Secrets For A Successful Wedding Reception
Throw an unforgettable wedding reception with these top tips!
After your wedding ceremony, its time to celebrate your marriage with a fabulous reception. This once-in-a-lifetime party needs to be something special and youll want your guests to remember it for all the right reasons. Weve put together this guide, packed full of wedding reception ideas, that tells you how to plan the perfect party. Its time for us to share the secrets for a successful wedding reception
Disappear For Too Long
Dont rush through your visit to the bathroom , but otherwise, make it a point to stay visible. This is just plain common senseeveryone has gone out of their way to celebrate you and its a bummer if youre not there to bask in it. This is the one day where everyone will want to smother you with attention so let them!
Wedding Reception Programs Allow For Fun
The reception portion of a wedding is the time when the bride and groom can show their unique style and personality. Receptions are often more celebratory than formal, and offering a program that outlines the wedding reception itinerary is helpful for guests. Programs also give a fun format for listing the names of the bridal party, officiating ministers and other wedding participants. When the party is over, guests will have an elegant take-home keepsake to remind them of memorable moments from this special day.
- Unlike the official wedding stationery, namely the invitations, reception programs do not have to cost a lot or be too complicated.
- Assign ushers or servers the task of handing out programs to guests as they arrive at the reception.
- Keep a program tucked safely aside for the bride and groom too.
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The Ultimate Wedding Reception Timeline
Each wedding reception is as unique as the individuals getting married, but they all have at least one thing in common: a structured timeline. While it may not sound romantic, a detailed run of show is a logistical necessity for a happily ever after on your wedding day.
The standard wedding reception is composed of a one-hour cocktail party and a four-hour reception usually centered around a meal. That said, theres still plenty of flexibility to make it your ownthe couple, the cultures, the venue, and the wedding size all play a role in how the night unfolds. The key is to customize a timeline that makes sense within those parameters. And while theres no one-size-fits-all schedule for weddings, we surveyed planners from all over the country to weigh in on a basic framework that works for just about any couple.
Here, experts share an hour-by-hour rundown of the ultimate wedding reception timeline.
Consider Your Seating Arrangements
Take time to carefully plan your seating arrangement, placing guests at tables with others they know. They dont have to be fast friends, just acquaintances or people with some connection. Seat out of town guests with people that have similar interests. You can turn place cards into conversation starters by having them match another guests or even have trivia questions about the bride and groom printed on the cards.
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How To Plan A Wedding Reception
This article was co-authored by Carole Grogan. Carole Grogan is the Owner and Head Event Designer for Bright Blue Events, an event planning company that specializes in weddings. Her team has planned beautiful, detailed weddings, as well as social and corporate events for over 10 years, taking care of details such as floral design, décor, staffing, and catering.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 100% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 353,148 times.
Planning your wedding reception can take a lot of effort and it all begins with deciding on the location of the reception and the type of reception. Fear not, it’s a fairly methodical process provided you’re aware of which things need to be covered and what’s more, you can have a lot of fun with it too!
Host A Welcome Dinner
Okay, this tip isn’t technically for your reception, but it’ll make the reception more fun. A casual event where all your guests can meet and mingle the day before the wedding means everyone will have already gotten to know each other, and old friends will have had a chance to catch up, so when reception rolls around, your guests can skip the pleasantries and get right down to celebrating.
Still looking for a reception venue that speaks to you?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the pre-wedding preparations? Youre not alone. Its fair to say that almost every couple who are planning their wedding will become stressed out at some point in time. Its common to feel this way because life doesnt stop when youre engaged meaning that you still have to complete your every day commitments, as well as planning one of the most important events in your lifetime. To help reduce your stress-levels, we have put together some handy tips to assist you on taking some stress-free measures before your special day.
1. Dont Stress About Table Arrangements
2. Ask Your Venue For Guidance
3. Invest in You
If you havent upped your yoga, pilates or gym routine before your wedding then its best you get onto it. Revitalising the mind and soul during this manic time is essential. If you are someone that needs motivation hire a personal trainer in these areas, and if youre limited on funds, then watch some free You Tube videos to keep the motivation levels afloat.
5. Its Okay to Delegate
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Home Wedding Reception : 7 Top Tips
Youve finally decided on your venueyour homebut how in the world can you pull that off? We can help with our Home Wedding Reception 101: 7 Top Tips for a Truly Successful Event.
The planning for your big day is well underway. Youve finalized what feels like a thousand other details. But a wedding reception at home? Where do you begin? Not to worry. These 7 tips will get you going & make your beautiful home wedding reception a reality.
A Wedding Riff On Cards Against Humanity
If you love the sometimes outrageously insulting game that is Cards Against Humanity, you’ll love “Cads About Matrimony,” which has all the ridiculousness of Cards Against Humanity but focuses on wedding and marriage topics. It’s a great table game, especially for your friends’ tables and bridesmaids and groomsmen .
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Make Your Own Wedding Cake Wedding Entertainment Ideas
Another unique but incredibly fun experience was seeing the chef bringing out all the components for the wedding cake for the guests to put together! Isnt this one of the best wedding entertainment ideas ever or am I totally off?
