Tulsa Wedding Guest Experience: 15 Things Your Guests Will Actually Remember

Great DJ

DJs make or break wedding days, and we, of course, are very biased in knowing this firsthand. A professional wedding DJ creates and keeps the energy moving throughout the night. They should do more than just press play at your reception!

Fast Bar Service

The longer a guest has to wait in line for the bar, the more you keep them from enjoying the reception. Keep those lines short, add a second bar if your guests are bigger drinkers, and keep them enjoying the company rather than waiting in line!

Good Food

A great dinner can be the star of the show. This can be done through extravagant hors d’oeuvres before dinner or a plated meal to really impress your family. Keeping options open to accommodate vegetarians is also a very classy move!

Short Gaps In The Timeline

Long gaps between major moments can suck the energy out of the room. However, keeping moments going back-to-back can make the event feel rushed. Preprogram some short breaks between major events in the timeline for the best and most comfortable flow!

Photo Booth

A photo booth is a great activity for your guests, and if they can do printouts at the reception, it is a great gift to your guests as well! This is a wedding trend that has been around for ages and is still a popular and fun option for an event.

Late-Night Snacks

Some of the best weddings I have been a part of as a DJ is when the late-night food truck or pizza shows up. There are so many benefits to this that make it a great point for a wedding. This helps sober up some of your friends who enjoy drinking before they depart. It also comes in clutch when our couples haven’t been able to eat much during the reception while everyone is trying to greet them following the ceremony. There also doesn’t have to be much effort here: have Andolinis deliver some of your favorite slices or 918 Maples to bring their food truck for some street tacos!

Personal Touches

Anything from stickers of your pets, the couple or even some personalized signage can add to the uniqueness of your wedding. Add photos to each table, your favorite books, places you’ve been or even engagement pictures on the entryway. Add your flare that tells the story of you as a couple to show yourselves off to your guests!

Comfortable Temperature

Hot temperatures in the summer can end a wedding early. Oklahoma has been known to have 100-degree-plus temps from late June to early September. Popular dates always revolve around comfortable weather, but it absolutely helps keep a wedding night around for as long as possible!

Comfortable Seating

This is often missed during a wedding. Sometimes the aesthetic beats the function of a great seating arrangement or chair. Knowing where the attention of the room is and where certain guests are sitting so they don’t create tension can easily create a more comfortable environment.

Good Lighting

The best way to elevate a wedding to the next level is great lighting. Spotlights on centerpieces, uplights placed around the hall and candlelight when appropriate takes an average wedding to an exponentially higher level. This is probably the best place to put your money if you really want to show off the great table designs and charm of a venue.

Great Music During Cocktail Hour

A good playlist with favorites always helps this but keep it fresh for your guests as well. An easy addition is to add sing-along songs that are hard to dance to, but a lot of people know. I often put a lot of my favorite country songs to sing to for my rustic weddings here because it engages the guests and livens up the atmosphere!

Easy Parking

Easy parking and a short walk is a definite win for most guests. This is the challenge for some of our downtown venues but thankfully there are great ways around this. Valet for any venue with parking issues or a shuttle service from a hotel or pick up spot to help guests find the venue without much effort!

Clear Signage

This is a very helpful addition to guide guests if your venue is very large or to simply be informative for the events to come! Get some feedback on your seating chart with a coordinator or have the order of events for the night posted so guests know what to expect. Keeping it clear and knowing the etiquette of verbiage can really make a guest experience easier.

Interesting Ceremony

Any unique ideas that match your personality and the wedding vibe make the ceremony much more fun. Trends like groomsmen handing out drinks beforehand, gifts or bubbles to add to the recessional are great adds for a different spin on a ceremony

A Reception That Doesn’t Drag

This can be the biggest killer of most weddings. Receptions that feel boring and not going anywhere really deflates the later part of the wedding. Talk with the DJ and coordinator about keeping events moving and even finding ways to involve the guests with trends and traditions. Different games to mix up the reception or ways to create involvement are a great way to keep things moving during the wedding night!

There so many elements to a great guest experience that can help level up a reception! For more information about our tips and tricks to help with any of these elements, check out the rest of our blog for more! For any of your DJ, Photo, Video, Photo Booth or Coordination needs, contact us today!