September 21, 2020
If you’re currently in the process of planning your reception, the experience you deliver for your guests should be one of the factors at the forefront of your mind. To help you gain a better understanding of what your guests want and what they’re looking for at your wedding reception, we’ve put together this guide.
The first step is to choose a local wedding reception venue. Your guests don’t want to drive a long distance in order to attend. If you make it difficult for your guests to attend, fewer of them will come, so unless you’re looking for a way to trim down the numbers, choosing a local venue is a good move. There are often a lot of good venues nearby, and you can always inquire if certain locations that are meaningful to you would allow a wedding.
On the other hand, quality is often better than location, so if there is a venue you really like that is a little farther out than you had hoped, you may find that after weighing your options you would rather have the nice venue, and the guests who attend your reception will be impressed.
The first thing your guests will notice is how decorated the venue is. Ideally, this is a special occasion in your life that you are inviting your guests to celebrate with you. So to decorate your venue demonstrates how meaningful the event is for you and how much you appreciate the guests coming to celebrate with you.
The right decorated venue ultimately sets the mood, which is important to the type of mood you want to give off. You can wow them with the venue, but it’s the decorations that make your reception stand out. Check with the venue to find out if they provide decorations.
Food is the best part about any party. Guests expect to have either really nice refreshments, or to be well fed when they attend a wedding reception. Don’t be afraid to dedicate a decent portion of your reception budget on the food because great food and drinks is what makes the party!
Decide on the theme for your wedding reception, and no matter what kind of food you’re looking to serve or which theme you’ve chosen for the menu, be sure to offer good quality food. Quality demonstrates how much it means to you that your guests were able to come and support you.
Getting the social aspects of your wedding reception right can be tough, and that applies now more than ever. With a global pandemic still lingering, people will want to be close enough to people that they can converse and be social, but far enough away that they can also be safe.
When choosing the seating arrangements at your wedding, consider how round tables enable people to talk to everyone else at the table with ease, and how you can facilitate that while helping them maintain a social distance.
Finally, you should think about the music that you’re going to play at the reception. This matters because it sets the tone for the evening and dictates the atmosphere.
When all’s said and done, you want everyone in attendance to enjoy themselves, which probably means providing them with some music that they can dance and party to. Whether that’s with a live DJ, or maybe a live band, that’s up to the type of music you want to provide.
Getting the timing right is one of the most important things you’ll need to do when planning a wedding reception. It needs to be an appropriate length to ensure that if the day goes smoothly and your guests never get bored.
The key is to keep things moving and not leave people wondering what’s meant to happen next. Keep speeches relatively short and punctual so things don’t start getting delayed. And be sure to feed the guests on time so they don’t get restless.
Be sure to take this all into account while planning your wedding reception, and think about how you can create an event that your guests will remember for all the right reasons! Marinaj Banquets and Events, a premiere local event planning and banquet hall can help you find the venue of your dreams, or provide rentals and decorations if you decide to hold an outdoor backyard wedding.
