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One Day is Not Enough for a Wedding - How about turning it into a multi-day event? The rise of the weekend or 3-day Wedding

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One Day is Not Enough for a Wedding - How about turning it into a multi-day event? The rise of the weekend or 3-day Wedding

Known as a wedcation or a buddymoon, a multi-day event gives you the chance to spend quality time with all your favourite people, who get the chance have a mini-vacation while mingling and getting to know one another. When the time comes for the wedding ceremony, the high point of the stay, you will have created a “safe place” where the atmosphere is warm, relaxed and emotional.

Have a wedcation Instead of or as well as a honeymoon

When couples have already lived together, maybe for years, and taken many exciting trips to far-flung places or simply travel a lot for work, they don’t feel the need for a traditional honeymoon after their wedding.

Some feel it’s more special to get together and spend quality time with the people they love the most. After all, it’s getting harder and harder, with friends and family members spread across the globe, to gather everyone in one place and spend quality time together.

A multi-day wedding, with enough advance warning, gives people the perfect excuse to travel – especially if you are inviting people to a beautiful spot in Italy.

Let’s face it: who would say no to a mini-vacation in a spectacular venue with a significant event like a marriage tied in, not to mention great food and a plentiful supply of local wine?

“We go on a trip together every year so why miss this because we were getting married? We decided to go all-in and invite everyone to stay in the villa for the whole long weekend.”

Warm-up before the wedding and de-brief afterwards

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photo credits: C. Botsford

“The best part of an event is sharing gossip afterwards, looking at everyone’s photos, and talking about who made a fool of themselves at the disco or who got together with who. Couples in traditional weddings would get changed and leave straight after the reception for their honeymoon. I think that made sense in the old days, when it was literally your first night ever together, but nowadays it seems like such a pity to miss out on all the sharing and all the fun!”

When people are travelling great distances, and spending significant amounts of money to do so, it only seems fair to reward your guests with a little more than just one lavish meal.

Planning is, of course, of the essence as a long weekend requires you to provide a few pointers for your guests in advance and to arrange for several topical moments over the three days.

The pointers could be in terms of dress code — informal, beachside or swimming pool, cocktail, disco — or in terms of activities. These needn’t be necessarily fancy (read, expensive) events. There could be a pizza party by the pool, a picnic on the beach or a casual barbeque in the garden, or group activities related to the place, like boating or hiking.

You will need to be very clear (and unapologetic) if you will require your guests to contribute financially to any of these activities. It might be awkward if guests think breakfast, for example, is included and leave their wallets in their rooms, and then find they have to pay.

What kind of venues welcome a wedcation?

The rise in popularity of venues with multiple apartments or rooms in a small village (borgo, albergo diffuso) farm holiday homes (agriturismo), converted lakeside or seaside properties or renovated castles and villas in some of the spectacular “inner areas” of Italy reflects this trend. Especially out of season, venues just outside some of the more famous cities can be very affordable, leaving you with a budget to play with over more than one day. Some couples even rent a property with a pool on the normal tourist platforms and arrange the catering separately with their wedding planner.

Elena and Jen, for example, rented a 10-bedroom property in the Umbrian countryside, did a giant supermarket run for food and drinks, ordered pizza in from the local pizzeria for the Friday night warm-up by the pool, went out to the local hairdresser to get their hair done for the wedding on the Saturday afternoon, had a catering company bring in the reception dinner, and organised a barbeque on Sunday. Everything was local and the people in the village were so friendly, they all joined in, including providing babysitting and flowers. This gave the wedding a specially local flavour and really helped create an authentic atmosphere for the ceremony.

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photo credits: C. Botsford

Why share your honeymoon with family and friends?

A survey by the online wedding hub, Hitched, found a fifth of couples intending to marry would consider having a wedcation or buddymoon.

The boom started straight after the pandemic when everyone had been apart from their family during the lockdown and people were desperate to re-establish family connections and see friends they had been separated from.

Sharing their honeymoon with family and friends was the best decision ever, Jen and Elena said, and they really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere they created in their rental villa. They had saved money during lockdown and were able to afford much better accommodation in Italy than they had originally thought and budgeted for.

They were also thrilled to be surrounded by their friends who had recently started families, who all said they wouldn’t have come for a one-day wedding event but were pleased to have a mini-break with their partners and kids. Jen and Elena were thinking of trying for a baby themselves and were encouraged to see that their friends were still able to travel and enjoy themselves, even though they had young kids.

Another advantage for them was that they drove over from the UK with their wedding dresses in the back of the car and had wheels for the whole trip.

Jen says everyone wants to copy their idea now they’ve seen how it’s done and what a great time you can have.

Robert and Maisie came over to Italy from the US with their immediate family and best friends — 12 people in all — who all stayed together in a beautiful rented farmhouse with a garden and a pool. They had separate hen and stag nights on the Thursday evening, recovered on Friday and held the intimate wedding ceremony on the Saturday afternoon.

The bride said, “The atmosphere in the house as we were all getting ready for the wedding was so supportive. We were fighting for the bathrooms and sneaking peeks at each other’s outfits, but it was all a big laugh. We didn’t want to take things too seriously, and were kind of horsing around (we’d also had a few glasses of bubbly by that point!) but the amazing thing was how solemn and beautiful the actual ceremony was. Everyone was totally into it and loved being there in a circle, supporting us in this giant step of getting married. Afterwards, we all relaxed into the party and dancing. It was truly magic.”

So, get planning, decide on a date, and get your friends and family on board. You’re going on a wedcation together!

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