Meagan from Maine Seasons Events shares with brides some creative and practical ways to enhance a guest’s experience at a wedding. Check out some of Meagan’s great ideas!  ~LS

At Maine Seasons Events, we consider many details when choosing elements that will enhance our wedding guests’ experience.  Creating many outdoor weddings, and being in Maine, the weather changes often and sometimes dramatically-having rain ponchos and umbrellas stashed nearby, even on the sunniest of summer days has proven to be a smart idea.

While guests arrive and mingle prior to the wedding ceremony, beverage stations help quench their thirst on warm summer afternoons.  Bamboo fans attached to each wedding program and handed out at the entrance to the ceremony, allow guests to create their own cooling breeze, if Mother Nature isn’t providing one.  And though it is not a new idea, flip flops in baskets by the dance floor have saved many a box of Band Aids from being deployed!

Containers of insect repellent, in multiple forms, DEET and DEET free, are usually found almost empty at the end of a summer wedding on the Maine coast.  Custom embroidered hats for a sunny dock side rehearsal luncheon are a fun way to provide guests relief from the sun’s glare on the ocean.  Heaters in tents for cool autumn weddings, fun kid activates and foods for guests with little ones, and a quiet, comfortable and clean place for new mommies to nurse, feed and change their infants have been important guest specialties at our weddings.  After dinner snacks for dancers and late night party goers, a bouncy castle for kids or college friends to jump on (it’s happened), photo booths and memory tables, featuring photos of the couple as children, their parents and grandparents on their wedding days and even slideshows of the couple growing up, provide guests with sustenance and entertainment.  When thinking of your guests’ experience, consider the season, the weather, the temperature, the hour of the conclusion of the wedding and any special logistic or environmental factors that provide an opportunity to do a little something special.  In many cases guests have gone to great lengths, travel and expense to be with a couple on their wedding day, and it is a kind gesture and good hosting to consider their overall experience.

image by Cunningham Photography

Living in New Hampshire, we know how viscous those pesky mosquitoes and gnats can be and with something so simple as a couple containers filled with bug spray, guests will be more at ease throughout the night.

image by Cunningham Photography

image by Cunningham Photography

image by Brea McDonald Photography

Loving this!  Simple yet, chic.

image by Cunningham Photography

Bamboo is such a great texture and perfect for a summer event, whether your wedding is on the beach or at a farm.

image by Cunningham Photography

Maine Seasons Events
Website: www.maineseasonsevents.com
Blog: www.maineseasons.blogspot.com
my Kate Parker Wedding State and Budget: ME, $25-50k and $50-80k

Maine wedding planner, Meagan Gilpatrick of Maine Seasons Events is a member of my Kate Parker Wedding, your online wedding resource guide launching in January 2010 geared toward directing brides to quality vendors based on their price range and state.