How do I communicate with guests about my wedding?
Trust us when we say ‘happy guests = easy wedding life for you’! For now assume all your guests know nothing about your wedding but need to know everything! Some guests will be travel pros and others will be more cautious - perhaps due to covid, perhaps because they need more reassurance and direction from you.
Let us introduce you to your wedding comms plan! From the initial communication to the final details right before your wedding, your guests need to know a lot and with a destination wedding, you actually need to know lots from them!
Why bother? You’ll thank us when you don’t have umpteen messages asking where your welcome drinks are, or that Aunt Helen has a dairy intolerance (no gelato for you Helen!) or questions about how hot Italy is in August!
Hallelujah! You have booked your venue and are probably 18-24 months away from your epic Italian wedding. Now time to shout about your wedding from the rooftops...or in save the date form!
Whether you choose to go digital (some wedding websites offer a save the date email for free) or paper you will need to include the date and location of your celebrations i.e. 8th - 11th August 2024 in Puglia.
LL Tip: We love a classic looking Italian postcard style save the date. Having a local scene or your venue painted for the front adds personality to your wedding from the start.
Photo: Sam Docker
With your wedding still in the distance, setting up a wedding website and including the details on your save the dates will save you so much time when other details need to be sent out.
Don't worry, at this point the website might be quite bare. Perhaps include a page about you both, why you love Italy, how you got engaged. And obviously the page about the wedding with the date and region...at this point you don't even need to announce the venue.
LL Tip: If you are going to be asking some guests to stay at the venue with you, then you could separate out your audience. A: 'We have held a room for you at the wedding venue" B: Nothing needs to be mentioned about accommodation.
The flights are released by airlines and you can prompt guests to book travel and accommodation.
We cannot stress this enough - control where your guests are staying. Use your wedding website to make vetted suggestions for your friends and family. Firstly, you want your guests to be comfortable and have no accommodation dramas. But secondly, by having them all within a certain vicinity, organising transport shuttles will be so much easier for you.
Here, we would recommend you split the audience again and prompt the A's to confirm whether they want the room you have optioned for them. Obviously letting them know the cost of this. And for the B's, they get the list of your proposed accommodation.
LL Tip: Many areas in Italy are spread out, so the accommodation's location might say it's in the same village as your venue but it might be down a dirt track for miles or right on the other side of town, which is a nightmare to pass through.
Wedding countdown is on! You are about 6 months out and it is all getting very real now! We suggest waiting until this point to send your formal invitations.
The style and look of the invitation, we are sure has had many tweaks and your guests will be buzzing to receive it.
LL Tip: Christmas is already noisy and full of joy, so send your invites before the festive season or afterwards in January/February (if your wedding date allows). Your guests will have something super exciting to look forward to, getting them through the cold, dreary winter months!
Photo: MIKI Studios
We come back to the wedding website here, as now is the time to update it with details for all your wedding events - pre and post parties and transport details.
Your guests can RSVP via the website, which you will find super helpful when planning an Italian wedding as it is not merely a yes or no for the wedding day you need.
RSVPs to all events, dietary requirements, address details of guest accommodation, so you can organise transport and perhaps even flight details for taxis and coaches or consider giving them car hire details.
LL Tip: By giving guests every little detail on an easily accessible platform means you will avoid fielding constant questions and requests.
It's nearly wedding time! You will be packing up your suitcases and about to jet off to La Dolce Vita.
Final updates can be added to your website. These might include, bus timings for any shuttles you have organised from the guest accommodation to the venue and back again. If it is going to be seriously hot then warn guests to pack and dress appropriately. Your wedding planner's number is a good one to include too if guests urgently need help.
What a wedding! Best day ever! You will be floating in a state of wedding euphoria for a while!
Whilst you wait for your official thank you cards to arrive and you still reminiscing about every incredible detail, remember to pop out a thank you on the wedding website. LL Tip: We love when couples highlight their best moments and shout out anyone who was a star during the celebrations.
Do you love hearing about the little touches and tips which will add personality to your day. Come on over to our private Facebook group, and find out how over 800 other Italian wedding couples put their stamp on this unforgettable day.
Written by Emily Jennings, marketing person and wedding day-dreamer; lover of a boho vibe and a wedding night filled with a thousand lights.
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