Having a New Years Eve wedding means five things:
- People are going to LOVE going to your party
- Guests will look forward to your wedding for months
- You’ll have people on the dance floor until midnight FOR SURE
- It will be the most memorable day of your year
- Every single year, you’ll have a built-in party on your anniversary and a reason to celebrate with everyone you love!
Hitch Studio had the honor of helping Keeley and Ryder celebrate their wedding on 123123. Yep, that’s December 31, 2023! Their New Years Eve party was amazing!! Check out our Instagram feed to see a video of the highlights of their wedding day! Let’s go through some of the details and tips you’ll need to make sure your New Years Eve wedding party is the best ever.
Make sure midnight is a spectacle
This is more than a televised showing of the ball drop in a local bar. THIS IS YOUR WEDDING! Make sure your countdown to midnight is an amazing one. Hitch Studio designed a custom graphic countdown for Keeley and Ryder with a 60-second countdown on the big screens at their venue. Then, the DJ announced “2 hours until midnight!” and “1 hour until the new year!” and “5 minutes until midnight” to build excitement on the dance floor. Make sure your DJ is amazing!
Do something extra special
If you were on the fence about booking those indoor cold sparklers, JUST DO IT. Make sure your balloon drop, cold sparklers, disco ball drop, etc. is top-notch. Put it in the budget early to do something extra memorable at midnight. Keeley and Ryder booked a company to bring cold sparklers that blasted off at midnight so the photographer and videographer could get the BEST shots of their moments together in the new year as husband and wife! They also rented L-O-V-E letters for their dance floor so that love shined through to every photo taken!
Make sure you book the photographers for one EXTRA hour
Most photographers and videographers have 10-hour or 12-hour packages. Be sure to add that one extra hour so they can capture your dance floor before, during, and after the special midnight party you have planned! It’s going to be worth it.
Have we mentioned sparklers?
Sure, the cold sparklers inside were amazing, but what about real sparklers outside to include the guests in your day even more! I absolutely LOVED the idea that used at Keeley and Ryder’s wedding. After the ceremony, the couple joined the wedding party on the bus to go take more photos and stop for a couple drinks. When the bus arrived back at the venue, I jumped inside with them, and got everyone lined up in the order in which the DJ would announce them getting off the bus. If you’re heard of a grand entrance into the venue, this was a GRAND entrance. While I was on the bus, three other Hitch Studio employees were lining up the hundreds of guests and handing out sparklers to each person. (These aren’t just an sparklers. They are 4-minute, smokeless sparklers to make the best photos.) We formed people into a large tunnel and lit their sparklers! The DJ started with announcing the ushers and personal attendants, and made his way through every name until the bride and groom. Each person ran and posed through the sparkler tunnel and since it was already dark outside, the photos were amazing!
A champagne tower is a must
You know people will be drinking champagne on New Years, so what better photo op than a champagne tower for you and your fiance?! We set up Keeley and Ryder’s near their photo backdrop with a black settee, floral arch, and set it on a cute table. Believe us, you’re going to want these photos!
A champagne wall is ALSO a must
Okay, we’re sensing a pattern with the champagne theme. But imagine this — as your guests arrive, they are greeted with a large, champagne wall that holds 100 glasses of champagne! This black wall is from Prairie Lane Vintage Rentals in Sioux Falls and it was delivered specially for their wedding. The venue was in charge of filling the champagne glasses and keeping them refilled for all 400 guests to have an opportunity to grab one (if they were 21 years old, of course).
The decor should ‘wow’ your guests
Instead of the typical black and gold sparkle wedding, Keeley and Ryder opted for white and gold decor with pearl accents! They also wanted a 6-foot babies breath hanging installation above the head table! It was so beautiful and Hitch Studio had the honor of decorating the entire reception space, ceremony, and entryway, and then had the pleasure of taking it all down or transferring decor so the family didn’t have to worry about a thing. Need help with your ‘wow-factor’ decorating at your wedding? Hitch Studio is located in Brookings, South Dakota but LOVES to bring our wedding planning services to Sioux Falls, Mitchell, Watertown, Marshall Minnesota. and Aberdeen. This wedding was at the Dakota Event Center in Aberdeen and they hired Hitch Studio to be their wedding planner and decorators. Let us help make your reception — New Years Eve or not — the most incredible it can be. Want to see our entire decor collection? Click here.
Your wedding stationery can sparkle
Hitch Studio can also design your save the dates, invitations, programs, and welcome signage…and feel free to add some SPARKLE to your wedding stationery.
Snacks. All the snacks.
We know your party crowd is going to be dancing until midnight. That also means they’ll be drinking until midnight. We highly recommend having a late night snack served around 10 or 11 pm, or keep refilling the bowls of snacks from social hour. Keep those bowls of popcorn, chex mix, M&Ms, and pretzels refilled all night to keep your crowd fun, not overly-intoxicated.
Provide a sober ride option.
As we just mentioned, this New Years Eve crowd will be CELEBRATING your wedding all night long! Be sure you have some designated drives, Uber options, a bus to transport people, or book some hotel room blocks at nearby hotels to keep people safe and not drinking and driving.
Remember, wedding first, party second.
This is the most special day of your life so far, so don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re marriage is the number one priority and this party is second in line. But if you’re wanting to keep your focus on what matters and not stress out over New Years Eve details, hire a wedding planner like Hitch Studio. We specialize in coordinating weddings down the most important details. It’s what we’re here for!
We hope this white and gold and pearl and party reception gave you some ideas for your New Years Eve wedding! Please comment below if you have questions or reach out to Hitch Studio to book a free meeting with us just to see what we offer! Take a look at our packages and then email us to see how we can help make your wedding exceptional. And if you’re wanting even more help with EVERY detail broken down into monthly checklists, buy a Wedding Day Designer, a 158-page wedding planning guide written by Hitch Studio for our Midwest couples!
