How to Create an Unforgettable Multi-Day Wedding Experience

Your love story is unique and deserves more than a single day of celebration. Planning a multi-day wedding is gaining traction among couples, and for good reason! These occasions enhance the guest experience and offer multiple opportunities to dress up in your finest and party with your loved ones. As a wedding photographer, I love to capture all the elevated details and in-between moments of multi-day weddings. But how can you ensure your wedding weekend creates memories that will stand the test of time? Read on for my top tips!

Creating a Multi-Day Wedding Experience

Choose a Convenient Venue

Many multi-day weddings are also destination weddings. Accordingly, choosing a venue in a convenient location for travel by plane, train, or car is paramount—especially if you are going international. The fewer barriers your guests must overcome to reach your wedding destination, the more likely they will attend! For example, one couple of mine planned their wedding in a small, lesser-known town in Belgium, Westerlo. However, their guests and I could easily fly into Brussels Airport and hop on a train directly into town. As a result, they could celebrate with more of their loved ones!

Tips for planning a multi-day wedding, with details of a destination wedding weekend by Haley Day Photography

Host a Pre-Wedding Event (or Two!)

Pre-wedding events ramp up the excitement for the big day and offer even more opportunities for quality time with your guests. A welcome party is a wonderful way to ensure you and your partner can mingle with every guest without sacrificing too much time on your wedding day. It’s also a fun excuse for your guests to show off their fashion sense! Moreover, a welcome party is a potential outlet for showcasing another facet of your and your partner’s personalities that isn’t part of the wedding design.

For example, are you both sun worshippers? Plan an over-the-top pool party! Or, did you two bond over skiing, and now it’s your favorite pastime? Book a mountaintop ski lodge and have your guests arrive via gondola!

A multi-day wedding also allows for pre-wedding bonding time with your wedding party and any other guests who may have arrived early. Consider booking a spa day and enjoying some much-needed relaxation with your VIPs. Alternatively, book a tee time and play a half-round of golf! Anyone who doesn’t want to play or prefers to link up later can meet the golfers in the clubhouse for a happy hour afterward.

Live band for a wedding in Virginia, by Maryland Wedding Photographer Haley Day Photography

Book Live Reception Entertainment

Take it from me: live entertainment elevates an ordinary event into an exhilarating experience! The weddings I have attended with a live band—both as a photographer and as a guest—had the most contagious party atmospheres, with dance floors that remained full late into the night. Your guests will LOVE the vibe that only live music can bring!

In addition, consider booking a live painter. In my experience, guests are always floored watching a couple’s custom artwork come to life before their eyes. It’s pure wedding day magic! Plus, it provides a fun entertainment source for guests more inclined to sit and chat than get up and bust a move.

Live painter at a Virginia wedding, painting the wedding reception

Incorporate Personalized Touches

Personalized touches prevent a wedding day from feeling cookie-cutter (your love story is one-of-a-kind, so your wedding celebration should be too!). You can incorporate these into your decor, such as the custom-monogrammed napkins at this Virginia wedding. The linens placed at the guest’s table settings featured the initial of the couple’s new last name stitched into the fabric – talk about a wow moment! The couple also asked their stationer to design a custom wedding crest, which was later featured on their stunning cake. Your day-of stationery, menus, and even your dance floor are other potential locations to display a wedding crest.

In a twist on traditional wedding favors, consider swapping them for customized swag! The custom baseball hats were a hit among the guests at this wedding. Everyone wanted to get their hands on one and wore them all night. I’ve also seen guests go wild over custom sunglasses. They’re perfect as a comfort measure for an outdoor ceremony or as a dance floor prop!

Wedding cake decorated with a blue custom monogram crest Tips for planning a multi-day wedding

Consider Hosting a Post-Wedding Event

Hosting a post-wedding event works well for some couples, so it is worth mentioning. For example, a post-wedding brunch acts as a send-off for guests and provides some much-needed fuel after a long night of dancing. It also presents an additional opportunity to connect with those you didn’t have the chance to talk to on the wedding day.

However, the idea of a post-wedding event isn’t always appealing to couples or their guests. Some prefer to sleep in the next day rather than get up, put on another outfit, and head to another social event. That being said, my best advice is to make the decision that feels most like YOU! If you anticipate enjoying hosting a fancy brunch for your guests, go for it. If not, don’t feel bad about skipping a post-wedding event entirely.

When planning a multi-day wedding, remember that your guests love you! The excitement centered around your wedding is just as thrilling for them as it is for you, and your event is likely something they have been looking forward to all year. They want to lean into a weekend full of things the two of you like, so don’t be afraid to sprinkle in personalizations throughout! I specialize in photographing these weddings and would love to connect with you to discuss yours. Let’s work together to custom-tailor a package to your wedding photography needs.