Ultimate Guide for How to Plan an Unforgettable Wedding Weekend
More couples are looking to host more intimate and more experiential celebrations, which also means a rise in luxury multiple day weddings. The ultimate, fabulous wedding weekend. These prolonged festivities give you and your guests more quality time to bond and celebrate, so why not? This can be particularly special if your loved ones live all around the world, and those opportunities to see them grow increasingly rare.
From the welcome dinner to the post-wedding brunch, a wedding weekend allows you to much more meaningfully infuse family traditions into your celebration, make more memories together, and to more calmly enjoy the fruits of all your hard work!
Planning a destination wedding weekend and looking for wedding stationery? Reach out and contact me or email me rubana@crimsonletters.com here. Together we can create your vision on paper and make the most beautiful personalised stationery suite.
Photography by Tyler Rye.
One of the most common comments newlyweds make about their wedding day is just how quickly it flew by – so it’s not surprising that wedding weekends are such a popular trend, and we love it.
I’ve partnered with luxury wedding planner Valentina from The Stars Inside to give you our top tips on how to keep the festivities rolling while keeping guests happy and considering all details.
We’ll be covering everything from your bespoke luxury stationery to wedding planning in general, and we hope these ideas help you plan the ultimate wedding weekend!
Stationery Needs for your Wedding Weekend
A multiple day wedding calls gives you even more scope for some stunning, bespoke, luxury wedding stationery – so what’s not to love! If you’d like some wedding stationery designed have a look at these custom made French wedding invitations.
Stationery plays a key role for weekend weddings, as it can be your chance to inform your guests of the full itinerary of the celebrations.
Hand made wedding stationery by Crimson Letters. Photography by Tyler Rye.
You can include thoughtful suggestions here, like ideas of what to pack to make the most of the weekend and dress code guidelines for each event. Providing plenty of thorough information in your invite suite and your wedding website, if you have one, should hopefully go a long way in preventing well-meaning guests from contacting you frequently with questions!
You can also use your invite pack to give your guests a heads up on what they’ll be expected to pay for and generally what prices might be. For example, if they’ll be paying for a particular meal, you could write something like “See menu and pricing at [website]”. Or if you’re planning to pay for an element of the fun, you can say something like, “This event will be hosted by the couple.”
Below you can see an example of a wedding weekend’s stationery being made. This was an eight-paged small booklet, with watercolour illustrations, custom calligraphy and information about the large estate and the wedding venue. Visit here to see more.
Hand made wedding stationery by Crimson Letters.
Timing Tips for Your Wedding Weekend Stationery
Consider sending your save-the-dates with plenty of notice, and as soon as you can once you have your date and venue. Like destination weddings, multiple-day wedding celebrations come with more complicated logistics for your guests, like saving money for the trip and the accommodation, and booking days off work.
I would recommend sending your save the dates about six to eight months before your wedding date, if you can, and your invites as soon as you have all the information gathered that you wish to include.
If (similar to below) you’d like to see more moody black tie wedding inspiration have a look here.
View the above black tie wedding stationery by Crimson Letters. Photography by Auras Studios.
Giving your guests as much time as possible to plan their travel and get good rates is definitely a kindness they’ll be grateful for! When choosing your date, consider a holiday weekend for ease of getting days off work and for special rates that venues might have available on holidays and holiday weekends.
Wedding Planning Tips for a Multiple Wedding Day Event
One of the great advantages of having multiple days to celebrate with your guests is that, in addition to spending more time with you, they also have opportunity to get to know one another better.
They can mingle with other guests in an environment with less pressure.
Photography by Tyler Rye.
Which means they’re likely to be more relaxed and familiar by the time the wedding day comes along.
To help them do that, consider planning an icebreaking event for the night guests arrive, such as a welcome dinner, cocktail party, or a game night. On the eve of the wedding everyone is brimming with anticipation and in a very cheery, celebratory mood – which means an intimate or more casual dinner in a smaller venue can work really well.
Photography by Tyler Rye.
This can also be a good time for guests to present gifts to the couple, or the couple to present gifts to the wedding party or family members. A post-wedding brunch, pool party, or informal lunch can also be really fun, and a great way to wind down and exchange final thank-yous and good-byes.
Are you heading off on honeymoon right away? Perhaps your guests have contributed to your honeymoon fund?
It can be really special to give this post-wedding party a theme inspired by your travel plans (like a characteristic food of that country, for example as below).
Photography by Purple Tree
Activities for the Wedding Weekend
While planning your weekend schedule, try to keep activities short, comfortable, safe, and optional, so that there’s no feelings of awkwardness or overwhelm for any of your guests. Whether you choose to visit the coastline in groups, visiting local shops, or providing a fun activity.
Photography by Tyler Rye.
I would also recommend not planning too many extra commitments, so that you leave plenty of down time for guests to explore the area or rest if they’ve travelled a long way. If you’re planning multiple activities, try to keep them relatively close (within 15 – 30 mins) and provide transport information so guests have an easy way to get to each occasion.
