Harlow Garland Weddings & Events

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How To Pull Off A Surprise Wedding

Braided chiffon bridal chairs by Harlow Garland

Pulling off any surprise party is never easy, but when it is a surprise wedding you can be sure it will be even more difficult. One of the hardest parts of planning a surprise party is keeping the surprise element under wraps while ensuring everyone you love is going to attend. To help you with the planning process, here are our top tips for how to pull off a successful surprise wedding.

Keep It A Secret

First and foremost when planning a surprise wedding is to of course keep it a secret. To help with this, we recommend telling as few people as possible. You may choose to tell your and your partner’s parents or even just keep the secret to the two of you.

Create A Cover Event

To ensure a successful turnout from your friends and family, it is a good idea to decide on a creative cover event. You could say that the event is to celebrate a milestone birthday, anniversary or even a faux engagement party. These are important events that your friends and family would likely want to attend.

Send Detailed Invitations

With your wedding being a surprise from your guests it is important to communicate detailed information about the occasion to ensure that everyone arrives on time. To help with this, you may want to specify on your invites that the event will have surprise entertainment and guests should arrive by a certain time to ensure that they can enjoy it all.

Inform Your Vendors

You want to be sure to inform your vendors that your wedding is going to be a surprise to your guests. The last thing you would want would be for one of your waiters to accidently say something regarding the ceremony in front of a guest before the surprise has been revealed!

Hire A Wedding Planner

If you are planning a surprise party, we recommend you look into also hiring a wedding planner. Hiring a wedding planner can eliminate any stress that may be created by adding the surprise element to your wedding. Here at Harlow Garland we are experienced wedding planners that can help to bring your dream vision to life.

Be Aware Of The Cons

When planning a surprise party you want to be sure that you are aware of any cons that come along with it. It is possible that your family and close friends may feel upset that they were not more involved in the wedding planning process. One way to navigate this, is to plan some time with your family or close friends after the wedding to show them that they are still a priority to you and that you appreciate their support on your wedding day.