Wedding Reception Ideas

Wedding receptions comes in all forms and shapes.  Here are some ideas on wedding reception venues that might interest you.

Beach wedding reception: A lot of people follow up a beach wedding ceremony with an outside reception.  The outside reception can also be at a beach.  However a wedding reception at a beach is not easy to set up as the kitchen is not easily accessible and the wind may blow a lot of things away.  Another concern is serving alcohol outside.  Many localities have laws concerning serving alcohol outside.  But the idea of having a dinner for your guests where they look at the water and enjoy the sunset while eating a delicious meal is tempting.

Community Reception Hall: If you have a small budget for the reception hall, I highly suggest checking out community centers.  You can book a pretty large room for a very reasonable price.  All you have to do afterwards is just book the caterer.  Of course with community centers, the scenery usually isn’t as nice and you will most likely have to take care of all the arrangements yourself.

Hotel Reception: Hotels are popular reception halls.  The halls are usually decorated with beautiful art and designs and can add a lot of flavor to your reception.  The downside of course is how expensive it is.  But with the price, you will usually get some help setting up (such as audio/visual help).  If you have any problems with the reception hall, there is someone to call, unlike doing a reception at a community center.  Many hotels will also do their own catering but you may want to think twice about that as it can be pretty pricey because of the convenience.  If you want to try catering at the hotel, I suggest you go to their restaurants and try out the food first.

Restaurant Wedding Reception: Restaurants are a pretty ideal location for a wedding reception if you can find one big enough.  It is convenient and reasonably priced.  You do not have to hire a catering company as the restaurant will provide the food as well as the event space.  If you have a big reception, it may be somewhat hard to find a restaurant that has enough open space.  You want a restaurant that is big but also has an unobstructed view so that the guests can see the front where the emcee is.  You also want a dance floor so your guests can boogie down after dinner.  If you want Asian food, Chinese restaurants are an ideal location for a reception.   Chinese restaurants are pretty big and has a lot of open space.  To book a restaurant for a wedding reception, you will need a somewhat big guestlist as the restaurant will need enough guests to close the whole restaurant for your reception.  I mean, why would want uninvited guests who are there to just eat to watch your wedding reception?

Club wedding reception: If you and your friends like to frequent clubs, you can try to do a wedding reception at the club.  A club venue presents the perfect layout for dancing after dinner since all the equipment is already there.  A club can also fit quite a lot of people but situating the tables might be a little cumbersome because many clubs are built to dance, not a place for banquets.  You will also have to get your own catering because clubs do not provide food.

Outdoor wedding receptions: Outdoor wedding receptions are a popular pick but can be somewhat costly.  When people choose outdoor wedding receptions, they choose it for the view it presents.  The more spectacular the view is, the more expensive it will be.  For instance, a view overlooking the skyline of a major metropolitan area will be more expensive the just a venue overlooking a park.  Outdoor wedding receptions are prefect for sunny (and non-windy weather).  This is tough to pull off if you are not in a location where it is sunny year-round.  A good idea is to get a venue that has an indoor area as well—that way if it somehow rains that day you can move the wedding inside without much trouble.

 

Those are just a few of the many options you have when it comes to choosing a venue for a wedding reception.  Remember, a lot of what goes into choosing the right wedding reception location has to do with the guests (the types of guests and how many will there be).

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