Making your wedding day logistics just a bit easier – stay the night before at the place you intend to stay the night of!
In my experience, some of the most complicated logistics of the wedding day surround getting all the bride & groom’s luggage, toiletries and other necessities from where they will be getting ready to where they will be staying the night of the wedding. That includes a car!
My suggestion is that the bride (at the very least, if they do not wish to see each other or be around each other until the wedding) stay the night at the location, be it hotel, bed and breakfast or what have you, that they plan to stay for the wedding night. The cost of an extra night will be worth the investment, I promise you.
For starters, brides tend to have a lot of stuff – makeup and hair goop and tools and clothes and all sorts of details, not to mention their wedding dress, shoes, veil and jewelry! The bride does not bring all this (well, ok, she does, by default bring the dress, shoes, veil and jewelry) to the church with her (although I have had brides that did – I had my assistant pack her up and then we took all her and the grooms suitcases, there were 5, to the hotel for them from the church). And if she does, that means she has to spend time packing it all after she’s done using all the makeup and tools and such, which is usually after she’s dressed and ready to go. And because I don’t like my brides to do anything but leave for the ceremony after they are dressed (we try to reduce the number of opportunities to mess the dress), it usually isn’t such a good idea. Plus, brides tend to run late - it's the nature of the beast. It is best if the bride can leave the room as is and not have to worry about packing or carting. I can't tell you how many potential missteps there are (I have nightmares of a lonely suitcase tucked in the corner of a church...forgotten).
Another reason for staying the night before is that you’re already checked in! I’ve had to check many a bride & groom into their hotel room. This is something most people don’t think about – they go to the ceremony, then the reception and then….oh, we forgot that we have to check in before we can make our graceful exit to the room….and hope that the hotel had the forethought to tag them as a late check-in! If you checked in the previous night, everything is taken care of and ready for you – you already have your room key!
Now, you still need to worry about where the groom is going to dress and get ready. There are a couple options. Many hotels will offer a hospitality suite – which allows the groom and groomsmen a place to get ready. Usually the groom has more time in his schedule to pack up and move belongings if need be, plus they usually don’t have half as much! I typically take care of that for my grooms. If they decide to dress at home or another location, I suggest having one of the groomsmen or best man drive the groom and his luggage. The best man can then leave the groom in the car while he takes the luggage up to the room where the bride is getting ready – and if he can take a personal note from the groom to the bride – its a really nice touch! I don’t like my brides or grooms to drive on their wedding day, so it’s important to have transportation arranged, whether it’s a limo or a reliable friend or family member.
The last thing to consider is how, once the bride and groom arrive at their bridal suite the night of their wedding, they will depart…many a groom has forgotten to make sure to have transportation from their hotel to the airport or wherever their destination is. I find this happens most often when the bride and groom will be transported via limo, carriage or rented car & driver to the wedding, and then to their bridal suite from the wedding reception. Obviously it’s not a problem if they have planned on taking a taxi or limo to the airport or other destination when they leave, but many couples plan to drive themselves. SO, I always remember to ask about this and suggest, if they will need their car at the hotel or wherever they are staying for the wedding night, to have a friend follow them there so they can park it and have it there and ready for the newlyweds the day after! I would suggest the day before the wedding to be safe, since wedding days are always crazy, but if you have a well organized day of schedule, you can do it the day of.
If staying the night before is not an option, don’t worry, there are other ways to handle the transportation of personal items and cars. Assign a reliable and trusted friend (since many brides and grooms do NOT want anyone to know where they will be staying on their wedding night) to take your luggage over while you are doing pre-ceremony pictures – be sure you are finished getting ready early enough to accommodate the timing and don’t ask someone in your wedding party or immediate family that will need to be either in the pre-ceremony pictures or at the ceremony early. You can also have your limo or other transportation stop by the location where you got ready to pick up your stuff after the reception. Or, you can bring it with you to the ceremony and have someone make sure it gets into the limo or transportation to the reception and later to the bridal suite.
I cannot stress enough that whatever you decide, make it as simple and clear as possible. You do NOT want to be dealing with little details and headaches on your wedding day, so whatever you can do to make it easy, do it. Even if it means buying two sets of makeup bags and toiletries so you can leave your stuff at the location you got ready in for someone to pick up later, while still having all you need to brush your teeth the night of and get ready the day after – it’s worth it. As always, your investment in planning will make your wedding day outcomes all the better!
