Let’s be honest. Weddings are all about the reception. While we love watching the bride make her grand entrance as she walks down the aisle, and we love the moment when the groom takes his new wife into his arms for the first kiss as a married couple, we’re really just thinking, “how much longer?” so we can beeline to the reception for cocktails, dinner and dancing. Even as a bride and groom, you’ve been on the other side – the wedding guest who wants to have a good time at the after-party. So why not treat your guests to the ultimate wedding reception experience?
As brides and grooms attend more and more weddings, they realize when it comes to their wedding they want all of their guests to have a unique experience that reflects their spirit. This spirit usually boils down to adding personal touches that are meaningful to the bride and groom and above all, making the wedding reception fun for all of the guests.
So you’ve sifted through all the bridal magazines and the Internet looking for the hottest and latest trends, but you’re not sure how to pull it all together with what’s you and what’s not. Do you have a cupcake wedding cake or go the traditional route? Do you use candles or fresh flowers as your centerpiece or both?
When planning your reception, consider three key items: the food and beverages, entertainment and décor. To make your life simple, we’ve provided a cheat sheet that not only will make your reception fun, but reflect your style.
Let’s talk about the eats. Guests have to get energy before cutting a rug on the dance floor so feeding them is key. Consider the following when planning your food options:
•Action Stations where the chef prepares food to-order for guests. Guests can customize their meal, ordering exactly what they want. No mayo, no onions, no problem. The interactive feature lends for a more interesting and exciting experience than a standard carving station.
•No need to for guests to queue up in line when we have beautiful, delicious individual servings waiting for them. Put servings in a cordial or cocktail glass rather than plating them for a more interesting look.
•Theme stations can be fun and allow the couple to incorporate food from their favorite region. For example, you not only loved your trip to Italy because that’s where Mr. Right proposed, but that little Italian café on the Tuscan coast was great too. So consider incorporating an antipasti station at the reception where guests get to experience new and exciting food that you love.
•Just when you thought you couldn’t get more creative and personal with a custom wedding and groom’s cake, dessert buffets and candy stations have entered the wedding arena. Brides and grooms are offering dessert stations with adult or childhood favorites like elegant chocolates, color themes (all white candy), homey pies and cobblers. Or candy stations with Rock Candy, Jaw Breakers, and other childhood favorites. If you want to avoid any cracked teeth, you can even rent a cotton candy machine.
•Passing food late-night is always a winner with guests, many of whom ate a light dinner or made more trips to the bar than the buffet. Favorites include mini-hamburgers with sweet potato fries, petite grilled cheese sandwiches (ours are made with explorateur cheese and fig compote for added fun) and on the sweeter side, New Orleans beignets with iced coffee or gelato.
And what about the drinks? Unless you’re serving soft drinks and water, choosing a bar package and drinks can be a challenge. What are ways that you can go beyond wine and beer? And most importantly, how do you avoid having disgruntled wedding guests waiting in a long line to get a drink? Below are a few tips to make your beverage choices as smooth as Patrón.
•For your guests, the most important aspect of any bar is access. Make sure that you have ample service staff for your guests. Passing beverages, which can often be done with little or no additional cost, is one way of making sure everyone gets a drink in their hand quickly.
•The bar package is often a large part of the budget and people formerly uninterested in planning the wedding suddenly become quite opinionated (e.g. grooms and fathers). Assuming that you’re serving alcohol, there are two basic options: beer and wine only or a full bar. It’s a personal choice to go one route or another; best advice for the savvy bride is to look at each bar package critically. Some are better deals than others; often the mid level package has the best balance of quality and price.
•Champagne service is an area where it’s easy to waste money. Serving it on the bar is a personal and financial decision. If you love it, then it’s probably worth the cost. If not, you can skip it without any negative impact on the wedding. Whether it’s served on the bar or not, avoid champagne toasts. The non-champagne drinkers in the crowd take one sip and put it down (in most weddings, that’s easily 50 percent of the guests) while the people who like champagne are frustrated when they go to the bar for a second glass, only to be denied.
•Like décor and entertainment, you can have fun with specialty drinks – and tell your guests about the type of reception you’ve planned. You can be sophisticated with a dry martini or gin gimlet. You can be old fashioned or old school with a champagne cocktail or whiskey sour. You can be fun with a colorful drink, like an Italian martini with pink lemonade and strawberry or Blue Star. You can also emphasize your location with a Sazerac in New Orleans or a Mint Julep in Kentucky.
Music has a major influence on the mood and energy of a party. It’s important to keep in mind the different stages of an event. For the first 30 minutes to an hour, people are interested in talking to each other – catching up with old friends or trying to chase down the bride and groom to give well wishes. After that, it’s usually dinnertime. It’s really about two hours into the event when guests are ready to hit the dance floor. Here are a few tips to help guide your music choices:
•Starting with light cocktail music and building to popular dance music always adds to the energy. In New Orleans, hiring a brass band to lead the guests in a Second Line is a wonderful way to transition from low-key entertainment to a more exciting sound.
•Multiple entertainers need not be expensive. Instead of hiring a headline act for the whole night, you can hire a smaller four or five piece group for the beginning of the event and transition to a DJ for final hour. Often, this option is less expensive than a traditional wedding band and offers greater variety.
•Move over Fred and Ginger. You can also turn your first dance into entertainment for the guests. Taking dance lessons is a start, or, you could go a step further and hire a choreographer to create a dance especially for you.
Wedding décor has gone beyond the floral arrangements. The décor you choose sends a subtle, but distinct message to your guests. These days, you can add energy and excitement to your event by using bold colors and creating a lighting scheme that changes throughout the event. While using traditional bridal colors will always be beautiful, color can impact your guests’ mood from the minute they walk in the door.
When adding these fun and personal touches to your reception, always remember to make the entire guest experience as comfortable and relaxing as possible from the moment they walk in the door to the moment they send off the bride and groom.
Sarah Hall is president of Joel Catering and Event Planning in New Orleans. With nearly ten years experience in the event planning industry, Sarah has worked with a wide-variety of clients and events, honing her skills and becoming one of the top event planners in the city.
From elegant weddings and debutante balls to charity fundraisers and corporate events, Sarah’s ability to cultivate and guide our client’s vision make each event an unforgettable experience.
For more information on Joel Catering and Event Planning, please visit www.joels.com or call 504.827-2400.
