4 Ideas for Elevating Your Wedding Guests' Experience from a Minneapolis Wedding Photographer

Gone are the days where couples send their guests home with a small container of mints or bag of M&M's (nothing against candy, I do love a sweet treat!) that coordinate with the bridesmaids dresses, we are ALL about wedding day experiences. As a Minneapolis wedding photographer who has been in the industry now for a couple of years, guests value the experience of a wedding day over a parting gift any day! Here is a look at some of my favorite ways to invest in and create an memorable experience for your wedding guests.

Ways to Elevate Your Wedding Experience for Your Guests

When it comes to elevating your guests experience, you will first want to think about how you want your wedding to feel the day of, and how you want your guests to think about their experience at your wedding when they're reminiscing. Do you want your wedding day to feel calm and intimate? Maybe you want your guests to be wowed and entertained? Do you want to encourage conversation amongst guests who might not know one another? Here are some of my favorite ways to set the mood and give your guests an experience to remember.

1. Send Them Home With a Photo

Dressed to the nines and surrounded by family and friends, of course your guests would LOVE to have a couple of photos of themselves from your wedding day! Here are some of my favorite ways I've seen couples gift their guests photos on their wedding day.

Photobooth

An oldy but a goody, a photo booth is such a fun and simple way to give your guests a way to remember your wedding day. There are SO many fun photo booth companies out there, but one of my favorite set-ups are the retro inspired photo-booths that have curtains to pull, like this Minneapolis company's booth. Watching friends and family cram into a little booth to hop in a picture is SUCH a fun way to remember your night!

Formal Portraits

Though this was at it's peak popularity in the early 2000's, formal studio portraits are making a comeback! Couples are setting up a small studio in a corner of their venue with lights and a professional photographer to have a beautiful portrait taken. Families and couples LOVE having a beautiful high end portrait from your day, and you get to take home a whole album of photos of your loved ones looking their best.

2. Wedding Entertainment

Live wedding entertainment is such a fun way to get your family and friends get the energy up on your day! Wedding entertainment can happen at a few different parts of your day, starting as your guests enter the wedding and ending at the send off. Live entertainment keeps your guests animated, gives them something to talk about and get to know other guests and keeps your guests entertained for longer!

Magician at Cocktail Hour

Having a magician at your cocktail hour and as your guests are sitting down for dinner creates so many fun experiences and gets your guests SO excited to celebrate. Magicians or a singular magician will walk around with a handful of tricks and performances to wow the crowd and keep them entertained. Magicians keep cocktail hour exciting and give your guests something to talk about with one another.

Wedding Caricature Artists

One of my personal favorites is a wedding caricature artist! Artists will take pictures of couples during cocktail hour on their phone for reference photos and then draw each couple or guest as a small little piece of artwork for guests to take home.

Live Painting

Hire an artist to paint a scene from your wedding day! The artist will take a photo from your ceremony or reception and paint the image live in front of your guests throughout the course of the reception. Then at the end of the night or a week or two after the reception, once the artist has put on the finishing touches, you can take home your painting!

3. Take Home Items

Guests LOVE taking home something creative or custom to your wedding day! When it comes to choosing an item to offer your guests, lean into your own personalities and things that you and your partner like. Things like custom drink glasses, thrifted mugs or champagne glasses or even just a simple love letter can elevate your guests experience.

Custom Drink Glasses

This has been SUCH a fun trend in the wedding scene the last couple of years specially for those who like to thrift! Collect a variety of drink ware in a single category such as coffee mugs, depression glass, champagne flutes or beer mugs! The unique glassware makes for a great conversation starter and gives you and your partner something fun to do in the year leading up to your wedding day!

Flash Tattoos

Honestly, this is one of the most hardcore trends I've ever scene. Essentially, couples hire a tattoo artist to give the newlyweds small little custom tattoos, THEN, the tattoo artist makes a small menu of other tattoos to offer guests on the wedding day. Sometimes the tattoo artist will even bring fake tattoos for friends and family who don't want a real tattoo but still want in on the fun.

Love Letters

Last but not least, love letters. Though this may be the simplest, it is also the most meaningful. Taking the time to write each of your guests a short little letter telling them how much the mean to you and how much you love them is a super simple way to show your guests some love. Some couples will also add in a photo of the guest with the bride or groom to add in a little extra personalization.

4. An Elevated Experience

My personal favorite way to show some extra love towards guests attending a wedding is creating an elevated experience for the wedding day. This can be done in a couple of different ways including extending the party, bringing up the energy or elevating experiences that are already expected on a wedding day!

Karaoke After Party

Though this may be simple, it is one of the best ways to end your night with a bang! Throwing an after party at a local bar, or even just heading out on the town with your wedding party to end the night is one of the easiest ways to end your night spoiling your favorite people.

Live Bands

Let me tell you, having a live band on your wedding day keeps the dance floor PACKED. This simple change in your wedding experience makes for such a fun wedding night and keeps your guests out and dancing and singing along late into the night!

Interactive Foods

These days there are SO many fun ways to customize your dining experience for your guests. Whether you want to incorporate a Ben and Jerry's Ice cream bar, custom brewed beer flavors in honor of the couple, or late night snacks from the place the married couple had their first date are all simple and fun ways to make your wedding day memorable.

When it comes to creating a wedding day, there are SO many ideas out there to create a memorable experience. If you feel overwhelmed by all of the options you have, my suggestion to couples is to always lean into what you love the most. Your family and friends are there to celebrate you and your love and all of the things you love about life! Share those passions and experiences with them and I promise you will create a wedding day that they will never forget.

If you're on the hunt for a wedding photographer to document all of the experiences that make up your wedding day and document all of the special moments with your guests, I might be your girl! Contact me for more information on my wedding packages, availability, and for more tips on how to plan your perfect wedding!