How to plan a weekend wedding (with example three-day itinerary)

The rise in weekend weddings is a trend that shows no signs of slowing, with couples increasingly looking to extend their celebrations beyond a simple one-day affair. Weddings are, for the most part, a huge investment, so it makes sense that couples might want to elongate celebrations to make the most of this special time. Newlyweds often report how fast their wedding day passed them by. Blink, and it’s over!

A multi-day extravaganza typically starts on a Friday and ends on a Sunday and includes a whole itinerary of events across three days, from a welcome party on day one, to a farewell brunch on the final morning.

To allow couples a chance to truly switch off and connect with their guests, a weekend wedding is a great solution. They give you time to catch up with friends and family before the day itself, so you don’t feel overwhelmed on your big day, and ensure you’re truly present for one of the most important moments of your life.

How couples choose to spend a wedding weekend is completely up to them, but we find there are a few similarities between most multi-day celebrations, that ensure guests feel at ease, provide structure to the event, and ultimately offer plenty of time to socialise and relax.

We think a wedding weekend should include a mix of social activities, entertainment and relaxing moments to ensure guests don’t feel burnt out before the wedding has even begun. To help you organise the ultimate wedding weekend, we’ve compiled a list of tips with expert commentary from Jonathan Rowe, the owner of multi-day wedding venue Trevenna in Cornwall.

We’ve also put together an example weekend wedding itinerary to help you visualise the event and give you a sample structure to riff on. Ultimately, a successful multi-day wedding requires balancing fun activities with practical considerations, but with these handy tips, you’ll be well on your way.

How to plan a wedding weekend

When it comes to planning a multi-day celebration, there are a few more moving parts compared to a one-day wedding, but there's no reason why it can't be stress-free! From venue hire to entertainment to scheduling in dedicated chill time, plan the perfect wedding weekend with these must-know tips and tricks.

Choose an appropriate venue

Not all venues accommodate multi-day weddings, so you’ll need to refine your search to include venues that can cater for weekend-long events. We’re talking places that offer some form of accommodation, and preferably have an in-house caterer to help with meal planning. This means you want to be looking for UK weddings venues with accommodation to ensure that at least the happy couple, plus family and close friends, can stay the night after (and perhaps before) your wedding day. Larger venues, such as country houses, major barns and castles, might even be able to host your entire wedding party. Finally, we'd suggest looking for venues that offer some form of entertainment, from lawn games like croquet or boules, to pop-up vendors. This removes the hassle of having to bring in multiple external suppliers.

Trevenna is a dedicated multi-day wedding venue in Cornwall with generous accommodation for 45 guests

Consider your budget

It goes without saying, but weekend weddings tend to cost a lot more than a single day due to the extra meals involved, entertainment and rental, so it’s important to be realistic here. Does the venue offer pre-set packages that lays everything out upfront? How much are added extras, like welcome gifts and entertainment? Have a think about what you can fit into your budget, and do away with added extras if they take you over that number.

Not all weekend weddings have to last three days. To help save on costs, you could consider hosting a one-night, two-day celebration instead, which kicks off with the wedding itself and is followed by a more relaxed celebration the following day.

Not sure where you should be spending your money? Our wedding budget breakdown covers the major costs, and how much to spend on each.

Choose your date wisely

A weekend wedding is a full-on affair, and people will likely have to take holiday to attend the whole thing. For that reason, you might want to consider hosting your wedding over a bank holiday weekend, to give people a little extra breathing room once celebrations are over. This is particularly poignant if you have guests travelling from afar, as it gives them more time to make the journey back home. Naturally, bank holiday weekends are in high demand, so make sure to enquire far in advance!

Create an itinerary

A wedding weekend involves lots of different events which you’ll need to communicate with your guests early on. This not only ensures they know exactly what to expect beforehand, but it allows them to plan their travel arrangements accordingly. If you’re hosting a farewell brunch on the Sunday for example, but one of your guests has a five-hour drive home, then they may need to skip this part to allow for that.

Include a detailed wedding schedule on your wedding invitations, and if you have one, your wedding website, so that guests can easily access the all-important details.

