We all want an epic, awesome, flipping excellent party, don’t we?

In the lead-up to your party, you’ve finalised details with suppliers and invited your friends to celebrate.  Is your work done?

The gap between sending invites, chasing down replies and the actual party date can easily be months and for Weddings, perhaps a year.  From the perspective of your guests, the excitement and gratitude of receiving your invite will fade over time.

If I were holding a party, I’d want my guests excited about the date, I want it to be their red-letter-day for that year.  They’ll know it’s 2 months away, they’ll be chatting about music and fun times when you met up last.

How can you involve your guests? Why would you want to?

Once you start to involve others, they’ll show more interest, we all like to chat and meet new people.  They’ll start to become far more excited about the day than if it just looms around in the future.

Your siblings may not know your School/University/Work friends, but you’re central to everything.  You’ve invited them all for a very good reason, they’re very special to you.

“Remember that time we……” are all things you’ll have in common.  Different stories, but fun memories you can share.

So you need to get everyone together.  Physically this can’t really happen until the day of the party, but we can do this online.

This is the really easy part.  Most people are on Facebook (I do have some clients that are not, but it’s fairly rare).
Like it or loathe it, Facebook is a great tool for chatting with friends and occasionally sharing cute cat photos.  You can easily lock down your privacy and only share what you want to.

Anyone can create a Facebook Group.

Groups can be:

• Public (anyone can view what is written, so complete strangers or people you’ve not invited).  I’d suggest this you don’t do this.  You only want guests in the group and you want a private area.
• Closed (the presence of the group is visible, but the contents can only be viewed by the members of the group)
• Secret (the group cannot be seen by anyone.  It’s invite only.  The content of the group can only be viewed by its members)

So, I’d suggest creating a Secret Group.    Only people you invite are aware of the group.

Inside this group, you can involve your guests before the party. Details such as accommodation and directions can be provided.

You can invite your suppliers!  They won’t be a stranger to your guests.  They can have some gentle fun, allowing for a much better time on the day.

People can upload photos, link to YouTube Videos or even upload your own videos.  You can include details of your Stag/Hen parties too.

You can do a monthly countdown (see the image below!), joke about fancy dress and tell everyone you’ve banned Abba!

How does this work in practice?

The screenshots to the right are for a Wedding in May.  I’ve met both Guys and they’re really good fun.  I’m really, really looking forward to their Day.
They have very different tastes in music and both are really sociable and friendly with a great circle of friends.

Their friends are joining in the fun in the group, hopefully, they’ll know “me” on the day (I’ve been introduced to the guests in the group) and it’s a really fun place to hang out and generate a buzz for their special day.

As a supplier, I’m getting to know some of their guests and some of their music.

They can see I’m friendly, approachable and have a good sense of humour – something that’s often hard to put across on a Website or more formal post on my Facebook business page.

Let us create a real buzz around your special day.  After the party, you can use this to request any photos they’ve taken and re-live the fun party you all enjoyed.

If you’ve lost touch with some friends, this is a perfect excuse to bond again and arrange a meet-up later in the year.

Ok, I’m game… how do I do this?

This is easy, visit here for details;

https://www.facebook.com/help/167970719931213?helpref=about_content

I’m happy to help out.  It takes seconds to create a group.  If you have a photo, you/I can add it as a Header Image.

• Perhaps ask new members (your guests!) to introduce themselves
• How do they know you?
• Ask them to state one fun fact about you (or them!)
• What will 1 song get them punching the air and singing along on the dance floor?

Enthusiasm is contagious. Have a fantastic Party!

And finally…

This image was posted on another group for a Wedding by a guest.  It wasn’t a family member (Mum/Dad), but someone who was based out of the area and was obviously really excited about the up-coming day with her University Friend.