If you are planning a destination wedding or hosting a lot of out of town guests, sometimes its nice to think about planning other activities around your wedding to welcome your guests. These events can be limited to your close set of friends and family, or can be inclusive of the entire guest list. This is in line with my older post about preparing an out of town gift box/bag for your guests staying in your hotel room blocks. http://blog.typeaplanning.com/2008/07/14/out-of-town-guest-gift-boxes-or-bags/
Often times the guests are arriving from different places in the world just for your wedding day. I know its already a huge expense to host the wedding itself, but for me, I like to think about how the guests have made travel and lodging arrange their trip as well. In my humble opinion, if its in your budget and schedule, consider hosting a welcome meal, activity or just a meet and greet at a bar. This also would be a nice break from all of the preparations of the wedding planning, and you can go out and see your guests on a more casual and low key basis.
Some of the great ones that I’ve seen and recommended in the past are:
- Pre-arranged wine tasting tours in Napa or Santa Barbara - many wineries are low cost tastes or might even be free. You can provide transportation via a shuttle, or just make the reservation at the winery and meet everyone there!
- Sunset boat cruise (booze cruise)Â along the river or just off the coast
- Casual luncheon or dinner the evening before the wedding
- Itinerary of local hot spots, including area museums, fairs, shopping, favorite restaurants, dessert locations, or your favorite places in the city
The key here is that it doesn’t have to be a full fledged, costly experience for your budget. Just be creative and think about easy going, fun things that people would enjoy. Your guests will go back home having just had their best experience attending a wedding.
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