What Would Aubrey Do: Wedding Welcome Party

Wedding season is approaching quickly which means it’s time for wedding welcome parties!

At 210 Events, we have had a slew of wedding welcome parties through the years. If you are new to the events world or have not had a wedding yet or ever, then you may be wondering what a wedding welcome party is. A wedding welcome party is an event that takes place the night before the wedding either after the rehearsal dinner or a replacement of the rehearsal dinner. Traditionally, the wedding hosts are responsible for entertaining their out-of-town guests the night before their wedding.

So now, you’re probably thinking, I have another thing to plan? That’s where I come in, I have some ways to make your wedding welcome party run smoothly, stay within your budget, look beautiful, and enjoyable for your guests.

Theme

As always, I am going to start with our theme. This theme is inspired by a wedding welcome party we had in the summer, they had a bunch of super cute mismatched vases and event pitchers with a lot of colorful florals. I am going to call the theme for this wedding welcome party, that we are planning today “Thrifted Floral”. Thrifted Floral is budget friendly, beautiful, classic, and eco-concious. Read more in this previous blog-post on other ways you can make your event more green.

Moving forward, our next step is planning the vision which includes decoration, stationary, food, drinks, venue, and programming.

A lot of wedding welcome parties fall on the day before your ceremony. For our hypothetical wedding welcome party, we are going to host it on a Friday afternoon. This event is going to replace the rehearsal dinner and will start at 3 pm and end at 6 pm. I would host this event in the Lounge and Roof Deck space in June. I would not expect all the wedding guests to attend this event, so I am estimating 70 people will show up. This space would be perfect for a group of 75 or less, that way in case of bad weather, everyone can fit inside the lounge.

Designing The Vision:

This wedding welcome party is meant to be simple and elegant, therefore the only decorations I will be using are thrifted vases, pitchers, glasses, etc. and flower-alternatives. We saw a lot of brides use Ling’s Moment and Sola Wood Flowers last year; these flower-alternatives are everlasting, and have huge potential to be re-used. You can buy these new, or thrift them: you can find tons of these types of flower decorations being resold by past brides on Facebook via their Marketplace or local Buy-Sell-Trade groups.

Your floral arranagements can be enhanced further by combining artificial blooms with fresh ones for added fullness and realism. Wholesale giants like Costco and Sam’s Club offer quality florals at great prices. Trader Joe’s is also a great place to find budget-friendly florals as well.

For my glassware, I would likely stick with either neutrals (like metallics or clear glass), or a color from the wedding colors. I would let the guests take these vases home with them, and donating the leftovers to the vendors.

For more inspiration, we have put together a pinterest board full inspiration. For more casual events such as this one, you can save money by forgoing formal invitations altogether. In the spirit of being eco-friendly, I’ll be sending digital invites via Paperless Post. I am also going to create a sign for this event so that guests know they are at the right place. There will be no menus, programs, or name cards for this event.

For my invitiations, paperless post has a lot of beautiful templates to choose from. Here are a couple that I absolutely love.

For signage, I will either keep is super simple or maybe add some artwork. I love these two options.

For this event, we are also going to develop a Spotify playlist to have on. Here is a playlist I have found that I really enjoy for this event.

Food and Drink

Now we move onto the fun part, delicious food and tasty drinks. Since we want to keep this event simple and within our budget, we are going to have pizza delivered from Bigalora. There will be no desserts for this event, as it is just a simple get together before the big day.

When it comes to the drink package, I want to be budget friendly but also I do not want my guests to feel like I cheaped out. Therefore, I am going to do 1 call level drink ticket per person. For a signature drink, I am going to do one drink for each spouse. For this event, we are going to do a negroni and an old fashioned for that classic, vintage feel to go with our theme. Our venue actually creates a digital bar menu for private events, so I’m good with just having the signature drinks displayed on our TVs, further cutting down the paper and printing needs.

Programming

Since this event is an open house event for the day before a wedding, there is not much programming needed. The guests will arrive and mingle amongst themselves. The one thing I want to make sure of is that the pizza arrives and is set out on time. Other than the food, I do not have any other programming needs.

What’s Next?

I will send out the invites a few months before the event. Since I used Paperless Post, I also use this great tool to collect RSVPs as well as a way to mass send out any reminders or updates. For example, I might send a message to guests the day-of the event with parking instructions, and directions to how to access the space. I’ll also place an order for any printed signage I need as well as thrifting some vases. If I’m going with artificial flowers, I’ll make the floral arrangements the night before (P.S. this could be a really fun group activity to do together, perhaps as a casual “bachlorette” party?). I will wait until the day of the event to buy any fresh florals so they don’t wilt and dry out in the June heat.

I hope this inspires you when you plan your wedding welcome party! If you are getting married this summer and are looking for a place to host your welcome party or rehearsal dinner, please fill out an inquiry form on our website. We would be so happy to host you.