Your wedding is probably the biggest event you will ever organise. You can find advice on almost every aspect of the wedding planning, but nobody ever talks about the day after the wedding. Depending on your wedding arrangements and how much of the decorating you are doing yourself, this could be a huge task. Ideally, you want to be involved as little as possible with any clear-up duties as this is your day to relax and soak in the events of your wedding, enjoying your first day as a married couple. If you can delegate some of these tasks to your wedding party or friends and family, this reduces the responsibility on you. This will help to keep your mind clear on your wedding day too as you won’t be thinking ahead.
If you have booked your wedding through a venue which offers a package(including all decor etc.) then the day after your wedding is fairly easy as the venue will take care of everything. If you have arranged a lot of the decoration yourself, you will have a lot more to clear up. Here is a list of the tasks you may(or may not) need to do the day after the wedding.
Collecting decorations
- Table decor
- Printed signs
- Vases
- Cake stand
- Place settings
- Miscellaneous decor
Returning rentals
- Returning groom outfit
- Returning other outfit hires
- Returning equipment hire(although most companies will do the collection themselves)
- Other rentals
If you have arranged some of your guests to do the clear-up, make sure to advise them what can be binned and what should be kept. You don’t want precious memories dumped but at the same time you also don’t want a load of unneeded bulk. Where should any decorations be taken once collected? If you are already away on honeymoon, you will also need to arrange a location where these items could be temporarily stored. A parent’s garage would be a good choice.
Every wedding is unique and this makes the clear-up process unique too. When thinking about your clear-up, just consider these few points.
- What needs to be collected?
- What can be binned?
- Who can do it?
- Is there enough room in their car?
- Where will it be stored?
Once you have these few points worked out, contact the relevant people and…..voila! Your clear up is organised.