Reception Tips

Choosing the venue for your reception can be difficult and costly. As with choosing a wedding dress, “thinking outside the box” is important! When you’re trying to plan a low cost wedding, where you will be doing most of the work and planning yourself, you can run into problems with “reception venues”. What you find often is that venues that carter specifically to wedding receptions are not always keen on you bringing in your own food and décor. That was one of the most disheartening things I came across when planning my wedding. The places that I wanted to host my reception would not just rent out their space; you had to purchase one of their catering packages. But their loss was my gain! I found a great location for free (more about that later).

Look into parks. Many local parks have community centers/recreation halls, or even covered outdoor spaces. You can usually reserve a space for a nominal fee; sometimes just a deposit is required which you get back as long as you clean up afterwards. Also with parks, you have a lot more freedom over what you can do. You can decorate as you please (for the most part), bring in your own food, some even allow you to pitch tents. The problem with parks is that you have to book very early because of the demand. If it’s a busy park and you get an outdoor space, than you run the risk of party crashers. It’s not something I hear about often, usually people are pretty respectful, but just bare that in mind. Also, many parks close at sun down, so plan your schedule around that.

Do you know anyone with a sizable backyard? Large or not, you can turn a backyard into a beautiful wedding wonderland. If you’re working with a small backyard, don’t go with the seating arrangements. Chances are that you won’t have enough space to lay out tables to accommodate everyone. Make it more of an informal reception, this way guests will mingle and dance more. This will also save on food since you won’t have to provide a formal dinner – – finger foods and a dessert bar would be perfect.

Community clubhouses and recreation centers are great. If you don’t have any in your neighborhood maybe a friend or family member does. Remember I said I got my space for free, here’s how . . . a friend of my mom (call in favors where you can) owns a condo and her building has multiple indoor and outdoor space you can rent. For owners, it’s free to use any of the spaces, so our $60 deposit was refunded after. What’s great about recreation rooms and clubhouses is that many have kitchens which are important if you are providing food and beverages yourself and not getting it catered. I know some people get turned off by clubhouses/recreation rooms because some aren’t always well kept, but you’d be surprised what a trip to a fabric store and a craft store could do.