Which brings up the second important point to consider when specifying your wedding guidelines: budget.

Wedding Reception Budget Considerations

Much of the budgetary consideration hinges upon how many people will attend. A smaller attendance figure may allow for a full dinner, while a big open invitation reception may necessitate hors d’oeuvres or finger food only.

Should you not serve dinner, be sure to schedule the event early enough in the afternoon so it can conclude by dinner time and people can break up into groups and go out for dinner on their own.

Another big expense is alcohol. Traditional etiquette maintains that an open bar is required, but there are ways to regulate this without offending any of the party drinkers in the crowd. If a full dinner is on the schedule, serve wine, beer and champagne through dinner, but change from open bar for hard drinks to host bar (guests pay for drinks) as soon as the champagne toast is complete right before dinner.

Decorating the reception can be a lot of fun especially if there is a lot of help available. If the reception is held at a hotel and they take care of the food and drinks, they will probably also minimally decorate the tables and entrance. Rented halls and gymnasiums definitely present the greatest challenge to tastefully carry a theme from the wedding ceremony. An outdoor reception just needs table decorations and a big tent.

Reception Decorating

Entrance – flank the doorway with floral arrangements on rented columns or a flowered arch

Gift Table - place some framed pictures of the bride and groom along with wedding favors and perhaps some chocolates

Tables/Centerpieces – each dining table needs something, a glass bowl of colored water with floating candles and rose petals is nice. Fill a ceramic pot to overflowing with flowers and ribbons and surround it with small sacks of potpourri for the guests to take home.

Walls – definitely a challenge in a dull room, but try hanging lengths of contrasting colors of tulle or gauze gathered with a bow at the top.

Chairs – tie a bow of tulle or gauze to the back

Buffet Table – skirt to the floor and raise a platform with bricks or books covered with a solid color cloth under each platter of food and scatter blossoms around

Cake Table and Cake – skirt the table and place some candles and a vase of flowers for an elegant touch

These are just a few basic wedding reception ideas to perhaps stimulate the imagination.

See Fun Wedding Table Centerpiece Ideas

When your guests, family and wedding party leave the site of the wedding ceremony and head for the reception, they will be basking in the grand emotions of the sacred vows, the love overflowing, the beauty of two people in love coming together. Arriving at the hall, restaurant, hotel ballroom or private home they will have composed themselves somewhat and be eager to participate in celebrating with feasting and toasting to the blessed couple.

Now is when all the planning and preparation of the preceding months prove to be worth all the time and effort that it took to plan this grand event. The decorations, flowers, accessories, wedding favors and especially the wedding centerpieces on each table will set the mood according to a theme vision you’ve had for this grand event.

Predominate Color Schemes

As each precious guest finds their way to their seat at a table, they enter into a realm of your imagination. Perhaps you’ve engaged the assistance of a reception planner, in which case you will have learned the importance of continuity of theme regarding predominant color schemes and floral design to match the bouquet and gown, lighting, music, seating arrangements (often a delicate affair) and the overall mood you wish to create. Your wedding coordinator or reception planner can present you with many variations to inspire your own creativity and vision.

However, if you are the artistic type, good with arts and crafts projects and can enlist the help of some like minded friends, you may want to make your own wedding centerpieces that reflect the unique impulses from your heart. It is your opportunity to express whatever theme sparks your imagination on your wedding day. You can create a theme that is simple and elegant like a candle in a cube frame, perhaps with designs drawn or painted on its paper or glass walls, setting on a floral bed replete with ferns and baby’s breath garnish.

Or you may want to find some unglazed pots at your local nursery, paint them a solid color, then wrap them with a few plant leaves or inexpensive lace, spray paint again with a complementary color and gently remove the lace or leaves to reveal a lovely subtle pattern. Fill the pot with flowers and ribbons of your choice spilling over onto the table and there you have a perfect wedding centerpiece.

A scented candle floating with some little brass bowl chimes in an elegant bowl surrounded with flower petals and bridal favors make simple yet beautiful centerpieces.

You can even pick up some small round boxes with lids, cover them with satin and fill them with chocolates for some very dreamy centerpieces. Little wire baskets also make excellent centerpiece holders. Remember to make your wedding centerpieces no more than about twelve inches high so you guests don’t have to strain to look around them.

Most of all, have fun designing your reception down to the last details and your guests are sure to have fun as well.

The reception should reflect that of the wedding ceremony in formality as well as the time of day it is taken place. The look of the reception can go many ways; from formal to informal. It is a good idea to have the help of a coordinator and caterer with the preparations. This helps to get what you want, without all of the preparation hassle. The reception preparations can be completed during the wedding ceremony, thus reducing the time that the guests will have to wait.

