WEDDING WEEKEND!
It’s finally here — the weekend of your wedding! Guests will start arriving from far and wide, ready to watch you tie the knot. But before that can happen, you need to greet your guests and make sure they are comfortable and happy.
OUT OF TOWN GUEST BAGS
If guests are checking into the hotel the evening before the wedding, the bride, groom, bridal party, and any family that will be involved in the wedding itself are likely to be at the rehearsal, and may not be able to personally greet guests. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t leave them with a good impression!
For brides that reserve a block of rooms at a particular hotel, you may be able to work with the staff to have small out-of-town gift bags placed in your guests’ rooms. You are not required to provide guests with anything, but these bags can provide guests with information about the city or area they will be staying in, and are a courteous way to greet those who traveled to be with you.
The first thing you’ll want to include in your information is a list of phone numbers so guests can get in touch with the family. You may want to include contact information for the bride, groom, bridal party members and the parents of both the bride and groom. This way, if guests have a question, there are several people with whom they can get in touch.
You should also include an insert about any group events that may be happening during the weekend that the guests are welcome to participate in without needing to RSVP. This may include drinks after the rehearsal dinner, a family meal before or after the wedding, a brunch or luncheon the day after the wedding, or any other scheduled activities that guests are welcome to attend.
Finally, because guests are likely going to be in town for at least 24 to 48 hours, you should provide them with ideas of things to do, see and eat in the area, since they will have time to themselves when the rest of the family is busy decorating the pews and directing vendors. Perhaps list your favorite restaurants or coffee shops, the city’s best attractions, or any special events that will be happening during the weekend. If you’d like, you may include a custom map of the area with these locations identified.
Once all the information is there, you can fill up the rest of the bag with water bottles, small snacks, candies, or other small trinkets.
THE REHEARSAL DINNER
After you finish rehearsing for your wedding, it’s common to have a rehearsal dinner. It can be at the same location as your rehearsal, or at a nearby restaurant or venue.
The invitations may be included in the invitation suite with the rest of the inserts, or it may be mailed to guests separately. For this invitation, the groom’s parents are traditionally the hosts, but anyone, other than the bride and groom, may host the rehearsal dinner.
When planning the rehearsal dinner, keep in mind how many guests will be coming in from far off places. Some choose to keep the rehearsal dinner small, only inviting those who were involved in the rehearsal, and perhaps a few close family friends. Others choose to invite all out-of-town guests to join the family for the rehearsal dinner. You may invite whoever you want, regarding guests, but the following people must be on the guest list: the bride and groom; both sets of their parents; the entire bridal party, including all bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers, flower girls and ring bearers; any family or friends involved in the processional, such as grandparents, or the ceremony, such as scripture readers; and the officiant and his or her spouse.
The formal wording for the rehearsal dinner invitation would be:
Mr. and Mrs. Russell Pierce
request the pleasure of your company
at a rehearsal dinner in honour of
Miss Erin Elizabeth Davis
and
Mr. Peter Martin Pierce
Friday, the 14th of April
at half past seven
Caffe Bistro
Dallas, Texas
You can also add RSVP information to the bottom, as the hosts will likely need a head count for the meal.
If the couple is hosting their own rehearsal dinner, they can adjust the wording like so:
Please join us as we celebrate
a rehearsal dinner in honor of
Miss Erin Elizabeth Davis
and
Mr. Peter Martin Pierce
Because the event is clearly supposed to take place at dinnertime, you do not need to specify “in the evening” after the time. Otherwise, the same wording for names, times, dates and locations applies to the rehearsal dinner invitation as it does for the main wedding invitation card.