Planning your Wedding Reception

Your wedding reception, quite possibly, can be the most costly item in your wedding budget. By shopping around, you can get some really great deals for reception locations and caterers. But before the search begins, you should have settled on the following:

• your guest list, so you know how many will be attending the reception
• the wedding date, which is also the ceremony date
• the type of ambiance you want for the reception, i.e., formal, semi-formal or informal
• the wedding reception theme

When I was planning my wedding, my heart was set to have my wedding reception at the restaurant where my husband proposed marriage. It is a gorgeous medieval-castle-styled restaurant famous for their beautiful palatial reception rooms and great food. The wedding date was set, but to my dismay, the restaurant was booked for that date. They did have a cancellation for the Saturday prior to my chosen date, so I had the difficult choice of moving the wedding date and therefore the ceremony date a week early or forego the reception site. It turned out that moving the date was not as difficult as I perceived because our marriage officiant, our pastor, graciously agreed to move the ceremony a week earlier.

The bottom line is, which reception you’ll choose depends on how important are the other information that you have on hand. If you love the reception site, but it is not big enough for your guests, then you have a choice of trimming your guest list down to the size that can be accommodated or looking for another site. With most brides, the guest size is more important than the reception site. With that in mind, here are a few questions to ask when choosing a wedding reception site:

Size and Facilities

• Is it big enough to accommodate not only your guests but also other areas that you want to include such as dancing, a place for a band or disc jockey?
• Is there a room for a receiving line?
• Is parking adequate for the guests?
• Is it equipped to handle guests with physical disabilities

Services and Restrictions

• Are microphones, speakers, and other sound systems included in the cost?
• Can you bring a caterer of your choice or are you restricted to use their own catering service?
• Are linens (tablecloth, table skirting, chair covers, napkins, etc) included in the cost?
• Are children allowed (in case you plan to invite children) or do they have a room with adult supervision for the children while their parents attend the reception?
• Can you bring your own alcoholic beverages?

Meet with the Wedding Reception Manager

Check to see if you will be able to work with the reception manager. You will be spending a lot of time and money with him/her and you want to be assured that this reception is a pleasant and memorable one. Make a list of questions before you meet with the reception manager and the caterer, as well. Get all the details in writing of what the reception facility and the catering will provide. They will usually ask you for a price range or an amount you do not want to go over prior to showing you what menu they have for that price range. Remember that your reception facility and food cost are about 40% of your budget. So if your total budget for your wedding is $15,000, you should plan to spend less than $6,000 for the reception and the food.