Before a wedding, a warm-up of sorts can help a lot. This is a wedding welcome party. So, if you want to give your guests a welcome before the wedding, then this guide is for you. It’s like planning any other party so you will need a cool venue and party rentals.

Planning A Wedding Welcome Party

What Do You Want In The Party?

A wedding welcome party is different for everyone. It can be extravagant or it can be intimate. It can be held on the night before the wedding or it can even be hosted a couple of days before the wedding. It’s really up to you and what you’re comfortable with.

If you want to take things slow and want to get plenty of rest before the big day, then maybe hosting the party the night before the wedding isn’t the best of ideas. If your guests are staying with you for a bit and you want to spend some quality time with them, then hosting a wedding welcome party once all the guests are there is perfect.

Also, you have the liberty to decide what activities you want to include at the party. There is no right or wrong way of throwing a wedding welcome party. You can get creative with it and have a blast.

Make A Budget

The next thing that you want to do when hosting a wedding welcome party is to think about the budget. This is even more important during a wedding because there are already a lot of expenses and you don’t want things to go overboard. Being careful with your finances will only make things a breeze for you in the long run.

You might feel like you can spend whatever amount you want since it’s your special day, and while that’s true for the most part, you also want to make smart decisions so that you don’t go broke right after the wedding. This is why having a budget is extremely important so that you don’t stray off the path.

Create A Guest List

This point is already half-done for you if you have a wedding guest list. Obviously, not everyone on the wedding guest list will make it to the wedding welcome party, as it is mostly for the guests who are gathered together with you and want to spend time with you.

So, if you want to make things a bit more organized, then you can make a smaller wedding welcome party guest list. It will be similar to creating any other party guest list but remember that these guests must also be invited to the wedding.

Decide On The Venue

The next thing to go over is deciding on a venue. This party is usually very intimate, with a maximum number of 50-80 people, so you don’t need a banquet or reception hall for it. You can go to a small restaurant or a countryside farmhouse if you’re feeling the vibe. You can also go for a quaint guest house if that’s something you fancy.

If you’re out of options, then you can even go for a house party in your backyard, if there’s enough space. There’s nothing that screams “chill” than a house party. However, when deciding on the venue, make sure that you’re touring a couple before finally picking one.

Prep For The Speeches

In a wedding welcome party, there are lots of speeches for the couple and just overall a fun time. So, if you want, you can allow the guests to make short speeches for you and your spouse-to-be.

Since, on the wedding day, there are already a lot of people lined up to give speeches at the reception, there might not be a chance for everyone. So, a wedding welcome party is the perfect way to get that over with. It also gives all of the guests time to prepare what they want to say to the couple starting their new lives. However, if this idea is too typical for you, you can also skip this and brainstorm any other cool idea.

Make It Unique

As mentioned previously, there are a lot of ways you can make your wedding welcome party unique. You don’t need to be elaborate in the party planning, and it doesn’t have to be too expensive either. What you want is to make the welcome party entertaining for the guests to remember for a long time.

You can include wedding-related games at the party like bingo, card games, and even quizzes on the couple. These small things make everything that much better.

Invitations For The Party

Another important thing that you need to do for the party is send out invitations. You can make separate invitations for the wedding welcome party, or if you want, you can include the date and venue for the welcome party in your main wedding invitation, and that’s recommended more because you don’t end up wasting a lot of invitations and it’s also easy for the guests to keep track of the events because let’s be real; too many invitations can be overwhelming.

So, make yours and everyone’s life easier with simple, but personalized invitations because that special touch is everything.

Decide On The Menu

You can’t have a party without food, right? Well, a wedding welcome party is either during the day or in the evening, so you will need to decide on the menu accordingly. If you want, you can go for a buffet setup or you can also go for a hi-tea menu.

Again, this will solely depend on the time of the day when you’re hosting the wedding welcome party and what you want to serve, so your planner can help you out with that. Whatever you do, don’t forget about dessert and some yummy and refreshing beverages because no meal is complete without these two things.

The Entertainment

A party is quite boring without any activities or entertainment. So, you want to ensure that everyone in your party is having fun to no extent. This is why having entertaining activities is important.

You want to make sure that there are tons of games for everyone. From photoshoots to interactive games and even ice-breaker conversations. These will be the things that will keep the guests occupied and they will have fun.

If you’re stumped for options, then you can always look for inspiration for wedding welcome party-themed activities and games and you’ll find a ton of new ideas.

Have A Timeline

You need to have a plan or timeline as to when the party is going to begin, when certain activities will be held, and when it’s time for the party to start winding up. This is something that slips through the cracks, and a lot of people can have haphazard wedding welcome parties, all because they don’t have a timetable of sorts. This is crucial so that everything is set in place and is being held at a certain time. It’s organized, it’s fuss-free and it’s convenient.

Conclusion

A wedding welcome party is often mistaken for a rehearsal dinner, but the two events are poles apart. Well, in this case, they can at least a day apart. So, get started! Create a budget keeping in mind that you will be planning your wedding ceremony and reception as well and find some good vendors and party tent rentals Northern VA.