What do we do at an AHR?

[RyanAmanda]

Okay, sorry for the silly question but...what do you do at an AHR? FH and his family ganged up on me last night and now we're having an AHR. I was really against one because the one time I went to one, it was a blatant gift-grab. So that's why I didn't want to do one. But FH really wants one so I figure I'll just put a note on the invites saying something to the effect of no gifts.

 

Anyway, our wedding date is November 18th (we get home either the 21st or 23rd) and I'm thinking of doing it on Sunday November 30th. Is that too early? I didn't want to do it after Christmas and I figured December is too busy with holiday events. There most likely will be 100 people and I'm thinking a lunch? Some of our friends can really drink and we can't afford the cost of them all getting drunk (plus the worry of having them drive). So if we did a lunchtime AHR on a Sunday...what do we actually DO at it? I mean, we'll show pictures from the wedding but aside from that??

[ACDCDCAC]

Hi Amanda, I don't know how many American guests you would be inviting, but Thanksgiving is on Thur Nov 27 this year, so a lot of people would already have that weekend off for travel purposes up to BC.

I don't think it's too early, unless you would need more planning time when you get home from your trip. Think about it, is the first thing you want to think about when you get home from your magical vacation a stress causing huge party?

[RyanAmanda]

None of our guests are American so the US Thanksgiving isn't an issue for us.

 

And I wasn't thinking a huge party - only 100 guests. We used to live in a place with a huge backyard and would often have BBQ's for 60+ guests so I'm not too worried about the number of people. I would have just done the AHR in our backyard but we bought our first place and now live in a townhouse.

 

The thing is, I'm just not sure what to do with the guests for three hours. I won't be wearing my dress (I'm doing a TTD in Mexico) and we're not big on speeches etc. So basically it would just be everyone 'hanging out' for three hours? It seems like I should have something to entertain them or something.

[Saraha]

We are also having an AHR. I actually wanted to have one because there are some many of our friends and family that are not going to Cabo that I wanted to be there and vice versa. We are having about 100 maybe a little more people in my FMIL and FFIL's backyard two days after we get back. We are havinga DJ, open bar, catered food, wedding cake..... Basically a huge party! We are not going to do any of the throwing the bouquet, father daughter dance, etc here. The most we will probably do when ot comes to that is maybe the cake cutting and me and my FI dance.

[BrittneyD]

We are having a casual AHR. We rented a place that has indoor and outdoor use. We are setting up games outside like horse shoes, badmitton, bache ball, and etc. Inside we will have music. We will have a wedding cake, a slide show, and the video from teh ceremony. We are also serving wine and beer. I think we are going to cater barbeque. I won't be wearing my wedding dress either. It will just be a big party.

[teacherbride]

My FI and I are also thinking of having a small AHR. I found a cute idea about renting a local independent movie theatre. We could decorate with movie-size posters from the trip and show our wedding video. We also have a lot of musician friends so I figure we'll have some live music and just party and visit with our friends. We're also planning on serving some appetizers and cupcake desserts.

 

Any other suggestions?

[starchild]

Okay I didn't want one either because I also saw it as a gift grab. Because I had a 3rd (and small) ceremony in the town I'm from, my parents said why not throw a party...so I went with it. It was fun but I also felt bad getting gifts. I should have said no gifts but I didn't tell the person doing the invites.

 

Anyway, it ended up really really fun. We did nothing other than assemble, play music, drink, and have people come cook at a taco stand in the garden at my parents' house. There were photo albums of our wedding and honeymoon on a table for people to look at if they wanted. We played cards/dominoes and hung out. It was lots of fun and can be whatever you want it to be - ceremonious or carefree.

[~Kate~]

We did nothing other than assemble' date=' play music, drink, and have people come cook at a taco stand in the garden at my parents' house. QUOTE']

 

Taco bar sounds really fun! Might have to steal that idea...ours is going to be very casual and "fiesta" themed - might do a pinata, have some fun drinks and Mexican style food and music...just a fun party!