It’s common for Hong Kong couples to host large weddings, especially if both, the bride and groom, have big families. Weddings are always an occasion to get everyone together. After all, it’s a very important milestone to celebrate. If you’re planning a large wedding, this will help you organize what is needed to ensure that all your guests enjoy your special day. Read on now.
(1) Make sure you have enough space.
[From: This Bride and Groom Let Their Personalities Shine On Their Wedding Day / Photo: Kel Li Art Gallery]
Might be self-explanatory, but it makes a difference if guests can move freely and conveniently at your venue. You don’t want your wedding to feel crowded. Instead, you want everyone to feel comfortable.
(2) The layout matters.
[From: An Intimate, Modern Tropical Garden Wedding / Photo: Wittita Workspace Photography]
Because you will have a spacious venue, you need to plan your seating arrangement and layout properly. You want all the guests to be comfortable and you want the flow of movement from one place to another to be seamless. Work with your wedding planner and stylist on how you can maximize the venue layout and make it as comfortable for everyone as possible.
(3) Keep guests from having to queue.
[From: This Classic Wedding is Adorned with Beautiful Details in Hues of White and Gold / Photo: Saya Photography]
When you have a lot of guests, you want to make sure you keep them from lining up because this causes a lot of wasted time waiting. For drinks, a bar can cause a large crowd gathered waiting to be served. A buffet-style dinner will also cause really long lines. Consider a plated meal for your large wedding and think about adding extra servers to keep the food and drinks coming to the guests, not the other way around.
(4) Try to spend time with as many people as you can.
[From: A Delicate Blush and White Wedding That’s Overflowing with Emotions / Photo: Emma Fok Photography]
The thing with large weddings is that it’s difficult to spend time with guests because of the sheer number. What you can do is plan out some ways to be able to spend time with as much people as possible. You can consider spending time at each table in between the reception program and dinner. Or, you can encourage people to stay longer during the after party so you can mingle more.
(5) Keep guests engaged.
[From: This Wedding at Rosewood is Adorned with Elegant Gold Details / Photo: MC Photography]
The more guests you have, the more challenging it will be to keep them entertained. So for your large wedding, you’ll need to get creative. Setting up photo booths is always a good idea. Another way to keep guests engaged is by setting up some mini games or activities.
(6) Make the schedule with extra travel time in mind.
[From: This Couple Met at a Wedding, and Now, They’re Getting Married / Photo: StevenC Photography]
When planning the wedding day schedule, leave room for travel time. Getting a lot of guests to and from places–the pre-wedding venue, the ceremony venue, and the banquet venue–will take more time. Ideally, you’ll want these places to be very close to each other. Otherwise, be ready to extend the travel time needed on your wedding day.
(7) Make the necessary parking arrangements.
[From: Tones of Soft Blush Made This Wedding Exceptionally Dreamy / Photo: MC Photography]
Not all venues can hold a large number of cars, so you’ll need to check what other arrangements are available. Then for valet service, check if the venue can handle the number of guests you have. If they don’t have enough valet service personnel, your guests might end up queuing for a long time. Again, we want to avoid lines and long waiting periods.
(8) If you want to personalize, start in advance.
[From: This Bride and Groom Let Their Personalities Shine On Their Wedding Day / Photo: Kel Li Art Gallery]
Some couples like to add personal touches to even big weddings in order to still make it a very intimate and warm gathering. There are many ways to still add that extra feeling of thoughtfulness to a big wedding. If you want to do this, start way, way in advance. The last thing you want is to cram details for a large wedding.
(9) As for help during the wedding day.
[From: This Bride and Groom Let Their Personalities Shine On Their Wedding Day / Photo: Kel Li Art Gallery]
And lastly, don’t forget to ask help on the day of your wedding. You can always turn to family members and ask help from your bridesmaids on the wedding day. They can help usher guests, supervise travel needs from venue to venue, make quick fixes in case guests start to crowd areas, and more!
