Wedding planning can be overwhelming. You’re trying to arrange a series of events and celebrations and incorporating a whole lot of guests into the proceedings. From the venue to the dress to the cake, there are endless things to take into consideration and you’re going to want to do what you can to make this the best experience for yourself and your partner and something truly memorable. Of course, this day is about you and your partner, but you do need to do what you can to make it as pleasant an experience as possible for your guests too. Here are a few considerations and special touches you might want to put into play to achieve this.
Send Invites Sooner Rather Than Later
Invites should be sent out as soon as possible. This gives your guests as much time as possible to prepare themselves for the big day. Whether this involves saving money to cover costs, booking time off work, arranging childcare or anything else. The sooner you send the invites the better.
Consider Cost
Everyone loves to attend wedding proceedings, but you do need to consider cost for your guests and expectations you may be putting on them. Weddings can be pretty expensive business, not just for you, but for people who need to make purchases, travel, and even consider accommodation in order to attend. This isn’t to say you have to completely arrange your big day around other people’s budgets, but you do need to accept that if attending your wedding is going to be costly, not everyone will be able to attend. For example, if you’re asking your guests to fly to places, take time off work, pay for accommodation and potentially pay for new clothes for the event, plus wedding gifts, not everyone’s budget will be able to stretch to fit.
Make It Light-Hearted
When it comes to weddings, not everything needs to be serious and sacred. Sure, some parts of it should, but not the entire ceremony or the reception itself. You need to lighten up some! Usually, one common part of a ceremony that can be light-hearted (outside of the vows) is when the ring bearer shows up. This is usually the perfect time to add some humor and to make it pretty cute, too. So, while you could simply give your maid of honor or best man the rings to hold, you could make it creative. Why not have a special box (like a top secret suitcase) with men’s wedding bands in it for a secret agent ring bearer child to hold?
If your wedding is on April Fool’s Day, you could pretend that you lost the rings (with the bride knowing, of course). In general, the exchange of rings doesn’t have to be as serious or romantic as the exchange of vows, and you don’t want to bore your guest, either. You could even choose a funny song that could come on during this time. Maybe the vows during the ring exchange can be funny? You don’t have to have the entire ceremony strict; make some of it unique and make it the way you want.
Consider Dietary Requirements
Most people serve food at their weddings, so it’s important to take your guests’ dietary preferences and requirements into account. It’s a good idea to send out some sort of survey beforehand, or attach a section to your wedding invites, that allows your guests to respond with information about their dietary needs. This could include preparing vegetarian, pescetarian, vegan, nut free, gluten free, dairy free, Halal, Kosher or other alternative options. If you are preparing food for the event yourself, such as baking your own cake, often, you can substitute certain ingredients to make the recipe more accommodating. You can try these xanthan gum substitutes for gluten-free baking.
Consider Dress Code
Most guests will want to know how to dress for your big day, so make sure to set out some clear dress codes to ensure that everyone can feel prepared and so that nobody feels uncomfortable or out of place by turning up wearing something entirely different to everyone else. This might be smart, smart casual or something specific, such as making sure to incorporate particular colors into their outfit.
Hopefully, taking some of these considerations into account and acting on them will help you to make your wedding a great experience for your guests!