Gloves were involved, of course, but instantly, a few guests turned into children whilst playing with fruits and cream to build up a delicious-looking cake! Everyone else was taking photos on their phones and sharing them! What a great way to have people talking about your wedding or your wedding venue! Another one of my favorite wedding reception entertainment ideas!
Its so hard to name my top favorite wedding reception ideas, but making your own wedding cake is definitely one of the top 5, at least!
Do The Bride And Groom Stay Until The End Of The Reception
An important ceremony during the wedding reception is the grand exit during which the newly-married couple exit the venue after saying their goodbyes to the guests. So, the bride and the groom do stay until the end of the reception but leave just a little before the guests have left to mark their grand exit.
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Put Thought Into Seating
While figuring out where everyone will sit during your wedding reception think about guests who already know each other and will get along during your reception. You and your spouse wont be as readily available to make introductions, so putting thought into where guests will sit during your wedding reception will avoid having uncomfortable guests.
How To Mc A Wedding
wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 29 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 13 testimonials and 100% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 640,650 times.Learn more…
One of the most important roles you can play at another person’s wedding is the Master of Ceremonies . The MC’s job is to make sure the evening goes as smoothly as possible, taking the pressure off the happy couple and allowing them to forget about the practical concerns of the event and focus on having a good time. It can be a little intimidating to try to get organized, but you can learn the role and nail the tone to make their wedding a great success. See Step 1 for more information.
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Doggie Themed Drink Menu
Source: Red Boat Photography
Beloved four-legged family members cannot always make it to the wedding reception, if this is the case then including them in some way is a beautiful gesture. Think of naming wedding signature cocktails after your furry friends. Make a sign with their likeness and drink names to display by the bar.
Have An Exciting Celebrity Appearance
Every town has its own version of a celebritywhy not invite them to join the party? Whether it’s a team mascot or a famous local band, making arrangements to surprise your guests with a cameo at the end of the night is sure to keep them talking. Have a band play you out to your favourite song or have a mascot do some crowd work as you exit the building.
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Make Sure Your Band Has Great Break Music
Everyone’s been to that wedding before: Just when the dance floor starts heating up, the band takes a breakand the party seems to as well. To make sure this doesn’t happen at your wedding, ask potential bands how they plan to handle breaks before you hire them. Some bands will rest in shifts and split off into a smaller two- or three-piece band, while others will turn on filler music. If yours is planning on the latter, ask whether you can provide the playlist, or at least check and approve their picks before the party.
Tip #: Plan Plan Plan
Home weddings are a great way to save money, but youll still need to consider as many things as you would with a regular venue.
- How many guests?
- Plated dinner or a buffet?
- Waitstaff to circulate with hors doeuvres during cocktail hour?
- Or self-serve buffet or grilled or picnic food?
- Will you be hosting just the reception at home?
- Or do you also need space for the wedding ceremony?
Indoor receptions are pretty much straightforward. You clear some space for the ceremony, dinner and any dancing or other party activities you want to include. But when it comes to outdoor receptions, there are a few more seriously important things to keep in mind:
- Check the arrival route: Call your local town hall. If construction is planned for the time of your wedding, youll want an alternate route.
- Outdoor personal facilities: We already talked about this, but it needs to go on a checklist.
- Always consider the weather: Rain is only one concern. A hot sun will not only cause sweaty discomfortit can cause sunburn and heatstroke. If you dont want to bother with a tent, make sure you have some other backup plan in case the weather doesnt co-operate.
- Crucial! Invite your caterer over before the wedding day: He or she needs to scope out your kitchen, see how much space there is to work in, what you have in the way of a stove, microwave and/or convection oven and also whats needed as far as refrigerator space.
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Preserve The Top Tier Of Your Cake
If you plan on following the tradition of digging into the top tier of your wedding cake on your first anniversary, youll need to know how to save it. Check out these tips on how to freeze your wedding cake and make sure you can take care of properly packaging it up and getting it to a freezer ASAP.
Printing Your Own Reception Program
Once you download the printable, making the program is easy. You will need a reliable printer and regular letter-sized paper or printable cardstock, as well as a count of how many programs you want to make.
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We Had Too Much Time To Kill Between The Ceremony And Reception
Out-of-town guests are often at a loss for ways to fill the time between a two 0clock wedding and a six oclock reception. Try to keep the down time to a minimum. When it isnt possible to hold the events within an hour or so of each other, ask the hall if it will open its doors early for your visiting guests . Other options include asking relatives or close friends to invite them to their home for a light snack, or arranging a hospitality suite for them at their hotel.
Coordinate With Your Photographer And Videographer
You will want to coordinate the wedding party entrance with your photo and video team.
Typically your photographer and videographer will have lights and/or flashes set up for the entrances and first dance.
To get the best results from your photos, your photographer is going to want each person announced to hit a specific spot on the dance floor before doing whatever it is that they are doing .
Ask your photographer to give instructions to the wedding party just before they are announced. This way they will know exactly what to do, and when to do it.
One common mistake we see , is the photographer will set up a flash pointed at the middle of the dance floor. If the photographer does not tell the wedding party this, the couple being announced will typically do their thing as soon as they step into the reception room .By the time the couple being announced makes their way to the center of the dance floor , they have already done their fun entrance, and are simply walking to their seats.
Ask your wedding photographer to coordinate this with the bridal party just before announcements and you will get amazing photos.
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