Wedding After party? Do or Don't?

Another thing that makes me want to do the after party is that our receptions is only 6:30-11:30. that's only 5 hours- one of them being cocktail hour. Then dinner and toasts, garter/bouquet toss, cake cutting, i'm scared we will only have a few hours of actual party-ing.

After party sounds like fun, maybe you can sneak off to take of the bed room party first

Karlyn,

Chances are... after running around all day, doing all the wedding stuff... the last thing you will want to do is party more. Most brides I've worked with are usually exhausted after consuming alcohol, dancing, posing for pictures, being tugged by everyone, etc.

Your wedding will be a very emotional and long day. It's usually at least a 12 hour day for the bride/groom. I would recommend you do a good job and concentrate on the wedding reception. Don't cut corners, make sure everyone has fun... and you'll be thoroughly satisfied.

Good luck!

I was thinking the same thing too; but i too agree that after the LONG day you'll have you may want the "bedroom" party a little more than an after party. instead of incurring another cost (securing a vip room), maybe see if there is a local bar/pub and let them know that there might be a group of people trailing in from a wedding. they might give you some specials (food/alcohol) for your guests to enjoy without you or the fh kicking out more money!

Our reception ends at 5 and we've thought about going to a bar with friends after, but we're not committing ourselves to anything until 4:45 that day. Ours is a 12-5 reception, so it's only 5 hours too. That's typical, at least in my area. (Though the afternoon thing is new with the economy. ) Anyway, why not have a place in mind you want to go, have directions on hand for people who might join you, but not make a decision until last minute. He (or you) may feel differently at that point. You can still get the honeymoon suite at the casino's hotel for just the two of you even if your friends don't join you.

I can see where you are coming from Carlos- and Katrina- that is a good idea too!

Jakita- also a good idea!

NJ Bride- Another good idea! FH and I always go to Cuba Libre at trop or the Kazbah! I just think it'd be fun! But you are all right- we may not feel the same the day of- if i know us like i think I do- I'll end up wanting to go to he hotel and he will wanna go party- haha But that's a great idea! I haven't booked our honeymoon yet cuz we haven't totally decided where we wanna go. If we leave from AC airport- AC would be where we stay- if we leave from Philly- i'd wanna stay around there- so that would be a factor, too! Thank you!

If anything, you could always do the casino thing; get a room and such... Go upstairs, have a party , and meet everyone back down there! I went to a friends wedding last year and after their reception we all went to the bar in the hotel where we were at and hung out for a couple hours... It was fun!

And Karlyn - I know you mentioned in a thread about your FH and his job and evacuating and such because of the hurricane; any updates? You all okay?

If you plan on doing the deed that night, let your friends organize their own after party. You and your new hubby will be more than happy retiring to a private party.

I would have liked to do an after party. I wanted to have people come back to hotel but we ended up going just the two of us.

FH are doing an after party but not until the next day (since our reception doesn't end until 1am). It starts at 5pm and is in a more low key venue in the city. We're doing a cocktail style party and will use this as a chance to spend a little more time with everyone before they head off. I say enjoy your wedding day (and night) and leave the party for another time.

Speak with your venue, ours has a bar but since it is considered a destination wedding, we asked if we can use the ceremony room next to it. They said fine and for free not to clog up their hall ways you know

Personally, I know I will be dead tired by the end of the night, it'll be an early morning, (who knows how much sleep I'll get the night before) and a LOOOOOONG day.. we were kind of considering an after party, but once we thought about it, we decided to just come home to be together.

U are going to be so busy for a couple of days. do u think u might be tired by then? u want to be able to spend some "alone time" with him before you pass out. i cant talk tho our reception ends at 1am and we will probably be there the whole time

Hmmmm Def. a lot to think about. And Dana- FH job did close for the weekend- we are under a state of emergency until further notice and a lot of our town is very flooded- Luckily- we still have electric- but a lot of people around us dont. We had a tornado touch down in our town, too and we are still about 4 hours out from the worst of it! Wish us luck!

I'm just concerned because ours ends so early! 11:30 is really early for us! lol and I know a lot of people may not understand- but i'm gonna be SO excited that I won't be able to sleep- Sooooo I dunno the thing that Dana said about going to the casino's getting a room- having our own private party for a while and then meeting up with people- that sounds like a good compromise- and then we wont HAVE to go- if we do get up to the room and decided we'd like to make our "private party" an all night event!

Our reception will end at 9PM on a sunday, FH told me we needed to do an after party, I thought about it but I don't think we'll be doing it, I know I'll be very tired and all I'm gonna want to do is go home and rest with him. If anybody wants to continue party after the wedding, they have to do it on their own, I will not be spending money on another party right after this one, no way. Save your money, enjoy your hubby, if anything have your after party another time, maybe do a month-a-versary or something...

I understand. I feel the same way.

It's going to be hysterical if you guys take a private party break and come back down all flushed and glowy......ha! be prepared for harassment

For perspective, our reception ended at 8:30 on a Saturday with cocktail hour starting at 3:30 (the latest our church would do the wedding was 2pm, since they have Confessions later). We did not sleep until after midnight, but kept ourselves busy without an after party in other ways... opening cards, jacuzzi-ing, and 'private partying.' Lol... I think that's my new favorite euphemism. Yes, it's great to celebrate with your friends, but you'll be surprised how much you want to just be with your husband.