Once you’ve rented a camp, you have the property for two or three days, not one evening. That’s the best part of a camp wedding, and it’s also the part most couples don’t plan. The weekends we remember most had a loose shape to them: a name, a few traditions, a schedule people could look forward to, and plenty of open time in between.

If you’re still picking a place, start with our list of the best camp wedding venues in Wisconsin. For lodging, kitchens, hot water, and storm plans, see what to know before renting a summer camp for your wedding. This page is about what to do with the time.

Give the weekend a name, a logo, and a shirt

Every camp has a name, a logo, and a T-shirt. Your weekend can have all three. Ray’s extended family names its reunions “Camp” plus the family last name. He designs a round, classic camp-style logo for stickers on everyone’s water bottles and for matching hats, and it sets the tone before anyone has unpacked.

The shirts are where it gets fun. At our family reunions the youngest nephews get little shirts with “Camp Director” printed on the back. Everyone else gets a staff title with some character to it. People wear them again the next time the family gets together, so the shirts outlast the weekend. At a wedding, the flower girl and ring bearer are natural camp directors, and your wedding party can pick their own staff titles.

Emma and Devin did a version of this for their wedding. They called it Camp plus their last name, made a camp-style poster, and planned games for their guests.

Post the schedule like a camp activity board

Think like a camp director planning a week. Put everything on a board: meals, the ceremony, a morning paddle, lawn games, the campfire, Sunday’s coffee. Hang it in the dining hall and print a copy for every cabin.

Plenty of it can be optional. Nobody has to join the canoe race. But a full board raises everyone’s expectations for the weekend, and guests who might have stayed one night start planning to stay two.

One detail we loved from Erin and Jeremy’s weekend: they rated every activity on a 1 to 5 endurance scale. The older guests knew exactly what they were signing up for, and nobody ended up halfway up a trail wishing they’d stayed by the fire.

Hand each activity to someone who’ll love running it

Planning a full weekend like this is a lot, and it’s too much for the two of you to run while also getting married. Get your people on board. Ask one friend to host the canoe race, an uncle to run the campfire, a cousin to organize the lawn game bracket, and someone with a gift for it to lead the Sunday stretch.

You get to enjoy the weekend instead of managing it, and they bring their own ideas to it, which usually makes each piece better than what you’d have planned alone. Ask the right people and most of them will be honored you thought of them.

Friday is for arriving, the rehearsal, and one fire

Most guests arrive Friday afternoon. Let them settle into cabins, find the bathhouse, and walk the property before anything is scheduled. Mostly they’ll want to catch up with whoever is already there. For early arrivals, suggest something light nearby: a short hike, a local coffee shop, a small-town main street worth wandering.

Then comes the rehearsal, and it can take on the camp theme too. Walk through the ceremony, then move everyone straight to dinner outdoors.

The rehearsal dinner is traditionally the other family’s night to host, usually the groom’s parents. Ask them what they’d like to do with it. Some parents, and plenty of grooms’ moms in particular, love to plan. We’ve been at a handful of weddings where that family brought the most creative idea of the weekend: a themed caterer brought in for the night, or a corner of the property they set up and made their own. It depends on your family dynamics, but when it works, it gives the other side of the family a real part of the weekend. Our post on why the rehearsal dinner is underrated has more.

After dinner, light the fire and stop scheduling. S’mores, a couple of guitars, and people who haven’t seen each other in years will fill the rest of the night on their own.

If there’s a lake, let it run Saturday morning

At a lakeside camp, the water decides most of the activities, and Saturday morning is the best time for it. Schedule a paddle, a swim, or canoes out on the lake, working around when each person needs to start getting ready. For a lot of guests it’s the first time they’ll see the property in daylight, so a morning walk around the grounds counts as an activity too.

If the camp allows it, bring in an espresso or coffee cart for Saturday and Sunday mornings. It gets people out of their cabins and gathered in one place, which is exactly what you want before a wedding day. Meanwhile, stagger showers so the wedding party isn’t stuck with cold water, and give anyone getting ready a building of their own.

Saturday afternoon runs like a wedding, with camp in the gaps

The ceremony and reception follow the usual shape. Our wedding day timeline covers how long each part takes. The difference at camp is what guests do between the parts. Set out lawn games during cocktail hour, and nobody stands around waiting for the next thing.

