It may surprise you, but most of the couples we work with planning weddings in the Hudson Valley do not live here full time. Instead, many live in more metropolitan areas (like NYC). Couples choose Upstate New York wedding venues to share an experience with their closest family and friends outside of the busyness of the city. Because most, if not all, guests are traveling to the destination, couples often host entire destination wedding weekends complete with rehearsal dinners, morning after brunches, and sometimes even a tour or group activity (a pool party or an afternoon BBQ is always a good idea). We know you might already have ideas for your destination wedding weekend and today, we wanted to bring you a few tips for planning your destination wedding invitations. You need to include a little more than what you may have needed to get married in the city.
Before we get too far into the details, a quick introduction. I’m Angela – the creative director and lead designer here at Elite Wedding and Event Planning. You can read more about me and my incredible team here. I have been a wedding and event planner in Hudson Valley for over 9 years now and I am continuously inspired by our incredible couples and the work that we get to do. We love a good ballroom wedding as much as the next person but to be honest if that is what you are looking for, we are not the ones’ for you. We specialize in planning unique and memorable locations in stunning and untraditional wedding venues across Hudson Valley and the Catskills.
HUDSON VALLEY WEDDING PLANNER
If you are looking for a wedding planner to help you plan a wedding that is completely custom to you at an outdoor wedding venue that will likely force us to build your vision from the ground up, you have just found your wedding planners. Contact us here and we would love to learn more about you and your wedding day vision.
Enough about us… let’s dive into what you may need to include in your destination wedding invitations!
Welcome Cocktail Party or Welcome Dinner Invitation
One of the great things about a destination wedding weekend is that you’ll often have the chance to host a welcome event. Whether you are planning a cocktail hour or a formal dinner party, the details for your welcome event should be included in your invitation suite as a separate insert. At minimum, you need to include the date, time, and location of the welcome party. Guests often start arranging travel once they receive their invitation and so you want to get them the welcome party details at the same time!
On top of that, there are a few extra details you’ll want to include. First, your guests will also appreciate some insight into the dress code. Whether you are having a white party, a theme (like festival or ultra colorful!) or even just a note saying the dress code is casual, guest’s will appreciate it. Nobody wants to feel over or underdressed at a party. One line on the welcome event insert will keep your guests from feeling stressed. If you are arranging a shuttle (which we typically recommend for destination wedding events!), make sure to include the pick up and drop off details here as well.
Photo Credit: White Poppy Weddings
Post Wedding Event Invitation
Like we mentioned before, why not make the most of your destination wedding weekend? Whether you are planning a morning after brunch at the hotel, or another fun activity like a pool party or BBQ, consider adding an additional insert to hold all of the details for events after the wedding. Similar to the welcome party, you want to include the date, time, location and any attire recommendations. Oftentimes, our couples come to Hudson Valley because they love the destination and it has a special meaning to them. Don’t miss the chance to share that with your guests! We always love to plan a post wedding event!
Destination Wedding Invitations Details Card
Although the actual invitation card has details of the venue and the time, for a destination wedding you may want a separate details card with additional information. For our couples, we typically recommend including your wedding website (which may house your registry information), information about your hotel room blocks and shuttle schedules for the weekend. More than that, you may want to include a few of your favorite things to do in the area so your guests can start to plan their trip!
Photo Credit: HereNorth Photography
Your RSVP Card
Like any other wedding invitation suite, you should include an RSVP card. For a destination wedding weekend, you are going to want to make sure that your guests have the chance to RSVP individually for each event you will need a final count for. For a group activity like a pool party you may not need an exact count, but for something like a formal welcome dinner you will. Don’t forget to include a line for shuttles too!
Photo Credit: Osgood Weddings
Planning Your Destination Wedding Weekend
As you can see, planning a destination wedding weekend consists of a million tiny details coming together over the course of 2-4 days. While we recommend keeping each event separate with it’s own card, working with a custom wedding invitation designer can help you create a beautiful invitation suite that houses the details of your wedding day in a consistent and stunning way. It goes without saying that working with a wedding planner will make your life a lot easier when it comes to actually executing each event during your destination wedding weekend. If you are feeling inspired to start planning, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch here!
