Is there anything more exciting than planning a wedding and having all your friends, family and loved ones gathered in wedding marquees in Surrey to watch you and your other half express your undying love for one another? Well, you could up the ante on the excitement if you decide to have a three-day wedding, one of the latest trends to have emerged in recent weeks and months.
Of course, the trend is being driven by famous faces aplenty, with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, Nicky Hilton and James Rothschild, and Kate Moss and Jamie Hince all going down this particular route. Back in 2006, Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar even went all out and had a week-long celebration in Rajasthan after their country wedding in Gloucestershire. Imagine the hilarity!
So is this something that you’d like to do yourself? It’s certainly worth thinking about and if you’ve got the budget then absolutely why not? You could have a pre-wedding party on the Friday, the actual wedding on the Saturday and then a recovery session on the Sunday before jetting off on your honeymoon… to fully recover from the festivities.
It’s a good idea if most of your guest list is put together of people you’ve not seen in ages. You’re not going to have time for a proper catch-up with all of them if you’re only celebrating over the course of a single day so a few extra days here and there might be appealing.
Guests may well appreciate it as well if they can’t make it to the actual wedding – they can still come and celebrate with you before the ceremony or afterwards, so you could find the concept a welcome one for many.
Bear in mind, however, that these kinds of weddings usually work best if most of your guests are all staying in the same place or locality, whether it’s the same hotel or resort, or in nearby guest houses. You want as many people as possible to come to all parts of your wedding weekend so make it as easy as possible for this to happen.
You will need to provide lots more entertainment than you would otherwise so that people don’t get bored and start wondering why you thought a three-day wedding was a good idea. Think about handing out welcome bags – you could include brochures for local events and attractions, but most importantly include a timeline of what’s going on over the weekend so they know where they need to be and when.
Consider setting up a wedding website to help it all run smoothly as well. This will give everyone an idea of what to expect as well as any special items they need to bring with them, like swimsuits if your venue has a pool. This will also help them plan ahead so they know what’s happening and what they can join in with. The more information, the better!
