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With weddings come a lot of traditions. A lot of these traditions don’t make sense to me. There’s no connection between a bride’s bouquet and who gets married next, it doesn’t actually matter if the groom sees the bride before she walks down the aisle, and who gives a shit about cutting a damn cake?
Every week, Brides brings evolving wedding traditions to the table and answers them the best they can. This week, they took on “wedding after-parties.” No, not receptions. After-parties.
Per Brides:
While the end of the reception used to mean the end of the wedding celebration, that’s no longer the case: More and more couples are choosing to keep that party going late into the night (or the next morning!) with a wedding after-party. They’re totally fun and can be as formal or as low-key as you’d like, but do you actually have to have one?
*taps mic*
Fellow millennials, I plead to you to listen to me. I beg you to hang on every one of my last words and treat them with the utmost respect. I defy you to go against whatever you may be reading on Pinterest and follow me into the promise land.
Please, for the love of all things holy matrimony, do not have a post-reception wedding after-party.
Should you be in the stages of planning a wedding, do not take these words lightly for all your friends will fucking hate you. The finish line, for some, is when the country club bartenders utter, “No more!” But for others, the time spent post-reception is a coveted time.
The couples? They fight about who will pay for the Uber. The happy couple? They get in a classic car and pass out in all their clothes at The Presidential Suite of the hotel. The children? They’re already in bed.
Once the confetti has been thrown and the open bar has been exhausted, gentleman near and far will make the hammered pilgrimage to local watering holes wearing the same suit or tuxedo that treated them so well throughout the night. Upon entering these establishments, they make their presence known. Not only by their dress, but by their overall invincible demeanor.
Winks and finger points galore rain through the bar before they belly up with an undone bowtie and bellow, “Macallan 18, please.” They’ve been drinking on someone else’s open tab all night, therefore they can afford to look like high-rollers in front of innocent onlookers who become entranced by their perfectly tailored Ralph Laurens and bit loafers.
Girls from near and far swoon, pushing away the peasants they met at the bar who are wearing nothing more than a button down shirt or a sweater. They see their opportunity to be the plus-ones at weddings in the near future where Instagram likes come with the territory.
“Where’d you boys come from?” they ask, tugging on the end of one blacked out groomsmen’s tie.
“The name’s Brad, pleased to meet you.”
But all that goes away if there’s yet another sanctioned wedding event. So for the love of God, please, do not schedule an after party. Let the boys run like the bulls of Pamplona. .
[via Brides]
Respond
Will
Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
@willdefries
@willdefries
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will@grandex.co
Truer words have never been written on this site or the internet for that matter. Nothing like rolling into some bar already plastered in a tux, immediate game changer.
Fuckin’ a, man. I also enjoy a nice hotel bar and/or lobby situation where people end up in various states of dress. Dress shirt and sweatpants? Totally cool. A bridesmaid with a full up-do and makeup in a sorority tshirts and pajama pant? Let’s party.
Let’s party, indeed. Being drunk in a hotel lobby after a reception is a time honored tradition.
Another great aspect of the hotel bar is that they can’t really kick you out if you’re staying there. They realize that if you’re going to be raising hell somewhere on the premises, the bar is probably the place you’re least likely to cause problems (read: cause an angry call to the front desk).
Couldn’t agree more. Let us roam free like buffalo after a completely scheduled day.
I just got married and my uncle (from southern Alabama) rolled into the hotel bar with two gallons of moonshine. In mason jars. Game changer.
It’s good to hear Uncle Frank is finally contributing instead of just mooching off your dad.
Congrats true love a beautiful thing
Wedding I attended recently had a fully stocked suite full of booze and snacks and a wireless speaker for the after party. I was 100% okay with that.
We’ll allow it.
Had an after party in the groomsmen suite. Father of the bride had stashed a couple of good bottles of whiskey and 24 packs in his room and he moved them down there after the reception, a move I plan on copying if/when I have kids and they get married. Stayed up drinking with bridesmaids, younger (read: childless) family members and anyone who hadn’t blacked out at the reception (maid of honor).
The bride and groom need to plan for this and have the reception near an area with bars for this exact reason
Todd’s wedding will probably have an after party
Claire wouldn’t plan an after-party.
This is the least beta column you have ever written and I agree with every damn word of it.
My go to line when you inevitably get asked, “Why are you all in suits?” is “Because Tokyo is waking up.” Pair that with a Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition, and you close.
In truth, it worked once, so I will stand by it forever now that I am engaged and can’t continue field testing it.
Post-reception bar hopping confidence is the best. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun than going to a small dive bar with karaoke, and dominating a Queen song after a wedding.