7 Ideas to Elevate the Experience of Your Wedding Guests
Something I’m always reminding my clients to do when planning their wedding day is to focus on what they want their wedding to look and feel like, not what they think it should look and feel like. This doesn’t mean you should neglect your wedding guests though, in fact it means the opposite! The experience your guests have on your wedding day is a huge contributor as to what your wedding day feels like. Of course everyone there will just be happy and excited to celebrate with you, but there’s a ton of fun ways that you can elevate the experience of your wedding guests! Here we’re going to take a look at 7 of my favorites to give you an idea of what I mean!!
1. Photo Booth
First up on our list is to have a photo booth for you and your guests to enjoy on the day of your wedding! This is SO much fun for your guests to engage with as it really allows them to let loose in front of the camera. Some people are naturally more camera shy, so it can be hard for them to fully cut loose when a photographer is taking their picture. In the case of a photo booth though there’s no one behind the camera, so it’s MUCH easier to get past that awkwardness. As an added bonus you’ll have a TON of extra photos from the night to add to your album, all of which become more and more entertaining as the night goes on!
I’m such a huge fan of this idea that I actually offer the option of a photo booth add-on for my wedding clients!!
2. Live Music
Another way to take your wedding guest’s experience to the next level is to include some form of live music into your wedding day! This can take shape in a couple different ways. You can have a full live band for your reception like Iva and Adam did, you can have a single musician make a surprise appearance during the reception like Jessie and Taylor’s surprise saxophonist, you can hire someone to play an acoustic guitar for your ceremony entrance, or something else entirely! Live music brings a certain feeling and energy to a wedding that just can’t be matched, which is why it is such a fantastic way to elevate the overall guest experience.
3. Interactive Art
I LOVE this idea for a wedding day! Hiring someone that does caricature artwork can be an incredibly fun and interactive experience for your guests to get involved with on the day of your wedding. On the flip side you could also go the route of hiring a live painter to capture a specific moment, like your first dance, in detail. Your guests would be able to stop by and admire the artist’s work, and at the end you’ll have a stunning one of a kind piece of art to remember the best day of your lives!
4. Sustainable Wedding Favors
This next topic is one that’s pretty important to me personally, as I actually went to school for environmental science and sustainability! Implementing this into my photography profession has led me to put out resources such as how to have a Leave No Trace elopement, but you can be equally eco-conscious when it comes to a wedding too! One of the biggest areas of waste are the wedding favors, as usually they’re something easily disposable that your guests realistically just have no use for. Opting for sustainable wedding favors, like something edible or thrifted coffee mugs that your guests can keep, is a great way of solving two problems at once! You get to show your love and respect to mother earth and your guests also have something they’ll actually use and enjoy!!
5. Cocktail Hour / Late Night Food Options
Let’s face it, everyone loves some good food at a wedding! Now you definitely want your reception dinner to be top notch, but there’s plenty of room to add in other food options throughout the day! There’s nothing like good cocktail hour hors devours or a late night snack to keep people fueled and happy. A few prime examples I have of this are Molly and Zack who had an ice cream truck pull up to their reception, Jessie and Taylor again who had charcuterie boards for their cocktail hour, and Marissa and Shawn who had a pizza truck at their reception! Some extra tasty treats are always sure to bring your wedding guest experience to that next level! Speaking of which…
6. An Open Bar
One of the most surefire ways to elevate the guest experience at your wedding is to have an open bar for the evening! Whether it’s all night long, or for a certain period of time, having an open bar makes things so easy for your guests. If you have the means to include this in your budget I highly recommend it, so long as you can trust your guests to not go too hard with it!!
7. Customized Seating Chart
One small detail that can also be a great way to enhance your guests experience is to have a customized seating chart for your reception! One way you could do this is by having each seating card be a photo of you with that specific guest. Something like this is a fantastic way to really show each one of your guests how much it means to you to have them there on your wedding day!
And there we have it, 7 fun ways for you to elevate your wedding guest’s experience! There are of course practically endless opportunities for you to take advantage of when it comes to making the most of your guest’s experience. If you have ideas of your own on how to do this I would LOVE to hear them! Head over to my contact page and send me an inquiry so that we can start planning your wedding day and find the best way for you to show your wedding guests just how excited you are to have them there!!