Plan a welcome dinner

St Audries Park boasts accommodation for up to 100 guests, with a range of packages that span over one or two nights

A welcome dinner is a great way to get everyone together before the big day. One of the main benefits of a welcome dinner is that they offer the couple some extra time with their loved ones, so they feel less pressure to socialise and speak to everyone on the day itself. Everyone knows that a wedding day involves a lot of mingling, so this can help with feeling overwhelmed on the day. Jonathan concurs:

‘The night before makes the wedding day,’ he explains. ‘You've had time to get excited about seeing the key people, then you've got more time on the wedding day to socialise with everybody.’

Typically, a pre-wedding dinner just involves close friends and family, but if you want to make it a more open event, you could always consider hosting a drop-in welcome party instead, with drinks and nibbles. It's up to you, but hosting some sort of meal on day one is a must!

Mealtimes matter

Hosting guests over multiple days require a fair amount of meal planning. Everyone has to eat, after all! Jonathan suggests choosing a venue with in-house caterers to remove the headache of having to manage multiple caterers over multiple days. He says:

‘Think about how you're going to feed everybody. We do all the catering here because we have our own chefs, but if you're doing a three-day event in a dry hire place, you've got a lot of meals to sort out.’

‘Imagine having all your friends and having to feed them five times - and each time you're using a different caterer!'

‘Imagine having all your friends and having to feed them five times - and each time you're using a different caterer! You want to be sensible. Practically too: the more people you feed the more dietaries there are to contend with. Plus, with children's meals and suppliers, it becomes a bit like a cruise ship.'

If you’re worried about the cost of feeding people, consider choosing more relaxed dining options such as grazing tables, buffets and ready-made drinks, which are generally more affordable than a full-on sit-down meal. This more laid-back style of dining tends to be popular with guests as it allows people to mingle and offers a more relaxed structure to mealtimes.

Include entertainment

Entertainment plays a major role in a weekend wedding. While food and drink form a key part of proceedings, it’s the added extras that really make your wedding memorable. This doesn’t mean you need to plan a back-to-back agenda of activities, and actually, we’d recommend against that as you risk wearing guests out. But a few fun, unique ideas can go a long way. Jonathan shares some of the most popular forms of entertainment couples opt for at Trevenna:

‘Lots of people supply their own entertainment, but the sort of things we find people like here are pop-up cocktail bars, late-night munchies, after-parties, and nice breakfasts with Bloody Marys!

‘Those sorts of things really make it. It’s like a holiday, so you’ve got time to enjoy all those treats.’

Schedule in chill time

The Woodland at Wasing specialises in two-day weddings, if you don't fancy a full three-day affair

Make sure to plan some downtime into your itinerary. You don’t want to overwhelm guests with an action-packed schedule before the day itself, so make sure to it's important to offer people plenty of time to relax.

‘You want to have downtime as well,’ explains Jonathan. ‘Have a structure to your events so people know when they have to turn up, and then then they also know when they can have their own downtime. You can’t expect people to be on call for three days.’

A key tip is to avoid overdoing it on food and drink. ‘We tend to avoid putting on endless food. People like to go back to their rooms and just chill out! We’d also suggest going for a walk in the morning.’

This is where it’s really important to share a clear itinerary with guests. ‘Your information to your guests has to be spot on,’ says Jonathan.

Wedding weekend: An example three-day itinerary

We've laid out a simple three-day itinerary for a wedding from Friday to Sunday. This should give you an idea of what to include, and when, but can easily be adjusted to suit your preferences.

Friday

3pm – Guests arrive and check-in to accommodation
5pm – Casual drinks at the venue
7pm – Welcome dinner with family and close friends
9pm: Optional after-dinner drinks

Saturday

8am: Leisurely breakfast and optional activities (e.g. yoga, hike)
11am: Bridal party gets ready (hair and make-up)
12pm: A light lunch for on-site guests
2pm: Ceremony
3pm: Reception drinks
5pm: Wedding breakfast
7pm: Speeches and toasts
9pm: Dancing!

Sunday

11am: Farewell brunch
2pm: Departure

Big country homes are often equipped with everything you need for a multi-day wedding. Browse the best country house wedding venues in the UK if you like the thought of getting married in a stately home.