Happy Planning!
-Melissa
My suggestion is that the bride (at the very least, if they do not wish to see each other or be around each other until the wedding) stay the night at the location, be it hotel, bed and breakfast or what have you, that they plan to stay for the wedding night. The cost of an extra night will be worth the investment, I promise you.
For starters, brides tend to have a lot of stuff – makeup and hair goop and tools and clothes and all sorts of details, not to mention their wedding dress, shoes, veil and jewelry! The bride does not bring all this (well, ok, she does, by default bring the dress, shoes, veil and jewelry) to the church with her (although I have had brides that did – I had my assistant pack her up and then we took all her and the grooms suitcases, there were 5, to the hotel for them from the church). And if she does, that means she has to spend time packing it all after she’s done using all the makeup and tools and such, which is usually after she’s dressed and ready to go. And because I don’t like my brides to do anything but leave for the ceremony after they are dressed (we try to reduce the number of opportunities to mess the dress), it usually isn’t such a good idea. Plus, brides tend to run late - it's the nature of the beast. It is best if the bride can leave the room as is and not have to worry about packing or carting. I can't tell you how many potential missteps there are (I have nightmares of a lonely suitcase tucked in the corner of a church...forgotten).
Another reason for staying the night before is that you’re already checked in! I’ve had to check many a bride & groom into their hotel room. This is something most people don’t think about – they go to the ceremony, then the reception and then….oh, we forgot that we have to check in before we can make our graceful exit to the room….and hope that the hotel had the forethought to tag them as a late check-in! If you checked in the previous night, everything is taken care of and ready for you – you already have your room key!
Now, you still need to worry about where the groom is going to dress and get ready. There are a couple options. Many hotels will offer a hospitality suite – which allows the groom and groomsmen a place to get ready. Usually the groom has more time in his schedule to pack up and move belongings if need be, plus they usually don’t have half as much! I typically take care of that for my grooms. If they decide to dress at home or another location, I suggest having one of the groomsmen or best man drive the groom and his luggage. The best man can then leave the groom in the car while he takes the luggage up to the room where the bride is getting ready – and if he can take a personal note from the groom to the bride – its a really nice touch! I don’t like my brides or grooms to drive on their wedding day, so it’s important to have transportation arranged, whether it’s a limo or a reliable friend or family member.
The last thing to consider is how, once the bride and groom arrive at their bridal suite the night of their wedding, they will depart…many a groom has forgotten to make sure to have transportation from their hotel to the airport or wherever their destination is. I find this happens most often when the bride and groom will be transported via limo, carriage or rented car & driver to the wedding, and then to their bridal suite from the wedding reception. Obviously it’s not a problem if they have planned on taking a taxi or limo to the airport or other destination when they leave, but many couples plan to drive themselves. SO, I always remember to ask about this and suggest, if they will need their car at the hotel or wherever they are staying for the wedding night, to have a friend follow them there so they can park it and have it there and ready for the newlyweds the day after! I would suggest the day before the wedding to be safe, since wedding days are always crazy, but if you have a well organized day of schedule, you can do it the day of.
If staying the night before is not an option, don’t worry, there are other ways to handle the transportation of personal items and cars. Assign a reliable and trusted friend (since many brides and grooms do NOT want anyone to know where they will be staying on their wedding night) to take your luggage over while you are doing pre-ceremony pictures – be sure you are finished getting ready early enough to accommodate the timing and don’t ask someone in your wedding party or immediate family that will need to be either in the pre-ceremony pictures or at the ceremony early. You can also have your limo or other transportation stop by the location where you got ready to pick up your stuff after the reception. Or, you can bring it with you to the ceremony and have someone make sure it gets into the limo or transportation to the reception and later to the bridal suite.
I cannot stress enough that whatever you decide, make it as simple and clear as possible. You do NOT want to be dealing with little details and headaches on your wedding day, so whatever you can do to make it easy, do it. Even if it means buying two sets of makeup bags and toiletries so you can leave your stuff at the location you got ready in for someone to pick up later, while still having all you need to brush your teeth the night of and get ready the day after – it’s worth it. As always, your investment in planning will make your wedding day outcomes all the better!
Happy Planning!
-Melissa
posted by Melissa | 11:01 AM
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