Excursions

nicolej518

Is anyone planning an excursion for their guests prior to the wedding? We will have roughly 40 people attending our wedding in the Dominican Republic, and I thought doing something the day before would be fun for everyone. I e-mailed a company and they sent me a brochure, and said they would offer a 5% pre-tax discount. When I openned the brochure....everything was $90+ per person. We are already considering putting a couple of thousand dollars toward the trip to reduce everyone's per person cost, and paying for an excursion on top of that seems like a lot of money when the whole point was to save money by going away, 

Any thoughts on this?

BMcLeodTeam

You could put in your info (wedding website/word of mouth) that you're taking part and there is a discount, and guests who choose to participate will pay to do so... we're doing that the day before the wedding... FI is going golfing (they have a well known course) and I am hitting the spa... extending the invite to any guests that are there to join if they choose. 

kimmykupcakes

We are planning some stuff, but not paying for most of it. It's a come if you want sort of thing.

Here's what we are doing:

Wednesday: Welcome BBQ Hosted

Thursday: Bridal lunch Hosted  This is only me and 3 gfs. They are going with me to my hair trail and then I'm treating them to lunch.
C*ck n Hen Party No Host   We are taking a sunset dinner cruise with our friends. After the cruise we are going to a tiki bar.

Friday: I've invited all of the ladies to go with me when I get my nails done the day before the wedding, if they want to get their's done, too.  We will go to lunch afterwards. No Host

Rehearsal dinner: This is the only thing FI's parents are paying for. I keep getting scared they will pull out of it last minute...  It's only family and friends who helped with the wedding. Host

Saturday: Wedding and reception. Hosted
Once wedding is over we are going to a luau and invited everyone to go with us. No Host

Sunday: Mahalo brunch that my mom, MOH and daughter's are making the food for. Hosted

Monday: I'm helping organize a snorkeling trip that a bunch of wedding guests are going on together. FI and I will be on our honeymoon by this time, but I knew it would be easier for me to set this up. Everyone is paying for themselves.

saric83

Could you do something at the resort for everyone instead?  We hosted a "welcome" cocktail hour the night before in lieu of doing a traditional groom's dinner and rehearsal since we were skipping those. 

We had some people flying in the day before the wedding, and people wanted to book their own excursions with the people they wanted to spend time with.  So we stayed away from it as much as possible, and everyone seemed really happy with that choice.  We had a few people who only came in for four days, and all of our excursions started around 7am, so they couldn't do one on their first day, last day, nor the wedding day, so we didn't want to steal their only full day to do whatever they wanted.  It could work great with a smaller group, but it might not be so good with 40 people.

WinstonsGirl

We're doing several optional group activities.  We didn't want to take away from anyone's vacation if they didn't want to join us.  Here's our plan - 

Friday - fireworks on the beach and perhaps dinner after

Sat - MOH and BM day - we're taking them to the north shore to go shark diving and surfing.  It's our gift to them

Sun - beach day - we're meeting and hanging out on the beach together, then family dinner (immediate family and wedding party)

Mon - Wedding

Wed - Hanauma Bay snorkelling.  We'll cover snorkle rentals for everyone, which isn't a lot.  

Fri - fireworks again if anyone is interested/missed the week before.  

They also do movies on the beach, so we'll suggest that too if they ever update the information

We wanted to offer some activities as people were heading to Hawaii because of us, but we also wanted people to have time to themselves.  Hope that helps

ETA: All this is on the wedding website already, so people could make plans around it

loramarie03

We are telling our guests to get in midafternoon Friday, and will host a welcome dinner that night. Our wedding activities will start the next day around 4 p.m. and guests will have to find their own things to do during the day. On Sunday, we are debating about hosting an excursion but not sure if we will pay for it or if they will. The one that we want to do is $50 per person. I guess it comes down to what our budget looks like once we send out the invites, and if our resort can get us a discount. Monday, depending how our flight works out, we may invite people to a restaurant to do brunch together, but that would be part of the AI package (not a formal event). 

ehlerss

We are not doing any exucursions that we are paying for.  Our wedding is on Friday and then I think on Sunday we will do a ziplining, bobsledding, Dunn's River Fall Excursion (we are getting married in Jamaica) and we are planning to invite our guests if they would like to come. It sounds like you are doing a lot so it could be listed on your website as an additional optional activity and then note the price per person and people should get the idea.  Good luck!

jtoly

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-theme-boards_destination-weddings_excursions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Theme BoardsForum:54Discussion:3420d952-d009-4e6e-8514-9ad829eec1bbPost:19f1a8a8-6484-4073-8c17-e86367292215">Re: Excursions</a>:
[QUOTE]We are not doing any exucursions that we are paying for.  Our wedding is on Friday and then I think on Sunday we will do a ziplining, bobsledding, Dunn's River Fall Excursion (we are getting married in Jamaica) and we are planning to invite our guests if they would like to come. It sounds like you are doing a lot so it could be listed on your website as an additional optional activity and then note the price per person and people should get the idea.  Good luck!
Posted by ehlerss[/QUOTE]



I wanna go bobsledding!! Cool runnings is one of my favorite movies, in fact, I watched it 4 or 5 times in a row while in labor before the nurses got sick of it and shut it off!

ehlerss

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-theme-boards_destination-weddings_excursions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Theme%20BoardsForum:54Discussion:3420d952-d009-4e6e-8514-9ad829eec1bbPost:52aee2ac-6b84-430c-810f-38e62a1823e2">Re: Excursions</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Excursions : I wanna go bobsledding!! Cool runnings is one of my favorite movies, in fact, I watched it 4 or 5 times in a row while in labor before the nurses got sick of it and shut it off!
Posted by jtoly[/QUOTE]

HAHAHA I know I love it too!!!! I am so excited to go bobsleding and that is totally the reason why we are doing it!