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How to Make Your Wedding Guests Feel Special
Our wedding wasn’t typical. My husband wanted a small family ceremony at home followed by lunch (also just family) and then an after-party with all our friends, rather than a formal reception with boring speeches, opening Waltz etc. I was happy to go along with this plan as long my Dad marry us as it was to be the last wedding my Dad performed as a Minister.
It wasn’t about us as much as our guests and their comfort.
My husband’s family travelled from far to be with us, so we arranged a lovely house right across the road from the beach in a nearby coastal town for the whole family to stay in together, creating a holiday for all of us to share.
My husband’s daughter was our flower girl. From one big ring my husband had received as a youngster, we created my husband’s wedding band, my wedding ring and a special signature ring for my bonus daughter to signify and unite the three of us as a family.
And that’s how we crafted our own unique wedding day. We borrowed a friend’s Jukebox for the after-party and it was an absolute blast.
We also saved a ton of money. No bridesmaids dresses. No hiring of tuxes. No floral bouquets. No venue charges. No official photographer or videographer. No live band. No wedding cake.
Though some of our ideas are a little different to the ideas in the contributed post below, our focus was definitely on making our wedding guests feel special.
Make Your Wedding Guests Feel Special
It’s your special day – but it’s important that other people enjoy it too. If everyone is having fun around you, you’re more likely to be happy. It’s also likely to be more memorable for everyone involved. Here are five ways that you can make wedding guests feel special.
1. Design professional invites
An email or a Facebook group invite can often feel impersonal. Sending a physical invitation to someone’s address may not be as cheap but it can have more of an impact. There are plenty of sites in which you can order luxury wedding invitations that are personalised to your liking. You can even throw in gifts such as vouchers for help getting clothing. Make sure that you know everyone’s postal addresses and don’t leave sending them out too late.
2. Don’t skimp on food and drink
A good wedding needs to have enough food and drink, so leave enough room in your budget to splash out. A buffet is much cheaper than a sit down meal and could allow people to go up for seconds. Meanwhile, it could be worth putting some money behind the bar as a way of treating your guests to a few free drinks. Alternatively, you could put a few bottles of wine and soft drink on each table.
3. Add table gifts and toys
A few small extras on each table can make a big impact. You could add goodie bags with sweets or small gifts in. You could also place toys on the table for kids – disposable cameras are a great option as they offer kids the chance to take photos which you can then get developed afterwards (some of these photos are likely to be quite funny!). You could also offer conveniences for your guests such as flip flops under the table for any female guests tired of wearing heels.
4. Provide unique entertainment
A wedding DJ always makes for reliable entertainment, but you could also consider hiring extra entertainers to make your wedding that extra bit more memorable.
This could include a live band or singer, a magician to go around tables during the meal, a kid’s entertainer to keep children happy or even a catering service that cooks and performs at the table. Consider which entertainment option you think would be best suited to your wedding theme.
5. Thank your guests afterwards
Certain guests may have travelled a long way to be there for your special day. Others may have bought you gifts. There could also be guests who helped to organise the wedding and keep it running smoothly. Make sure that you thank all your guests – as with invites you can send out physical thank you notes as a nice gesture. You could even accompany this with some funny photos from the night.
What did you do to make your guests feel special on your wedding day?
Was your wedding traditional or unusual? Super pricey or low budget?
I welcome you to share details of your special day in the comments below.
