Late night after party yay or nay?

Many people say the party ends way too soon with the standard 4 hour reception, including brides who say the night went by so fast. Plus for alot of people, a wedding is the only time you get all your friends and family in one location at the same time so they want to make it last as long as they can. Ask a handful of your potential guests what they think before you make the final decision.

The Uber/Lyft is a great idea regardless of the time. The only drawback is if someone drives to the wedding beforehand, will their vehicle still be there the next day if they catch the ride service at night? In which case, it would be better to take the ride service both ways.

I wouldn’t schedule anything formal in case you’re too tired or just want to go be with your husband! But if you’re tired and have energy, then you should go do something. That was what we did... our reception ended at 5, and as everyone was leaving we told our friends to meet in the lobby at 6:30 to go out to dinner

It all depends on the type of crowd you have. We contemplated it, but in the end decided not to. Most of our friends are in their mid-30s, some have kids, and we just didn't think it would be worth it. (And, it turns out, we were pretty wiped out, too!)

You can set up a code with carsharing services and set an amount for your guests to use - though they might surge price at that hour.

If you want to do it - do it, but I'd also try to give the bar a head's up!

So we had an impromptu after party. Well, impromptu for us. Our wedding had the exact same timeline on a Saturday. Apparently a bunch of people brought alcohol with them to the hotel and we ended up with a hotel room party. It started at my husband's grandparents room lol, but then moved to our room after we got back and had a chance to change. The hotel gave us a free upgrade so we had a whole living room. We all hung out until around 1:30am when I was too exhausted and we kicked everyone out. So yeah, we didn't plan on an after party, but multiple people came stocked with alcohol and snacks lol.

Some people do that! My wedding ended around 11p and god I was so tired by then And most everyone left too aha but some people are really into partying still after.

View Quoted Comment Totally agree with this. Don’t plan anything formal, just go with the flow. That way you aren’t locked into plans if you’re completely exhausted at the end of the night.

My wedding ended at 10 then we went to the bar within the hotel (hotel was our venue) so we didn't have to worry about catching a ride. We told our guests about our plans and left it up to them if they wanted to join us. I think it would totally fine for your guests to use Uber or Lyft.

Our venue has a pup in the basement that they use for wedding after parties after the reception since the pup closes for normal restaurant service before the reception ends. We aren't paying anything extra for it, so it doesn't cost us anything not to use it. At the very least, I think we'll go down with our parents to recap the day and be grateful, and the the most it'll be a great after party! I'm not sure what your concern is about using Uber or Lyft late at night though? It's safer than drunk driving and the vast, vast majority of ride service drivers are great people.

You have to know your crowd. I'm having an after party because my crowd will party until 2am so after the reception at 1030 they will want to continue. If you arent sure mention it to your bridal party and friends that its an option you are thinking about an after party at XXXX but it depends on how the day goes.

Thanks all.

I think we are going to do an after party! My FH and I are very involved in our friend groups and would love to end the day with them.

We did an after-party even though our reception ended at midnight! We had it at a bar that was a 1 minute walk to our hotel block. It was so much fun and I would highly recommend having one