Throw a weekend wedding and draw out the celebrations!

So everyone hates that day-after feeling, like Boxing Day when things start to return to normality and the months of hype have faded. No one wants celebrations to end so why not spread the festivities over several days. Who ever said that your wedding has to be the best ‘day’ of your life? Why not make it the best weekend?

When Kiwi and I begun planning our Sydney wedding from London, none of our families had met. His clan are all in NZ and mine, Australia, so the thought of introducing our families for the first time on the actual day was not only daunting, it felt improper. We wanted all the important people on the day to have at least been introduced. As well as this, when you’re a couple residing some 10,000 miles away from the majority of your invited guests, you want to find a way to spend as much time catching up with everyone as possible.

So we organized a dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour for the bridal party and immediate family the night before the wedding. It was the perfect setting for out of town guests, some of whom had never been to Australia and a fantastic opportunity to share good food and wine with the most important people.

The morning of the wedding, the groom and his entourage headed out for a game of putt putt golf and a few cold beers in the sun while the girls enjoyed getting ready over a champagne breakfast in our hotel room followed by tea with scones and cakes.

Our intimate ceremony took place in the late afternoon in the gardens of Sydney’s most infamous historical sandstone castle and my parents hosted a lunch at their home the next day. They hired caterers to provide a buffet style meal of hot and cold meats, salads and masses of desserts, along with chairs, tables, crockery and cutlery which meant we didn’t need to do a thing except take pleasure in hearing again and again how superb our wedding was. The celebrations went on till late in the evening and for my new husband and I, it was the perfect end to 15 months of planning, organizing and coordinating.

In many ways a day after celebration can be more enjoyable than the main event simply because you as newlyweds are able to relax in more laid-back and stress-free surroundings without worrying about how your hair looks or whether you’re going to fluff the vows.

Celebrating over a whole weekend is particularly relevant for brides and grooms traveling from abroad as we did, as well as out of town guests. When significant travel is required for just one day of festivities it can be physically and mentally demanding and loaded with more expectation from you as a couple and your families.

A weekend wedding is all about getting the absolute most out of the biggest celebration you and your partner will ever have – your union. And it makes sense that couples reward their guests with festivities spread out over a few days.

Being victims of geography, it was important to my husband and I that our guests, many of whom we see every several years, were given the opportunity to spend quality time with us, rather than just a quick cuddle before we jetted off back to London.