Photo: Rebecca Stokes
Making It Easy
Helping Your Guests Attend Your Wedding
Having all the people you want at your wedding isn’t as easy as it once was, with friends and families living far and wide, having to work, and having other important commitments that might get in the way of them making it to you big day.
You’ll never be able to make it convenient for every guest, but if you follow these tips you’ll minimise the number of disappointing no-shows.
1. Secure your venue to set your date – Nothing can really happen with when you get married until you know where you’re getting married. The biggest mistake is to set the date, then find the venue, or venues, you had your heart set on aren’t available. So work with your venue to get the date you want, and be flexible, with a bunch of workable dates. If you want to know when you should start looking for a venue, the simple answer is ASAP if you don’t want to miss out.
2. Give guests plenty of warning – It’s obvious that it’s easier for guests to organise to attend your wedding if they get plenty of warning with a “save the date” email/card and invitations. Depending on circumstances, six months to a year is about right. If overseas travel is involved, especially in covid times, you might want to stretch that a little further.
3. But not too much warning – Much beyond a year to 18 months it’s often too difficult for people to know where they’ll be and what commitments they’ll have.
4. Work with the seasons – Winter weddings are a great idea to save money. And some people like the cosy feel of a wedding held largely indoors. Be aware, though, that some guests, particularly elderly ones, might be put off by an outdoor ceremony in low temperatures, which might also apply to early spring and late autumn.
5. Don’t skip town – We’ve heard of plenty of couples who decide on an out-of-town venue to save money or because of a special attachment to a particular place. Those are valid considerations, but be aware that guests having to travel and the cost of that, are major reasons why people regretfully cancel.
6. Avoid long weekends and holidays – Being a holiday, it’ll be easy for guests to attend, right? Actually, no. People often have plans for long weekends, and you can find yourself competing with family holidays and other commitments, festivals and the like. Often these have been organised before invitations went out.
7. Organise transport – Even in your home town or city, transport to and from the wedding can be a problem. See what you can do to solve that for your guests by organising coach or mini-van transport.
8. Stay in touch – For your most important guests, it’s a good idea to speak to them individually about a suitable date and location for your wedding. Beyond that, start a message group or social media page to keep people up-to-date with plans. It’ll make them feel involved and also help build the excitement as you get closer to the big day.
Related Posts
Don’t Stress The Small Stuff
No matter how well you've planned, as the wedding draws near it's easy to get caught up in those tiny little details such as cake toppers, favours, the music playlist and much, much more.
The big mistake is to get wrapped up in the small stuff which can ruin your big day, if you let it.
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
You've heard the old saying : "it takes a village". It was never more true than with organising a wedding.
So you don't get consumed by all the work, learn early how to delegate, and don't be shy about it. Your nearest and dearest will want to help.
De-stress With Fake Deadlines
When organising a wedding, time is rarely your friend. The biggest danger is that close to the date of the wedding you'll suddenly realise you have a million decisions to make, and things to organise, but time is fast running out. Use fake deadlines so you don't have to go to panic stations.