The following are some tips for helping with the wedding reception.

Choosing a Wedding Caterer

One of the best parts of any wedding reception is the food.

The bride needs to have a good caterer to provide that quality of food for their guests to enjoy, and keeping the guests happy will make for a great reception that won’t be forgotten. There are many caterers out there and each may specialize in different types of foods. Make sure to look at your options so you have the best to choose from.

Wedding Reception Flowers

Many receptions rooms have flowers decorating the room and tables.

Flowers provide color to the tables and bring life into the room. A flower center piece decoration is always a nice touch. Keep in mind that many of the guests may want to take a part of the flower center piece home with them. If this is the case then it may be a good time to have a few take home pieces available.

The Wedding Cake

Every wedding has to have a wedding cake for the bride and groom to cut, it is tradition. The style, however, can be very different depending on the bride and groom’s preference. Wedding cakes can be very large or small, white or strawberry pink; it may even have a cream filling in the middle.

Cake Toppers

Many wedding cakes have a topper that decorates the cake; it brings the cake to life. The most traditional method involves little figurines of the bride and groom sitting upon the cake. However, nowadays, many choose a variety of figures instead of traditional ones; these could be animals, their initials, or maybe a simple picture of the bride and groom.

The wedding reception is a great time for celebration and the food and decorations will reflect the type of atmosphere you are trying to present. Make sure that your reception matches that of the wedding ceremony atmosphere. It will help to ensure that your wedding is planned to perfection.

You don’t have to spend a lot on wedding favors, and they can add a personal touch to your wedding, whether they’re used at the reception, rehearsal dinner, or bridal shower. These simple treasures can reflect your personal style, cultural heritage, or even accent your wedding style. A few ideas are candles, picture frames, or candy. If you have a large wedding, you could consider giving each family a favor rather than each individual.

Placing wedding favors on tables at the reception is a popular way to display them. The favors could be placed above the plate or near the centerpiece, or you could place them in a batch near the centerpiece so guests can choose their own. Just be sure that they’re placed in a fashion that is consistent with the style of your decor and table settings.

Another option is to have waiters hand out the favors to each of the guests. Be sure to give the staff instructions on how many to hand out. You could also have the favors on a table near the exit, so guests can pick them up when they leave.

Whichever wedding favors you choose, and however you decide to display them, your wedding guests will feel special upon receiving them, and the gift itself will serve as a reminder long after the wedding. The wedding favors can accentuate the decoration on the tables or complement reception hall decor, and they can contribute to your overall wedding theme.

As your guests and family arrive at the reception party following your wedding ceremony, treat them to wedding favors personalized to reflect your taste and the decorative motif of the celebration.

Often these favors are arrayed on a table just inside the entrance along with a printed program of events to look forward to during and after dinner or hors’douevres. This idea also provides a perfect platform to array some photos of the bride and groom from their childhood or the earlier days of their courtship. Put a few silver platters or boxes of chocolate on the table in front of the photos for guests to enjoy as they look over the nostalgic collage, especially if you do not place the main wedding favors there.

Types of Wedding Favors

More formal receptions often include a greeting line where guests can introduce themselves, shake hands, hug or kiss the bride and groom (the parents may be greeters, too) as they file in. A bride’s maid, the best man or charmingly, a child (perhaps the ring bearer) can be there to pass out wedding favors just as the guests enter and mingle to find their seats.

When your guests finally find their seats, they may be delighted to find a beautiful centerpiece of dried or silk flowers, bows and bells and lovely ornaments, fragrant tropical blossoms, roses or tulips in a bowl (depending on your budget) that carry the design motif of the rest of the decorations and the wedding favors. Arrayed around the centerpiece could be small decorated boxes containing a few chocolates, truffles, mints or even a small piece of jewelry (maybe a key chain for your male guests).

Artful Favors

Of course, these days we all seem to be on a budget for our parties and planning a gala wedding reception is no exception. You can make your own heart felt wedding favors by visiting your local art supplies store and tapping your own imagination and creativity. Simplest of all could be a single votive candle wrapped in decorative paper, cloth, or perhaps a scintillating organza pouch.

Top them with a mini bow for an air of festiveness. Another idea for memorable wedding favors is to place sacks of pot pouri in ribbon festooned boxes gathered around the base of each table centerpiece. This is an especially elegant idea if the centerpiece is not filled with aromatic flower blossoms.

On your special day, your guests will be delighted to bring home with them a gift from your heart they can cherish forever.