The evening can go further than a dance floor. A live band is always good. Emma and Nicholas held a talent show at their Norskedalen wedding, and it was one of the most fun receptions we’ve photographed. Sack races, a bracket of camp games, or a late campfire all work. If the property allows fireworks, the end of the night is the time.

You can split the ceremony and the party across two days

Instead of a rehearsal on Friday night, hold the actual ceremony then, with only the people who are there for the whole weekend. Saturday becomes the party. Invite the wider circle of friends who couldn’t make the full weekend to come out for a day at the lake and an evening celebration.

Erin and Jeremy did this, and they had the whole plan mapped out in their very first inquiry to us. They married on Friday evening at Unity Chapel in Spring Green with close family and a few friends, followed by a multi-course dinner cooked by their friend Chef Tory Miller. Saturday was full of activities: harvesting vegetables, scavenger hunts among the farm animals, canoeing, and touring Spring Green. Then everyone came back together for cocktails and a taco bar made from food grown on their own farm.

Amanda and Jeremiah did it at Camp Winnebago. They held a small ceremony in the woods with about 30 of their closest people, and everyone there had a chance to speak to the couple. The next day came the shindig: a much bigger party with lawn games, a three-legged race, sack races, a pig roast, and live music. The ceremony stayed quiet and personal, and the party got to be a party.

Trade the bachelor and bachelorette parties for camp

One couple we photographed this year had a wedding party spread across the country. Instead of separate trips, everyone came for the week before the wedding. The guys and the girls each ran their own games, water challenges, and scavenger hunts. It happened at a lake house, and it would work even better at a camp, especially when guests are traveling far to be there.

Build the games around whatever the property has. Canoe races and water games at a lake, a scavenger hunt across the trails, a relay on the ballfield. If a week is too much, the same idea fits into a Friday afternoon: two teams, a list of challenges, and a scoreboard someone reads out at dinner.

Use what the camp already has

Camps come with activities built in, so ask what guests can use and what needs staff. Camp Wandawega has archery, axe throwing, and shuffleboard. Others have canoes, a swimming beach, a zipline, a climbing wall, or a giant swing. The camp Ray grew up at had the last three.

Kids especially benefit. At a camp wedding they spend two days outside with a pack of other kids, and their parents actually get to enjoy the weekend.

Hand out ribbons and trophies

Ray still remembers the ribbon he won in a camp obstacle course. Guests will remember a trophy from your cornhole bracket the same way. Buy a few cheap trophies or print ribbons, name the categories after people in the wedding, and give them out during toasts or at Sunday breakfast.

Have a rainy-night plan that’s actually fun

At Ray’s camp, storm warnings meant everyone packed into one of the main buildings and stayed up late together. It was always one of the best nights of the week. (There’s more about those nights in how summer camp made us documentary photographers.)

Plan the same thing for your weekend. Know which building holds everyone, and stock it with board games, cards, and a playlist. If it rains Friday night, the rain plan becomes the party.

Give Sunday a little shape, then let people go

Sunday needs just enough on the board to feel like part of the weekend: a late breakfast, the coffee cart one more time, an optional short hike, an hour on the canoes, or a gentle yoga stretch on the lawn. Erin and Jeremy started their Sunday with the stretch, and it was a good way to ease a tired crowd into the day. Leave the rest open so people can pack, trade addresses, and say goodbye properly. A fresh coffee in hand as they load the car is a good last memory of the place. Some couples finish with a short send-off at the camp gate or down by the lake.

A family farm can run like a camp too

Joey and Jenna married on the farm where Jenna grew up, on the longest day of the year, and they planned it like a camp weekend. Many guests camped on the property, and the couple set up a glamping tent for themselves. Family and friends spent days getting every acre ready, down to a homemade hot tub and blankets spread out for picnics.

The day was full of small traditions. Jenna did the flowers that morning with a florist friend. Two wood-fired pizza ovens from Flying Cow Pizza kept everyone fed. Jenna’s father told the guests a bedtime story from the point of view of the old oak tree we were all sitting under. A brass band marched around the property, the night ended in fireworks, and Herbert, their Sulcata tortoise, had a pen of his own. If you’re planning on family land, our backyard wedding planning tips cover the practical side.

See how other couples used the weekend

Danielle and Andrew planned a full weekend at Camp Wandawega. Our Camp Dewan wedding had a pig roast and a yurt. David and Heather got married on a Tuesday. And Kar-Kate and Zach brought a family tea ceremony to a camp on the Wolf River.

Planning a camp weekend? Tell us about it. We’d love to hear what you’re thinking.