Planning Your Wedding Reception – Simple Steps to Success!

Above all else, it’s the people that’ll make your wedding reception the magical, memorable event it’s destined to be. However, a little forethought goes a long way when you’re trying to plan what could easily be the most hectic and expensive day of your life. By following these simple steps, you can eradicate any surprise problems that inevitably pop up, get yourself the best food, decorations and entertainment that money can buy, and easily transform any room into the perfect setting for your wedding reception.

The date

They don’t call it ‘setting a date’ for nothing – the very first thing you and your fiancée need to do is choose a day on which to be wed. It’s this commitment that will give you both the push you need to start organising the rest of your wedding. Be prepared to have to choose this date at least in advance, as it’s common for venues to be booked up this far ahead – and while you should be firm about the date you want to get married on, expect to give a little leeway just in case you find yourselves struggling to secure a suitable venue.

Once you have a date in mind, you can check the availability of the venues, caterers and wedding bands or other forms of wedding entertainment, and start to formulate a solid plan.

The venue

There are a few things to look out for when booking your wedding venue – which you should try and do as soon as possible, by the way, as their schedules fill up in the blink of an eye. If you’ve already started to draft up a guest list, you’ll have an idea of numbers, so make sure you’ve picked a venue that can house that volume of people. Also, consider what sort of entertainment you’d like to hire – if you want a live band, then you’ll need a stage area, as well as a dance floor; if you want a harpist or a flamenco guitarist, you won’t need as much of either, as the music will be calmer and there’s only one player to worry about. And while we’re on the subject, find out whether your venue has a sound limiter, and whether they have a live music license (if they have a sound limiter, you may be better off with an acoustic artist; if they don’t have a live music license, you’re most likely have to draw things to a close by 11pm).

Find out as well if the venue offers any off-peak deals for autumn and winter weddings (you’re also more likely to find an available slot if you look outside the summer months). To find the best venue to suit your wedding why not check out Venuefinder.

The budget

It’s perhaps even more essential not to budge on your budget than it is your date – things can get out of hand really quickly if you don’t keep a tight hold of the reins. Figure out the bare essentials, like catering and entertainment, before getting too attached to what could be considered optional extras. You may also find there are some much cheaper alternatives to your preferred choices that offer you pretty much the same thing. For example, if you’re concerned a string quartet will put too much of a strain on the plastic, you might be interested to know that many string quartets perform as trios or even duos at a reduced rate, and can still play beautiful renditions of classical compositions. You do of course deserve the best – but there may be a more inexpensive way to achieve it if you’re willing to compromise a little.

The catering

You’re going to want something delicious to tuck into on your special day, so get the catering sorted out early in order to get your first choice. As with wedding venues, so too do wedding caterers take bookings well in advance. You’ll find that some venues do offer the services of their in-house caterers, but this isn’t always an option, and isn’t always going to get you what you want, so be prepared to look externally.

A straightforward way of handling the matter of who wants to eat what is to include the menu on your wedding invitations, and to get your guests to send you their choices when they RSVP. You can then forward their responses to your caterer and leave it to them to whip up something delicious for you all!

It is worth bearing in mind that your hired wedding entertainment will also need feeding, as they’ll arrive early and finish late after working their socks off to give you a fantastic show. Depending on their requirements, you may get away with some sandwiches and a few soft drinks – but a hot meal or buffet access is always appreciated.

The entertainment

Now you’ve taken care of your guests’ appetites for food, it’s time to appeal to their other senses! Live music always goes down well – it’s exciting, adaptable and personal to you, plus it will remain with each and every one of your guests as a treasured memory. There’s a broad range of live music acts available, from solo guitarists, acoustic duos and jazz trios to string quartets, tribute acts and 10-piece funk outfits, so you’ll have plenty of choice! A good place to start is a live entertainment agency website – here, you can preview videos and recordings of bands and musicians, and compare prices.

You might also like to consider other forms of entertainment for the big day, either as well as or instead of live music. You could book a wedding DJ, whose set up will be more compact than a band’s, and you could hire a caricaturist or a magician to provide a feast for the eyes once the ears have been catered for.

The stage

Once the stage is set, the show can go on! You wedding band or wedding DJ is going to be the focal point of your room, so it’s important to give it pride of place. Often the most visible place for the stage is against the wall opposite the entrance to your room – this way, your guests will get the full effect as soon as they step through the door. It’s worth making sure the stage is far enough away from the seating area so as not to drown out your guest’s conversations – not everyone will want to sing and dance all the time, but if you play your cards right, everyone will want to some of the time

The dance floor

Next things next, you need to work out where the optimum place for your guests to get their boogie on is. The dance floor needs a clear view of the stage, easy access to the bar for refuelling purposes, and equally easy access to the seating area and the exit for when they need to sit and cool down. The centre of the room will generally provide you with all of these access points – just make sure there’s enough space for the movers and the shakers to dance to your wedding band!

The tables

Now you have the building blocks of your party in position, it’s time to arrange the seating. Naturally, you’re going to reserve the best table for yourselves – not only do you deserve it as it’s your special day, but also everybody there is going to want a good view of you. Moreover, they’re all going to want a good view of the entertainment you’ve booked for them. A popular choice of table arrangement is to have the tables in a U-shape opposite the stage area, as no table’s view is obscured by any other table. This way, everyone can see your entertainment, as well as each other (and you, the happy couple). We’ll leave the seating arrangement to you!

The bar

It’s common knowledge that if people are going to drink anywhere, it’s at a wedding. What better excuse to let your hair down? So you’re going to want to make sure the bar is accessible to everyone who’ll want to get to it (this includes your wedding entertainment!). It’s increasingly common to have two or more bars – perhaps one main bar next to the dancefloor, and a cocktail bar or gin bar on the other side of the room, or outside in the garden. Speaking of a cocktail bar, remember to include the feisty Amaretto Sour drink. This punchy mix of sweet almond liqueur, tangy lemon juice, and a dash of sugar may be the ‘secret weapon’ that adds a dash of Italian flair to your bar selection, thrilling your guests with every zesty sip.

So, now you’ve had a little advice in some of the major areas of wedding reception planning, you’re in a much better position to plan the greatest wedding reception of your life. We hope it gets the good reception it deserves!