Your wedding is not just one of the happiest days of your life. It’s a highly personal affair in which you customize a whole collection of details. At the same time, you also want to promote a welcoming atmosphere for all your guests. Planning your wedding to be accessible allows your friends and family, especially those with disabilities, to feel comfortable and enjoy themselves.

Smart Venue Selection Is Vital 

As you’re shopping for your ceremony and reception venues, it’s important to think about how your guests with disabilities will be able to navigate both indoor and outdoor spaces. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to simply ask a location’s management if its buildings and grounds are accessible. The National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association provides some useful advice for your early planning stages. Consider using the same venue for your entire event, which will eliminate the need to travel between your ceremony and reception. You also must visit each location and assess it in person. If possible, bring along your guests who use mobility aids to help you evaluate its spaces.

Both wedding planning advice site Offbeat Bride and Hearing Like Me editor Jill von Büren offers several additional tips for selecting your venues:

• Walk through and assess entrances, exits, aisles, and hallways to ensure there will be enough room for disabled guests to use them.
• Examine dressing rooms to make sure that disabled attendees can navigate into and inside of the room, as well as exit without difficulty.
• Restrooms should have accessible stalls and handrails. Additionally, sinks and hand dryers as well as soap, paper towel, and personal hygiene product dispensers should be easily reachable by people who use mobility aids.
• Remember that venues built prior to the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, especially older churches or historic buildings, may present unique accommodation issues.
• Check to see if your locations have a PA sound system and adequate lighting, enabling those with hearing loss to enjoy your ceremony.
• Other things to check for include ramps, elevators, and paved walkways in outdoor areas. 

Not All Disabilities Are Visible

Neurodivergent guests or those with other “invisible” disabilities face challenges of their own. For example, autistic individuals may become overwhelmed by too many sensory stimuli, especially loud sounds or unfamiliar smells. Blogger Erin Balfour discusses tips for crafting a sensory-friendly wedding in a November 2017 Rock N Roll Bride post, such as providing the program’s order of service or photos of the venue ahead of time. Other helpful moves include designating quiet areas onsite for neurodivergent attendees to take much-needed breaks and instructing entertainers to avoid strobe or flashing lights during their performances.

Plan With Your Guests in Mind

The NMEDA suggests including a space for accessibility requests on the RSVP portion of your invitations. However, it’s a good idea to communicate with friends or family members who may require special assistance well before you even send out your invitations. Doing so will enable you to integrate their accommodation needs into your plans from the beginning — for instance, adding gluten-free dishes to the menu or organizing the ceremony’s physical layout so that lip readers can better see your faces during the ceremony.

A Joyful Event for You and Your Guests  

If you’re celebrating a prideful wedding, making it accessible helps your friends and family while honoring a spirit of inclusivity. Since planning an accessible wedding involves much more than wheelchair ramps and bathrooms, it’s important to develop a thorough plan. Start by carefully evaluating and selecting your venues, and communicate with disabled guests as early as possible to work in their required accommodations. Finally, don’t forget to account for invisible disabilities. Following these steps should help you ensure no one is left out from enjoying your special day.