Words by Andrea Smith

Looking to make the most of your time with family and friends, plus offer guests an opportunity to meet in advance of the big day? Enter a new trend: the welcome party.

Often following a traditional rehearsal dinner, the welcome party extends the festivities to all wedding guests and serves as a “kickoff to your wedding weekend,” explains Treanna Oliveri, owner of Divas with the Details, based in Pennsylvania and Delaware. It’s a way to show appreciation for everyone’s time—“especially ones [who] traveled,” she says.

The trend has become the norm at Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware, where different rooms accommodate both events. For a formal setting, the hotel’s catering director, Shellie Engelquist, recommends hosting a rehearsal dinner in the Christina Room before moving to a larger space, such as the King Sullivan Room, for cocktails and dancing.

“Welcome parties are typically less formal and later [in the night], so we’ll see a bar with signature cocktails and [food] stations,” Engelquist says. Her clients often include themes based on where the couple met, where they’re honeymooning, or other places they’ve traveled together.

Both Engelquist and Oliveri recommend conversation starters that complement the party’s theme, whether it’s a type of food or fun activity. “Your welcome party is really where you’re able to home in on that casual, cozy part of your relationship that sometimes weddings can’t always portray,” Oliveri notes. “There are no expectations—so it can be as grand or as laid-back as you want.”

For example, Lauren and Phil Hinojosa, of Pennsylvania, hosted a rehearsal brunch and a pickleball-themed welcome party—dubbed the Racquet Rendezvous—at their country club. “Because we had this amalgamation of people who had never met before, we wanted to bring people together in a way that was a little bit different than… typical welcome drinks,” Lauren says. “It made the wedding the next day so great [because] people were more comfortable with each other.”