The OTHER Wedding Events

If you'll remember, last fall the Architect and I moved 3,000 miles away from all of our friends and family to start a new life on the west coast. Since moving to California we have had many exciting adventures, and we have absolutely fallen in love with the concept of no winter... BUT... we're kinda lonely :-( Starting a new life in a strange new place is hard, and making a new set of lifelong friends is even harder. We have a great group of friends back on the east coast, and we miss them immensely. So a big part of why we're so excited for our wedding is that we're looking forward to spending as much time as possible with our family and friends, who we miss SO much.

So to maximize the amount of time spent with family and friends during our wedding weekend, we have planned a number of additional activities, on top of the wedding itself:

Group Hike:
Many of our guests are looking forward to taking some extra vacation time up in Bar Harbor, since they're already going to be there for our wedding. For our guests who are already in town on Friday morning, the Architect and I are planning a group hike. There are so many hikes to choose from, but we're planning on picking an easy mountain with some spectacular views at the top. After the hike, we will probably all grab lunch together somewhere in Bar Harbor, and then we can spend the afternoon moving on to other important things like the rehearsal... and getting my nails done!

The Architect contemplating the mountaintop on one of our many Bar Harbor hikes.
*Personal photo

Golf Game:
Independently, my dad is organizing his own event for Friday morning -- a golf game. Through our wedding website we have announced that all interested golfers should get in touch with my dad. He will then organize the group, and split them into sub-groups if necessary. All levels are welcome... and a lot of my parents' friends have already expressed interest in a rousing round of golf.

One of the golf courses near Bar Harbor. Isn't it beautiful?
*Source

Rehearsal Dinner:
Then of course there's the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. We have decided to have a traditional rehearsal dinner, so the only invitees will be the people who are going to be taking part in our wedding ceremony (along with their families). We briefly toyed around with the idea of having a "welcome dinner" instead, but with 95% of our guests coming in from out of town, this could get really big (and really expensive) quite quickly. Instead we are opting for a more intimate rehearsal dinner where we can give out thank you gifts, and spend more one-on-one time with our families and wedding party members.

Friday Night Drinks:
...but lest you think we forgot about all of our many guests who will be arriving from out of town... after dinner on Friday night we are planning a brief meet-up at a bar. We'll grab a couple of drinks (and no more than that!) with our other out of town guests before we hit the sack for a very important night of beauty rest.

On Saturday we have the wedding of course...

Sunday Brunch:
Then on Sunday we will have a low-key brunch at a local hotel for all of our guests before everyone heads in their separate directions. My aunt and uncle have graciously offered to host this event, and I have been assured that blueberry pancakes will be on the brunch menu. It is Maine after all...

Yum!
*Source

Are you planning any additional wedding events on top of the wedding itself? Do you think we're crazy for planning so many activities, or will we be able to pull it off?