Your post wedding brunch is the time for you and those closest to you to wind down and soak into the new reality that you are now a married couple.
It’s your first proper meal together as a married couple, and it’s in the company of those presumably most invested in your new marriage.
But don’t worry because there is no real pressure.
The wedding is already done at this point, and that’s the hard part.
The post wedding brunch is the easy part.
But there are still some things to know to help it go as smoothly and comfortably as possible.
Select a Good Venue
Unless you’re in a very remote location, you probably have at least a few solid venue options for your post wedding brunch.
If you are in a remote place with only one or two options, then you already know what your venue is going to be.
But if you’re not, there are a few things to consider to help you narrow down your choices.
Aesthetics & Seating
Yes, the food is important, but you also want to be able to relax and enjoy yourself there.
Before you reserve a time (assuming that reservations are necessary), drop in and have a look around to see whether or not you like the place.
If you or one of your guests has children, keep that in mind.
A post wedding brunch will generally be much more relaxed and casual than the wedding itself, but there is still an order to it.
So, ensuring the venue can accommodate everyone as needed is a good thing to do.
While looking around, pay especially close attention to the available seating options.
Are there any wraparound booths or long tables that can seat a large number of people?
Can the staff push multiple tables together or move things around so everyone can be closer together and talk without shouting across the room?
How about outdoor seating?
The Food, Obviously
While you’re checking out your candidate venues, be sure to examine their menus and specials closely.
Many restaurants offer different specials throughout the week or during different seasons.
In addition, many places can cater to you more specifically with special deals and packages if you reserve ahead of time.
In general, reserving everything ahead of time is a good idea to ensure you and your guests get what you want.
It’s also a good idea because you don’t want to risk the restaurant running out of something simply because they didn’t know you were all coming.
The menu you choose for your post wedding brunch should ideally be accommodating to all your guests.
So be mindful of any religious customs, allergies, or other dietary restrictions you or your guests might have.
It’s not a bad idea to ask about these things in advance.
Most chefs can modify items on the menu to be friendly to people with different diets.
Beverages
People often forget this one, but it’s important.
Many people don’t eat very much in the morning or even for lunch, making dinner the biggest meal of the day for them.
There is even a long tradition of this being so.
And this means that brunch for them will be about coffee and tea (or whatever else they drink) as much as the food.
If that’s true for you or any of your guests, you’ll want to ensure that your venue offers a decent variety of (preferably healthy) beverages along with the food.
Some reliable go tos are coffee, tea, fruit juice, smoothies, and hot chocolate.
But there are numerous versions of each of those.
For example, is the orange juice pure, or artificially orange flavored sugar water?
Which types of tea are on offer–green, black, peppermint, pomegranate, sweet, matcha, chamomile, etc.?
And I’m sure we don’t need to tell you how many different ways there are to make a cup of coffee (or how many kinds of coffee there are).
Coordinate With Your Vendors
It shouldn’t be too complicated if you’re simply reserving at a restaurant and handling everything with them in house.
You should still communicate and reserve everything with them ahead of time, though.
After all, you don’t want to give them some time and advance notice to stock up on whatever they need to and prepare for you and your guests.
Reserving and arranging things with them in advance also gives the staff time to organize the seating and decorate as needed.
Caterers are also generally good at working with venue operators.
It is, in fact, what they do.
So if the venue you’ve chosen for your post wedding brunch doesn’t serve food themselves, there is a good chance that they have an existing relationship with a few good caterers.
Be sure to ask your venue operator about this before researching on your own because doing so could save you a lot of time.
When coordinating with a caterer, follow all the guidelines we covered in the food and beverage section of this article.
Manage the Time
As the term implies, a post wedding brunch is a brunch.
This means that it takes place during a specific time of the day and isn’t going to last all day.
So you’ll want to make sure everyone is coordinated with each other and on the same schedule.
This includes ensuring all your guests have the most up to date information so that one or more of them don’t think your post wedding brunch is 30 minutes later or earlier.
Brunch it up!
Use your special brunch as a delicious excuse to enjoy some great food and revel in the experience of celebrating your shiny new marriage with those you love the most.
Brunch is always a delightful event to savor every moment of, but a post wedding brunch is even more so.
Like your wedding, the point of the whole thing is to relish the sweetest and most satisfying flavors of life.
So make it personal and make it one to remember. 🙂
