Everyone knows that planning a wedding, especially if you’re on a budget, can be stressful. If you’ve ticked off the big things like booking a venue, planning your ceremony, and buying the dress, there’s still the reception to worry about. Keeping your guests happy can be a concern, especially if you’re stressed about the food and entertainment. Planning such a big event isn’t something that most of us have experience doing, so it’s natural to be a bit stressed out about how you’re going to pull it off. Make your reception one that your guests will remember forever with these clever ideas, whatever your budget.
- Make sure you offer plenty of seating. Even if you’re planning to dance the night away, not all your guests will want to dance until they drop. Add enough seats so anyone who needs to rest their dancing shoes for a little while can find somewhere to sit. For elderly or less mobile guests, supportive comfortable seating is even more important. Put seats near the dancefloor, so Grandma can watch you shake it, and add seats in quieter areas too for conversation.
- Choose the right DJ. DJ hire is important, as the right DJ will keep the party going all night long, with a variety of music to appeal to all the different age groups and tastes that are at your wedding.
- Give wedding favors that show some personality, instead of the traditional sugared almonds. You could give a favorite food, something that reflects your home town or a shared hobby. For example, you could give a jar of locally roasted coffee beans, a small succulent, or mini bottles of local beer.
- Keep toasts and speeches to a minimum. We all know that when we go to other people’s weddings, sitting through a lot of long, boring speeches is boring, so don’t ask your guests to do it. Ask anyone speaking to keep it short and sweet, with no rambling anecdotes. If you can, keep speeches to a few minutes each, and only choose a handful of speakers.
- Offer some entertainment for any children. If you’ve invited children, but don’t want them knee-sliding round the dancefloor, offer some sort of entertainment. If you can, you could have a room just for the kids to play in. Depending on the age of the kids there, you could book a children’s entertainer to run games and keep little ones occupied and supervised.
- Add fun food tables. Interactive food stations always stand out and add fun to evening food options. A table loaded with candy, for example, is always well-received and will be very popular with younger guests.
- Plan a surprise. A sparkler exit, a live band, or a magician at cocktail hour all add an extra touch to keep your guests entertained and talking about your wedding long after the reception is over.
- Make a getaway in a memorable vehicle. Leave your reception in a car you love, whether that’s a classic convertible, an old-school camper van, or on a motorbike and sidecar.