Fun Things To Do Before The Wedding

I'm not really into the whole plan a group get together on top of all the wedding events that are already an expectation of the wedding party. These people have their own lives and they don't need to be that excited for your wedding.

We don't really want traditional bachlorette and bachelor parties, even though our bridal party has offered to throw them so instead we are getting together with everyone and doing something jointly! We are considering dinner and drinks at Topgolf, so we can have something to do and those who want to drink can. (My sister and his brother are both only 20, so bar hoping is out). We even considered something like laser tag or just going out to a nice dinner all together.

Since we're doing a destination wedding, we're all vacationing there a few days prior and we're spending most of our days at the beach or pool. We're grabbing dinner together when we can. I think it's a great idea to do events before hand, especially everyone actually likes each other! lol

I'm not sure how many people you have but an escape room would also be an option.

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We actually aren't expecting anything of the wedding party. This would be something in place of that so that we could all get together and they wouldn't be financially responsible for it. We have already agreed (my FH and I) that we will take full financial responsibility for any parties they throw for us (if they refuse payment, we will give them gift cards to make up for what they spent) because we personally don't think that for our situation that it's fair to make them pay for it.
Respectfully, though, our friends are very excited about our engagement and pending marriage and we've asked them if they would be up for doing something like this in place of our respective parties and they all agreed that it (a joint get together) would be fun and exciting to do, we're just unsure of what exactly to do

However, I can totally understand how it may be seen as something that would be added on top of everything else and may be unnecessary. I didn't make it clear in my original posting that this would be swapped for our individual parties

We are doing a joint bachelor/bachlorette party at a water park. Our reason for this is 1. MOH and BM are under 21, and 2. My FH and I met at that water park when we were lifeguards in high school 😍

We didn't do anything. Two groomsmen were in two different countries, one bridesmaid was busy buying and moving into their first home so we weren't going to make get togethers they felt pressured to attend.

If you do have get togethers do not make them pay. If you are having them take time out of their lives to try to make friends with other people you should at the very least offer to pay for the outing and the meals/drinks. Id also make sure you know everyone's schedule so you aren't scheduling something that is going to intentionally exclude anyone. Good luck.

View Quoted Comment That's exactly what we are thinking!
Yes, I would totally be up for going out for a few drinks somewhere buy my sister will only be 16 and I want to make sure she's included
I'll definitely look into area places to see if there's places that have other things to do so there are a variety of things people can do, I never thought of that!

My friend's fiance did an escape room with his groomsmen the day before the wedding. He invited my fiance even though he wasn't a groomsmen (but I was a bridesmaid) so that was nice.

View Quoted Comment I never thought of that! I know we have one nearby so that would definitely be doable! It would be 10 people in total!

View Quoted Comment Yes, this would 100% be on us for paying for it.
That's the only thing that may be tough (varying schedules) but we would try to figure it out and honestly would only do something if EVERYONE could make it!

View Quoted Comment We would consider doing the same since we have multiple friends who are in long-term relationships and one who is already married

The night before the wedding we went out with all of the wedding party to Thor Ragnarok. We were planning to see it and just casually invited anyone who wanted to join to come along. It was a great way to relax before the wedding.

I see my girls on and off throughout the year, as they live in different states; however, when it comes to doing something collectively as a group, my mom will be hosting my bridal shower about 3 months prior, and my bachelorette weekend will be the weekend before my wedding. That's it.

IMO, we're all grown adults with our own lives and separate schedules. Perhaps your BP is more local, but getting everyone together even for these two events will be difficult in itself!

Our WP is our main group of friends. We always go out and hang out... not wedding related, though. We do top golf, main event, bowling, dinner.

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We are all within 40 minutes of each other. We would only commit to something if everyone could make it. Luckily, all but 2 of us have jobs that are M-F, so we can more than likely do something on the weekend

We didn't make our bridal party come to forced social gatherings, because we didn't feel it was necessary for them to all be best friends with each other, just because they're our best friends.

Most adults are perfectly capable of being friendly and getting along with one another on the wedding day, even if they've have no prior interaction. They really don't need to bond with each other in advance.

Of course if you want to make that your joint bachelor/ette party, then go ahead. But be careful about doing too many pre-wedding events, because no one will be as excited about your wedding as you and your FH.

That does sound like fun but, I cannot imagine planning one more event! LOL

We're all family/friends in our wedding party and prefer to hang out together anyway, so we tend to hang out together regardless. I think laser tag is super fun and you can always have a more relaxed game of bowling or arcade games afterwords. You can even tier off (if this is for a Bach party) when you're done and spend a few hours with just the girls.

Guys aren't always enthused with painting classes, but if you can wrangle them in there, they usually have fun with it anyway. You can also take a small road trip, movie night, dinner/brunch party, bar hop, or take a trip around town.

My bridesmaids are coming from abroad, so from the 8th through the 12th of October, we'll be doing all sorts of touristic stuff in NYC. We're also planning on going to a hockey game and maybe traveling to Atlantic City if we have the time 😊