After a wedding ceremony, a wedding reception is an event that couples usually focus on. It’s the first appearance of the two persons who get married. The wedding reception is all about; inviting the guests and celebrating the new chapter of life with them.
However, when it comes to planning a wedding reception, it becomes overwhelming and tricky – hundreds of questions arise regarding it. Also, it’s your first time appearing as a couple after tying the knot - it shouldn’t lack anything as they say: “ First Impression is always the Last Impression”.
So, to help you plan a wedding reception in a streamlined way, we have composed a detailed guide on it. Here’s how you should be thinking and planning your wedding reception to make everything seamless, professional, and celebratory.
Think About the Budget
Budget is one of the most important things to think about before actually starting planning your wedding reception. Every arrangement you would be doing for the event will cost you a hefty amount. Your entire wedding reception planning event will be based on your budget.
It’s essential to plan and think about how much you want to spend and what are the better alternatives to have a budget-friendly event. Having an idea of your budget for the wedding reception gives you a wide spectrum to look into and see if you can have a royal treatment for the guests or a casual dance and dinner party.
That’s why you should make a plan about your budget to make everything hassle-free.
Also, keep some amount on a backup, so if anything needs to be fixed or needed immediately for the event can be arranged timely.
Decide on a Venue
Once you know about your budget, it becomes easier for you to plan your wedding reception. Your planning should start with deciding on a venue for the reception, either you can have an outdoor wedding reception or an indoor one.
However, outdoor weddings are the most beautiful wedding receptions, but they are also the most complicated. In indoor events, your venue provider will provide a complete package that includes everything that will make your event hassle-free and professional.
Contrarily, in an outdoor scenario, you would need to make a lot of arrangements. For instance, if you are planning your wedding reception in your backyard, you might need to rent toilets for the invited crowd. You would need to lay down on the floor because you can’t sit those beautiful ballroom chairs right into the dirt as they will sink in.
Handing over everything to the event planner will be a good idea to get every arrangement done professionally, but it’s costly. If you want to have a budget-friendly wedding reception, consider planning and managing it yourself.
So, think about all the pros and cons of both settings and consider your budget while choosing a venue for your wedding reception.
Wedding Receptions Types
There are different ways and styles of serving your guests at wedding receptions. Before you get into the other details of your events, first decide on what kind of reception you are going to have. Here are some of the most common and traditional wedding reception types.
Sit-Down Dinner
This is a very traditional, formal, and most common type of wedding reception. It is mainly based around the dinner service, where guests are served at the tables. It’s not the budget-friendly way to have your wedding reception, but it’s one of the best ways to serve your guests and make them feel welcomed and comfortable at the event.
Buffet Table
At this table at a wedding reception, your guests help themselves. You won’t require servers to serve your guests, rather the food is laid down on the long tables, and guests help themselves. This type of wedding reception is budget-friendly.
Food Station
Food station setup can be fun unless your guests don’t like to enjoy without the proper seating arrangements. This is the ideal setting for the couple who want the guests to have fun and want to see the hustle and bustle of the guests on the venue floor. But, you need to make sure first your guests will be ready to come to such an event where there wouldn’t be proper seating arrangements.
Shape Food Menu
Choose a menu that you want to serve your guests at the event. Include one or two special items in the menu. Also, make sure to add alternatives for the vegetarian guests. Consider having alternatives for the guest’s dietary restrictions.
To enhance the eating experience of your guests, serve them with style. Consider choosing stylish dinnerware for serving purposes.
We at “The Kaya Collection” offer a wide range of plastic dinnerware for weddings that come in various designs and styles. Moreover, dinnerware for weddings is disposable, so you can easily dispose of them.
Plan About Cake
A cake-cutting ceremony is one the important parts of any reception wedding, and without it, your wedding reception would be incomplete. So, decide on the cake and try to match it with the theme of the event.
Also, the size of the cake is an important factor that should be decided. Do you want the guests to have cake as a dessert on the food menu? Or they can take it home? Consider all the factors while deciding on the cake.
Dance Floor
The actual celebration of the wedding starts when the couple along with the guests dance endlessly. Make sure to have a modern sound system and playlist ready, or hire a DJ to handle everything professionally for you.
Hiring a professional DJ would give you peace of mind and time to indulge in this activity immersively. Moreover, set a time for a dance, because your guests wouldn’t be happy to dance for hours - 45 minutes to one hour is enough for a dance.
Also, make sure to provide comfort to your o+lder guests. Have seating arrangements for them so they can also enjoy everything around.