Awhile back, I had bought DF and I tickets to Ed Sheeran (had I known he was going to propose, I may have just saved that money instead), so tonight is date night. Unfortunately, it coincides with the Pope's visit, so traffic is probably going to be a mess. Expenses include doggy day camp for the pups (my equivalent of babysitting: since we both are working and then going to be gone for the concert, I didn't want them to go stir crazy) and dinner (going to try and do HH somewhere so it's cheaper). I joked that we only had the budget for one shirt, so we'd have to share it to which DF responded 'You can just get one for yourself...so long as it's a medium...' 
I don't go to concerts often, so I like to have the shirt as a tangible thing to bring back the memory, but we'll see how dinner shakes out.
For those who've had/attended a destination wedding (looking at you VS), did you (or the hosts) plan additional events around it? Since the wedding is 100 people, I was only planning to invite the bridal party to the rehearsal dinner, but all of my research indicates I should host at least one other meal as a thank you to everyone for attending. I was originally thinking a picnic brunch the day after the wedding. DF shot that idea down saying once the wedding was over, it was done. I still think we should do something, so my new thought was to still limit the rehearsal dinner to the bridal party/family, but then have an informal evening cocktail hour with some light apps. Should I also arrange some sort of excursion? I'm not sure what's the best way to show my appreciation for everyone's presence without going totally broke to do so...
Date Night & Destination Wedding Etiquette
September 23rd, 2015 at 03:22 pm
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Are you planning on getting beautified at your destination or earlier? I actually got my nails done, spray tan done there, and had to meet the makeup artist to do a trial run and meet the hairdresser to do a discussion of what I wanted.
How many days are you there prior to the wedding?
My advice is spend time with your guests in the evening, it will be a good way to de-stress because you will be busy and there's nothing more relaxing than having a nice meal with your family and friends. Make the things you organise be as casual as possible so it doesn't look like you are covering their costs, and also so you don't have the burden of organising - eg tonight we will be at this place around 7pm, feel free to come to dinner too if you want. My friend's destination wedding we went to earlier this year, we went to a night market the night before leaving on the cruise. It was fun with a nice band, and we were free to eat and drink what we wanted. Check out restaurants with them. And then you will need to spend your daytime doing wedding stuff.
September 24th, 2015 at 08:25 pm 1443122702
It's sounding like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Sedona has plenty to keep people occupied. I'm just struggling to make sure everyone knows how much we appreciate them making the effort to join us. It's also really difficult to coordinate the logistics of 100 people getting together informally which is why I feel like I have to coordinate something.
September 24th, 2015 at 11:21 pm 1443133304