Spending time with guests???!! Advice needed.

mollytn75

I cannot believe our big day is less than 3 weeks away! I am freaking a little bit about small details now that I have the big items out of the way. My concern right now is guests. We have 35 guests attending our wedding with groups arriving Wed, Thursday, and Friday. The basic run down of events is:

Wed: Downtown Las Vegas/Binions for dinner with 5 other couples. This is friends and my sister/brother in law.

Thursday night: Hosting Happy Hour at Koi followed by bachelorette/bachelor parties. At this point there will be 19 guests in vegas (not counting us).

Friday: Hosting Double Decker Bus Tour from 5 to 7. At this point ALL of our guests are in vegas. Here is where I am stumped - I had sent out information about making dinner reservations, show information etc. We are getting questions about what WE are doing that night. I am feeling a little guilty about not committing to something with guests that have just arrived on Friday.

Concerns - the friday group is going to be ready to party and I do NOT want either one of us hungover for the wedding. second, the friday arrivals are mixed so we couldnt just go to dinner with the Friday people. and third, there are lot of FI's siblings arriving on Friday (and my parents) and I dont want them to feel like we snubbed them?!

I was tempted to say we go have a solo dinner together and meet up with everyone later wherever they area at? But I am not sure that is realistic. Should I organize a dinner location for Friday night? I dont want to feel like we have to pay though and I am not sure where to suggest with that many poeple. I do know that my friends that are all arriving on Wednesday have already made reservations for themseleves Friday night.

We could plan something with some of FI's siblings for Sunday night (many are staying) but we could be exhausted by that time.

What would you do? Thoughts?

TIA!
Molly

Nadia E

Hi!! I would leave it as a free day personally as like u say some people may just wamt to chill also u need some couple and you time! I think u are being more than accomodating as we are only doing a bachelor and bacherlotte party then just the day and evening of wedding. You cant cater to everyone as its not your fault everyone is arriving seperately. I would possible pencil in a dinner for the sunday but just see how you feel. And from the point of view fron being a guest i would like to do my own thing and not feel i have to attend all these diff events. Hth xx

mollytn75

I should add that we not hosting Wed. night. This is just a fun night out with our friends that we all planned together. Anything that we are hosting we tried to do between the 5 and 7 pm so people could go do their own thing in the evenings if they wanted. It seems that our group does not really want to go off on their own!

mizutamababy

Almost there- you must be so excited!

Maybe my opinion doesn't matter much since I'm not so far along in my planning, but personally I think it would seem natural for the bride and groom to be busy doing last minute preparations and/or relaxing/gearing up for the big day on the day before.  It looks like you've been really accommodating to your guests and tried your best to let them enjoy the experience with you, yet give them the option of exploring on their own.

If your guests are really wanting to bond before the day,  why not spend time with them in a productive way by inviting them to help you out with any final, small preparations?  That way you get to do your do and they get to feel even more like a part of the big day.  Or, if you're all set, why not invite people to join you for a little pampering/swim/something relaxing that doesn't require you to stress over extra planning or budgeting.

aerinpegadrak

Honestly, I think where most brides run into trouble is trying to get everyone together as one big group multiple times.  Everyone's going to have different priorities for their time in Vegas, and other than the small groups that already know each other, they're not there to see each other, they're there to see YOU.

We were in town Thursday through Tuesday, with the wedding on Friday.  We scheduled events and invited everyone Thursday night through Saturday morning.  After that, we made plans more or less individually to meet up with people for dinner, hanging out, shopping, whatever.  Between the formally scheduled "wedding events" and the hanging out, we saw every single one of our 40-odd guests outside the reception, most multiple times.  We scheduled brunch the day after the wedding relatively late (11:00) so we had time to sleep in, but no one really needed more recovery time than that.

Don't overplan.  Have a rough idea of what's going on, be flexible, and keep your phone on.

vfriday

Your Friday guests will be fine if you left them on their own for the evening.  If you feel like you must get together with everyone, you can let everyone know that you and FI will be at a specific place- a bar, bowling, etc. at a specific time.  Let your guests know that they can stop by if they want to join you.  I wouldn't worry so much.  Remember, you will be spending your wedding day with all of them.

LilMissScareAll

 If you are planning on doing a solo dinner, than say so, I'm sure people will understand that you want some alone time. If you do want to meet up with these people suggest a time and place where you'll be "We're goning to have a dinner by ourselves friday night, but after we plan on stopping by [lounge/bar/club] around 9 if you want to meet up for a bit" It gives no implication that your hosting, doesn't obligate anyone to go, and you can leave when you get tired (but I would stick around for about an hour & a half - two hours)

j_jaye

Most of our guests are actually arriving the day before us (there are only 2 direct flights per week so most people are coming on the Saturday flight and we get in on the Sunday as we will already be state side). They will be in town from Sat to Sat with the wedding on a Wed. We have planned get togethers/events on the following nights/days"
Sunday- meet n greet (dinner)
Monday- Hens/Bucks nights (dinner)
Wednesday- Wedding woohoo!
Thursday- Brunch
Friday- Grand Canyon Tour (day)

We are just going to go with the flow on the other days/nights. If peole ask to catch up or a group of guests are planning on going out together we will probably tag along. I also know both mums will be getting together and organising peole as well lol! They wont be able to help themselves! 

We figure we owe it to our guests to catch up (since they have come so far) and there are also a lot of guests coming that live in other parts of the world who we only get to see once or twice a year anyway so we definately want to spend time with them.

ninaq06

Do what you can and don't stress.. I honestly did not see my own mother much during the days leading up to the wedding and after.. I was so busy with last min things and running around. So my best advice is when you have some free time and you want to hang out send out a text and say I am here if you want to stop by. That's what I did.

kteel717

Just do what you want too, guests will understand if you keep to yourselves the night before the wedding after the double decker. We are having a welcome party with the double decker bus the day before our wedding also. afterwards we are taking the wedding party out for the rehersal dinner until 10, and then calling it a night. Better to feel great on the day thats the most important

theanglfac

Are you and your friends the type of people to have smart phones? because then maybe you can leave it really casual and just say we don't know and then every time you end up some place be it the casino floor or a bar you can post it on facebook and people can find you and meet up with you if they want.

I think its fine if you want to dinner alone one night our plan is this

Wednesday  Night - Bridal shower for family close friends
Thursday Night - In suite cocktail party followed by bachelor/bachelorette
Friday day - we plan to rent a cabana at the pool for people to recover and we will just try to stop by when we can. Sort of an open door thing.
Friday night - rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (BP and family only
Saturday - Wedding
Sunday - we are leaving in the afternoon some time.