Too late to add a party?

You can have any party you want but at that point I really shouldn't be wedding related. If anything just have a housewarming party. I think it would be too much for people to have two receptions. Also really if you are getting a house a housewarming party is a great way to welcome people into your home and that sort and then you can have alcoholic beverages if you'd like.

View Quoted Comment I love the idea of a housewarming. Do you think it would be okay to have one the day of our wedding?

That sounds like a huge time commitment. They’ll be at your event at 1, stay for a few hours, then after you want them to come to your house for another party. You also mentioned a fire, so presumably that’s later In the evening. Are they going to leave go have dinner and then come to your house? I’d either combine the house party as your reception or host a different day (with plenty of time in between). You know your guests/family/friends but sounds like a lot to commit to in one days for one couple. Keep in mind your exhaustion level too! You and your FH may want time to relax after your event.

View Quoted Comment I feel like a lot of receptions last longer than 3 hours? How long is yours?


As for food, I’d have some at our house (they wouldn’t have to go get their own dinner). It gets dark around 6 at the time when we are having our wedding, so it would just be time for us to clean up the venue (minimally decorated) and head over to our house. Do you think that’s still too much? Even if it’s informal come/go as you please?

Are most of your guests local or are they traveling? I think it’s nice of you to want to do this. As I guest I might be a little confused why you didn’t just take your reception up a notch instead. Like why not book a venue that permits alcohol if you eventually want to offer it to your guests? At any rate, if you do it, maybe make it informal/casual. And try to take a nap on between. You’ll be getting up early and “on” the full time of your wedding and it can easily tire you out.

View Quoted Comment The specific venue is important to us and while my family rarely drinks, hers does like to drink? We are probably not waking up very early- we are doing our own hair (~5 minutes) and our own makeup (if we even wear any?).


I think if we do decide to do it, we would make it more casual and invite the people who would enjoy that type of event by word of mouth.

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I would not especially if you are unsure of having a house. Just do an after party for close people if you have the house by then and do the housewarming same day. I think it would not look good to have two official parties on the same day. It may come off like you want two sets of gifts. Focus on just the wedding.

View Quoted Comment I didn’t even think about looking like I was grabbing for gifts! Thanks for pointing that out- I definitely don’t want that. I just thought it would be nice for out of town guests (which is a lot of them) to see our new home.

If you continue the reception with an afterparty you really need to provide a meal. Once you start hosting you need to continue hosting until the event is over.
I also agree with pp that that is a very long day for guests. Perhaps on a different day have a party that is not wedding related?

View Quoted Comment I would definitely provide food at the after party- probably a cookout type deal with burgers and such. The reason I chose the wedding day was because we have a good deal of out of state family coming for the weekend and wanted to show them our home, but seems that the consensus is that it’s a bad idea.

View Quoted Comment That makes sense. One thing people frequently do is a less formal get together the day after the wedding. Perhaps you want to do that? It is frequently a brunch but a BBQ would work, too.

View Quoted Comment I like that idea. I might see what people’s travel times are for that day and when people are planning on leaving and see what we can come up with. Thanks!

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It may not but as a pp said I feel that would be a lot to coordinate. I would say after the park just keep the party going informally at your place. That is what I am thinking of doing with a few close friends and family. Maybe look up rec centers too for your reception. Some in my area are reasonably priced and let me bring outside food and alcohol.

View Quoted Comment The venue is very important to our religion, so we aren’t going to change to one that allows alcohol. But I like the idea of keeping the party going informally

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Ooooh ok so you are not even thinking to drink alcohol at all. LOL nvm. Yeah do an informal party after.

View Quoted Comment Okay cool thank you

It’s not too late to add a casual after party (but it is too early to send invites now). At the time we sent out invites (8 weeks before the wedding) we had all the ceremony and reception details worked out and included, and we included our website with a note that more details would be added — these would include shuttle details and welcome reception info. We planned a casual welcome reception within the month or so before the wedding , as we collected rsvps from guests and asked for travel info to try to get an idea of what we would be dealing with, crowdwise. When we got a feel for the numbers, we determined we could do a casual bar hang and host drinks and pizzas/apps and reserved a section of a bar. We put this event info on the website, on welcome letters that were given out at the hotel, and by word of mouth. ...and let me tell ya, word got OUT. We ended up with a lot more than I was expecting ! We also had an unofficial after party after the wedding at the same bar— not a hosted event, more like a casual mention that we’d probably end up there after the wedding, word spread similarly.


I did attend a wedding recently where there was a word of mouth invite that the couple was hosting coffee & pastries at their house the following morning. That was nice and we were happy to stop through but I will say that that was all word of mouth and led to a little bit of awkwardness. We had some conversations with people saying “oh will we see you there??” And it was like “welll....no one’s specifically invited US so. ...not sure” — we were interested but didn’t want to drop in without a more official invite — so like bride’s brother’s friend saying “yeah come!” didn’t do it for me. But when the bride’s parents personally extended the invite, we were in. There was also a moment in the hotel in the morning, we were saying goodbye to someone who was an uncle of the bride and someone said “oh you’re not going to the house?” And he was like “well we were never technically invited, so...no” anyway someone must’ve said something to someone because we got to the house and he was there! And he said he got called with an invite as soon as they got in the car! Which is kinda funny, but it’s also sad bc obviously he was interested and willing to go, but would not have done so without that call— so, do be careful with word of mouth, make sure details directly reach the important people. If it’s open invite, you could go so far as to announce it at the wedding so everyone is aware and no one feels excluded.

This is one of those things where I feel like if you're interested in it, DO IT! Of course take your time finding the right house for you and don't let this after-party influence your decision at all, but as far as the root question of "is August too late to create a wedding after party" I don't think it's too late at all!

You have plenty of time between now and then to work out the details you like, things like: will it be late evening/right after reception? Will it be wedding theme? Will everyone at the reception be invited? Will there be dinner or party snacks? etc. Personally for a bonfire, I'd like to have the opportunity to change out of a cocktail dress and into some jeans if the locations make sense where I could leave the reception, go to the hotel, then to the house!

If it doesn't make sense to do it at home, you can always head out on the town to a restaurant or cool bar to keep the party going and let those who want one have a drink