Wedding receptions are events you see people you haven’t seen in a long while, it’s like a quarter-life reunion where you find old classmates, people from church groups and all your past loves. Avoiding wedding crashers at your Lagos wedding is like avoiding mosquitoes at night.
Is it possible?
Yes, it is with strategic measures. Follow this ultimate guide to avoiding wedding crashers:
- Have A Destination Wedding
Indeed, if crowd control is a major consideration to enabling the intimacy of your wedding then plan a private destination wedding. Having a destination wedding automatically disenfranchises a large selection of people that you couldn’t care to invite to your wedding anyway. Instead of hiring security and making special access cards, just fly away; if you can’t stand the heat then stay out of the kitchen.
- Do Not Use an Overly Public Venue
Using a venue that is capable of hosting other events on the same day opens up your event to potential wedding crashers. If you must use a hotel with lots of traffic, ensure you make adequate arrangements for security personnel to redirect stray individuals away from your reception.
- Strict Invitation System
In other parts of the world, using access cards and special invitations might be a bit absurd but in Nigeria, it’s absolutely normal. Ensure that you have just enough access cards or use a guest-list, especially for your reception after party. If your wedding invitations do not allow for plus-ones, you must reiterate to all your invited guests on time. Guests that wish to come with their close friends or spouses should make sure they get their names on that guest-list!
- Say No to Public Countdowns
If you really desire to avoid wedding crashers then do not plaster your save the dates and pre-wedding pictures on social media. Even if you do a pre-wedding shoot, ask the photographer not to post your pictures on his social media either.
- Use Vendor Tags
There is a big chance that vendors may act unprofessionally and try to act like a guest at your wedding. Ensure that all vendors and their teams use vendor tags provided by your wedding planner in order to be identified while working at your wedding reception.
It’s ok to have Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn crash your wedding just like in the movie “Wedding Crashers” but since wedding crashers don’t always come in the form of celebrities, be sure to take precautionary measures to avoid them!