Wedding Weekends: The Wedding Trend We’re Loving

There are a lot of wedding trends that come and go, but wedding weekends are one we hope sticks around!

You spend a year (or two!) planning your wedding, everyone you love finally ends up in the same place…and then it’s over in what feels like five minutes.

Instead of putting all the pressure on one day, more couples are turning their weddings into full weekends with welcome parties, rehearsal dinners, pool days, after-parties, Sunday brunches—or simply more time to hang out with the people they don’t get to see nearly enough.

And that’s why we love this trend. It’s not really about adding more events. It’s about getting more time with your people!

Key Summary

• A wedding weekend gives you more time with the people you love.
• Welcome parties and casual gatherings can take some of the pressure off the wedding day.
• Not every guest needs to be invited to every event.
• The extra events don’t need to be elaborate or expensive.
• Leave some downtime! A wedding weekend should feel fun, not exhausting.

What Is a Wedding Weekend?

A wedding weekend is exactly what it sounds like: instead of the celebration beginning and ending on the wedding day, you plan a few opportunities to get together throughout the weekend.

Maybe yours looks like:

Friday: Rehearsal dinner + welcome drinks
Saturday: Wedding + after-party
Sunday: Coffee, brunch, or a pool day

Or maybe your closest friends arrive Thursday and you order pizza, open a bottle of wine, and spend the night catching up!

There are no rules here—and that’s kind of the point.

A wedding weekend doesn’t need to mean three days of scheduled events. It’s really about giving yourself more time to be together.

Why Are Couples Planning Full Wedding Weekends?

You Actually Get More Time With Your Guests

This is probably the biggest reason we love wedding weekends.

Think about your wedding guest list. Your childhood best friend might be there. Your college roommates. Your grandparents. Cousins you only see once a year. Friends who live across the country. Both sides of your family.

And somehow, you’re supposed to have a meaningful conversation with all of them while also taking photos, eating dinner, listening to speeches, doing your first dance, cutting the cake, and actually getting on the dance floor.

It’s a lot!

When you’ve already had drinks with everyone Friday night or know you’ll see them again Sunday morning, there’s a little less pressure on Saturday.

You don’t have to spend your entire reception worrying that you haven’t made it to Table 12 yet. You can be where you are and enjoy it.

Your Wedding Doesn’t Feel Like It’s Over So Quickly

There’s so much anticipation leading up to a wedding.

Then the day finally arrives and suddenly someone is playing the last song…

Extending the celebration gives you a chance to soak it all in a little longer!

Friday night has that we’re getting married tomorrow! excitement. Saturday is the big day. And Sunday morning, everyone is still together talking about everything that happened the night before.

Instead of one event, it starts to feel like an entire experience.

Everyone Else Gets More Time Together, Too

One of the sweetest parts of a wedding weekend is watching all of your different worlds start to blend together.

Your college friends meet your cousins. Your wedding party’s partners actually get to know each other. Your two families spend time together outside of the formal wedding.

Then by Saturday night, everyone already knows each other a little better. And that usually makes for a VERY fun dance floor!!

What Events Can You Include in a Wedding Weekend?

This is where you can have fun with it! Make it “you”!

A wedding weekend might include a rehearsal dinner, welcome party, pool party, casual BBQ, after-party, farewell brunch, or Sunday morning coffee.

But please don’t feel like you need to do all of those things.

Your welcome party could literally be pizza, beer and wine, and a few cocktail tables. Sunday morning could be bagels and coffee for whoever is still around.

The wedding is still the main event. Everything else can be easy!

In fact, we think that’s when wedding weekends are at their best.

Does Everyone Need to Be Invited to the Whole Wedding Weekend?

No!

This is something couples can easily overthink.

Your rehearsal dinner can still be an intimate dinner with your wedding party, their partners, and immediate family. Then you can invite additional guests to stop by afterward for welcome drinks.

Sunday brunch can be optional. Thursday night might only include the people staying onsite.

Not every event needs the same guest list.

You’re simply creating more opportunities to spend time together throughout the weekend.

Where Should You Host a Wedding Weekend?

Venues where you can really settle in are especially great for wedding weekends.

Private estates, vacation rentals that allow weddings, inns, camps, resorts, backyard properties, and venues with onsite accommodations give you the freedom to make the weekend feel like your own.

We especially love properties with multiple spaces to utilize for each event.

Friday night might happen by the pool. Saturday’s reception might be under a tent. Sunday morning everyone might end up drinking coffee on the patio.

You get completely different experiences without having to send everyone all over town.

Does a Wedding Weekend Cost More?

It certainly can—but it doesn’t have to turn into three full-scale weddings!!

If you add professional catering, florals, entertainment, rentals, and décor to every event, your budget is obviously going to grow.

But that’s not the only way to do it.

Let the wedding be the wedding. Let the other events be fun.

Order pizza. Hire a food truck. Have a backyard BBQ. Put out pastries and coffee Sunday morning. Make a playlist. DIY some flowers. Reuse rentals throughout the weekend.

Sometimes the best moments are the ones that aren’t quite as planned!

Don’t Forget to Leave Time for Nothing

This might actually be our favorite wedding-weekend advice: Don’t schedule every minute.

You don’t need to entertain your guests from the second they arrive until the second they leave.

Let people sleep in. Sit by the pool. Go into town. Have coffee with your bridesmaids. Take an afternoon nap. Give everyone a few hours to themselves before the next event.

Most importantly, give yourself some downtime.

The whole point of extending your wedding into a weekend is to have more time to enjoy it—not to give yourself three times as much to manage!

Why We Love the Wedding Weekend Trend

At the end of the day, this trend isn’t really about welcome parties or farewell brunches.

It’s about time.

More time with your parents. More time with the friends who flew in from across the country. More time for your families to get to know each other. More time to laugh, eat, dance, sit around the pool, and actually be present with the people who came to celebrate you.

After all the work that goes into bringing everyone you love together in one place, one day just feels really, really short.

So if you have the opportunity to stretch it out a little?

We say enjoy every second of it. 🤍

Planning a Wedding Weekend?

If you’re planning multiple events throughout your wedding weekend, it helps to think about your rentals as a whole rather than planning Friday, Saturday, and Sunday completely separately.

Tables, chairs, cocktail tables, bars, tents, lighting, and other rentals may be able to work across multiple events—and a little planning upfront can make the entire weekend easier.

At Baystate Tent & Party, we love helping couples create spaces for the big moments and all of the fun that happens around them.

Because your wedding might be the main event, but sometimes the pizza by the pool Friday night ends up being one of your favorite memories, too.