If it’s an option that feels right for you, and within your budget, you could also consider hiring some local daycare or babysitters for parts of the weekend, to make your late-night partying a little more adult-friendly. Another tip is not to be afraid to hire some help – leaning too much on your wedding party or volunteers to help organise and set up the weekend can be quite a lot to handle!
Multi-day events are more logistically complex to plan and execute logistically, so do consider whether a wedding planner or on-the-day coordinator could be within your budget.
Photography by Tyler Rye.
Ideas for Welcome Packs
Preparing welcome packs or baskets for your guests to find upon arrival can be a really personal and exciting surprise for your loved ones. You can commission some bespoke gifts, source local mementos, and get really creative with setting the scene for your celebrations.
Water is always appreciated, as are any miniature versions of favourite snacks or treats! This is also a great place to leave a copy of the weekend itinerary, in case guests haven’t brought that info along with them.
A particularly thoughtful touch could be to include a map of the area, some suggestions on what to see and do nearby, and maybe even some delicious snacks for them to enjoy whilst exploring.
Thank you Notes for Guests
If you have time and your guest list isn’t too large, you could write thank you notes and welcome letters to each of your guests.
Here are some thank you notes that I created for a previous client. Her thank you cards were made to compliment her wedding weekend stationery. You can have a look behind the scenes at how I created her stationery here.
Using some beautiful handmade paper from Silk and Willow, as well as dried marigold flowers, I created some elegant, boho-chic floral thank you cards to follow her wedding weekend.
Try to think about practical items your guests might need or want during the weekend – some sunscreen for a hot location in summer, high heel protectors for a grassy venue, or shawls or umbrellas if the weather is looking menacing.
You could also include some interactive games that encourage guests to meet one another, like a treasure hunt, a “find the guest” scavenger hunt, or a cute matching game (so, for example, the person whose card says “Gin” needs to find the person whose card says “Tonic”).
For a fun twist on the traditional welcome basket, why not surprise guests with a treat in their hotel rooms each morning or night, like a plate of fresh-baked pastries from the hotel kitchens. These are all ideas for heartfelt, personal touches that can make your guests feel extra welcome and pampered.
Spending More Intelligently
Multiple day weddings will typically require a higher investment than single day celebrations, but there are still some ways that you can spend the money more intelligently.
When looking for your venue, make a note of any where accommodation is included in the price tag; as guests expect to pay for accommodation when attending a wedding, receiving this money back can help knock the price down a little. You can work with your venue manager and wedding planner to negotiate discounted room rates at the venue and nearby hotels, which you then pass on to your guests.
Catering and Food Arrangements for your Wedding Weekend
Catering is another area that can be quite costly when hosting guests for an entire weekend.
Do consider which meals you’d like to cover yourself, and which could be left to your guests or your parents. Another option is to arrange an informal meal where guests are encouraged to bring something to eat, for a grazing and sharing feast!
When it comes to drinks, you could reasonably opt to offer a full open bar at the wedding only, and have a limited bar or cash bar at the other parties. Not every meal has to be a formal sit-down, or heavy on alcohol, so do choose whatever is right for you and your budget.
Photography by Auras Studios.
Wedding Weekend Venue Ideas
There are a number of different venue types that are well suited for multiple day wedding celebrations, so it all depends on the kind of style that is right for you.
A large country house estate can work very well, as can farms with accommodation and glamping on site, or even well-connected city locations. Whichever option you choose, our top tip would be choose one great location that is all-inclusive, so that all the wedding-weekend festivities are held on the same property.
This cuts down transport costs and confusion. Alongside that it also keeps the energy of the celebration going without interruptions.
Some of our favourite multiple-day wedding venues here in the South of the UK include the Wilderness Reserve in Suffolk, Aynhoe Park in the Cotswolds, The Ned in London, Boconnoc in Cornwall, and Axnoller in Dorset.
That Holiday Feeling
If possible, consider choosing somewhere that is new to many or most of your guests for that “holiday feeling” that allows everyone to fully relax away from their daily routine. When visiting venues, make sure you find out policies and prices for exclusive use for multiple days. Also make a note of how much accommodation there is on site. If you can’t accommodate everyone at the venue, you can get in touch with nearby hotels to block book rooms and negotiate discounted rates.
Wedding venue, Aqueduto Events in Porto, Portugal. Photography by Auras Studios.
Another consideration.
When shortlisting your venue make sure it has the quantity and variety of spaces available that you’ll need.
You can keep all the separate activities feeling fresh and exciting (and not all in the same room). Finally, do ask whether the venue partners with any caterers that could look after you and your guests all weekend, as that will make the food and drink situation so much easier to manage!
We hope this guide has helped you plan your exciting weekend wedding! If you’re looking for any wedding planning support, Valentina would love to hear from you, and if you would like to work together on creating a luxurious stationery suite, do get in touch so we can discuss your vision.
You might also like to visit these posts:
20 Luxury Wedding Venues in Italy
8 Reasons to Hire a Wedding Invitation Designer