Welcome Party or Morning After Brunch?

I vote welcome party. a lot of times after a wedding i'm tired or want to hit the road early and don't make it to the farewell brunch. just this past weekend i accidentally slept through the farewell brunch after a friend's wedding :-/

we are doing a traditional rehearsal dinner with just family/bridal party, and then hosting welcome cocktails at the hotel at 8:30 for all the out of town guests who want to join. maybe that is an option?

I vote morning after! It's always good to see the Bride and Groom in a nice informal setting and spend time with them after the wedding if they can swing it.

Since you're already having a rehearsal dinner for everyone I would say that kind of counts as a welcome anyway. I'd go with the brunch in this case, but present it as optional so that those rushing to get back home for whatever reason don't feel guilty if they can't make it.

We are doing basically what @Ella said. Standard rehearsal dinner invite list then cocktails for all OOT guests immediately after.

As a guest, it would definitely depend on my travel schedule. This will vary from guest to guest so it would be hard to pick between the two not knowing the guests' schedules.

As the bride, I'm SO happy that we did not have anything organized for the day after the wedding. We were exhausted (in a good way) but I really would not have wanted to get up and get ready to host people (again).

Thanks everyone! I agree, I think I'm leaning more towards using the RD as a double duty party. FH & I are still trying to work out the details and if it is feasible logistically, but we plan on renting a house (AirBnB) that's within walking distance to the venue. We'd likely have the rehearsal @ the venue with the appropriate ppl, then walk back to the house and have an intimate dinner with just them. Then afterwards, invite the OOT guests (and anyone else that wants to join in the festivities) over for drinks and lighter fare. We've been looking for houses big enough to sleep the WP & their SOs (and us of course; 10-12 total), so in theory a house that size would be large enough to comfortably entertain a mid-sized group.

Either or. We're doing a casual welcome dinner Friday night instead of rehearsal dinner. But I know a lot of my OOT guests are arriving Thursday night. We thought about doing a morning after brunch but decided we'd rather sleep in and not stress about another event. @Ella I like the idea of welcome cocktails.

I vote brunch- I'm having one just to like, chill after everything

I vote for the welcome party. There is no way I would have gotten my little butt out of bed in time for brunch the morning after my wedding.

I'm debating the same issue. My wedding is late on Saturday (6 pm, might push back to 7) so some people may not arrive until the day of. If we decide to do a brunch i'm thinking 11 since that's what time check out is for anyone leaving Sunday. Plus I figure people will want to eat b4 they hit the road or shortly thereafter. If given the option of a hearty brunch with friends and family or drive thru on the rd I'd pick brunch. Also it's FREE! I never turn down a free meal! lol

We had the same decision! Our wedding will be 3 hours away from the nearest city/where most of our guests will travel from. We are having a welcome dinner (no rehearsal or RD) and just letting people do their own thing Sunday morning after the wedding. The next day we want to sleep in, get brunch at our fave spot, and be on our own time frame. The welcome party sets the tone for the next day and will give you a chance to chat with/spend time with a lot more guests than you might the next day. Our welcome party is purely optional so if people aren't coming until late Fri or early Sat it's no biggie that they miss it we're doing casual pizza and beer on the beach so people can come/go as they please.

ETA: Myself, and many others in my group like to get up and leave for home early when we are traveling. I know with my circle we probably wouldn't have the biggest turn out for brunch, esp if it wasn't until 9 or 10.

I vote for a welcome party! I think guests will be traveling home on Sunday, and it's nice to get an early chance to welcome and say hi to everyone!

We hosted a welcome reception after the rehearsal dinner that was open to everyone. It was a huge hit and a ton of people came. Having some sort of welcome drinks is really popular with my friends, and we always just add the information to the wedding website and let our friends know by word of mouth! I also included the welcome reception details in the welcome bags we made.