Planning Your Reception-Find the Perfect Place

Your wedding reception is a very important part of your Special Day and you want to be able to relax, enjoy your guests, and have fun at your reception. Planning out all the details in advance is crucial. Here are some initial questions to answer about your reception:

– Will it be a morning, afternoon, or an evening event? Is your wedding formal, casual, or somewhere in between? The “tone” of your reception is connected to that of your wedding. If your wedding will be formal, your reception will probably be a formal affair.

– Will you be getting married in the summer, fall, winter, or spring?

– How many guests will attend?

– What is your budget for the wedding and the reception?

Once you’ve answered these questions you are ready to look at potential reception locations. Start your search well in advance. Lots of locations are booked months in advance.

Finding the ideal location for your reception is important. There are many choices – at a church, in a hotel, in a hall, in a restaurant, or at the country club. You can even choose a museum or a historic building. Each venue will provide an ambiance all its own and the costs of each of these sites will vary. Do you want an indoor or outdoor setting? Outdoor weddings and receptions take a lot of planning and can involve much more work than something held indoors and you need to be sure you’ve secured an alternate site in case of bad weather.

To help compare locations, create a list of the features and services that you want a reception site to have. Try to include everything you can think of. Prioritize your list so the things you think are the most important are right up front. Take your list along when you visit reception sites.

Some things to consider when visiting reception sites:

– Consider the services offered by a facility – large hotels or restaurants can provide everything you’ll need. You might also find a garden setting for an outdoor wedding and reception at a hotel or restaurant. Costs for services at this type of facility are generally priced on a per person basis.

– How far is a reception site from the wedding site? Is there adequate parking at the reception site? Your guests shouldn’t have to travel far between the wedding and the reception and there shouldn’t be a problem parking at the reception.

– Is the room large enough for the number of guests and the activities planned? If you plan to dance, is the floor suitable for dancing and is there enough room? You don’t want your guests in a crowded space.

– Do you like the décor of the room? What about decorating?

– If there will be other events planned the same day as yours, determine how these events (and services being provided to them) might impact your reception. Will your guests and your event have a private setting?

Careful planning of every detail will help to assure that everything goes smoothly on your Special Day. You may want to consider the services of a wedding planner. A professional wedding planner might actually save you some money (and spare you a lot of headaches).