New York City and up and down the northeast coast. We’ve had the pleasure of guiding couples through wedding planning in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and New York City, Vermont, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island.
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