Reception Venues.
 As an alternative to the traditional church wedding, reception venues are becoming more and more popular. Read on to find out why.
Deciding on your venue
The Room, The Menu, The Evening do!
Deciding on the venue for your reception might seem a straightforward task, but it can be fraught with problems. Around twenty weddings a week will be celebrated within an average council area. Simple arithmetic dictates that there are hardly enough quality venues to go around. Most good venues are booked for up to two years in advance for the more popular Spring and Summer weekends, even longer where the venue holds a licence to have a registrar perform the wedding on site.
Many couples now take advantage of this rapidly growing trend in civil marriages. It avoids the irksome parking problems at church or registry office and obviates the need to travel between the wedding and reception. Effectively, the wedding registrar travels up to your venue, instead of your whole party having to travel to the church or register office.
The extra cost for this convenience can be partly offset by the savings on transportation. There would be only one journey for both wedding limousine and entourage. Do remember to take into account the distance from the church or register office, the number of guests, the availability of transport and the budget when making your decision.
Your choice of venue will depend on a number of considerations, the most important of which may be cost. Even if cost is not a consideration it is still a good idea to collect a selection of the various menu options and prices from venues within your chosen area.
At this time it is advisable to check the availability of suitable banqueting suites and ease of parking. The larger hotels will usually be able to offer a selection of suites of various sizes to accommodate large (over 100) medium (60 – 100) and small (up to 50) guests.
The manager of the hall or hotel you approach, will be able to advise you on all aspects of the reception, but do make sure that you give him all the relevant information. Not only will be need to know the number of guests attending, but also whether outside caterers will be used and whether musicians, cabaret artists or DJ will be in attendance. Discuss with him any special services that may be required to allow for children, elderly people or handicapped people, for example. Remember to keep the manager informed of any changes that may occur in the reception arrangements, particularly any special dietary requirements of certain guests, and where they are seated. Also check that the photographer has a working relationship with the venue, if not, arrange for them to meet and make sure that they both know what YOU want.
At the reception venue, a receiving line provides an easy method for all friends and relatives to greet the new bride and her husband. The receiving line is made up of the bride’s mother, the bride’s father, the groom’s mother, the groom’s father, the bride, the groom, the best man, chief bridesmaids and other attendants (if required) usually in that order.
The receiving line should remain until every guest has been greeted, but greetings are customarily kept short and sweet. A good idea for the reception is to have a Guest Book which each guests can sign. This creates a unique memento of the occasion and a stepmother or stepfather not included in the receiving line, can be given the task of ensuring that the book is signed by all guests present.
Return to top Decoration Ideas
Decorating the venue chosen for the reception can often be sidelined in the flurry of activities leading up to the big day. However, whatever you decide, discuss your ideas with the Manager of the venue to see what works well and what is possible.
Traditionally, table arrangements would match the floral decorations in the church and would incorporate the general colour scheme chosen for the day. You may also wish to consider specially printed menus, place cards and napkins, also bridal favours to complement the colour scheme.
Today many styles are available and balloons are now increasingly popular, tied strategically around the room, along with specially created balloon arches if you so wish! Floating candles can look exceptionally pretty as table decorations, or you may prefer the traditional floral centerpiece with candle. If you want to make a statement - how about an ice sculpture? The choice really is endless, but whatever you choose, it is worth remembering that it should be in keeping with the style and flavour of the overall wedding and colour scheme.
Return to top Dress your venue to perfection
Table options
Ask your venue which table options are possible in your venue, i.e. round tables or long rectangular tables. Most brides, if given the choice, opt for the round tables, enabling groups of guests to talk to each other more easily.
Table decorations
Try to ensure that the style of table decoration is in keeping with the rest of the day. If you have chosen a colour theme for your floral bouquet, use the same colour's and, where possible, similar flowers for the table decorations. However, if you decide against flowers, think about using balloons, a bowl of floating candles or a candelabrum in the centre of each table. If you prefer using two different type of decoration such as flowers and balloons, alternate the decorations on each table, in order to ensure the tables don’t look too busy.
Napkins
Continue your colour theme through into the napkins. If you are using two different colours (excluding white and silver) you could try alternating them on each table.
Chairs
If your venue has coloured chairs which don’t fit into your colour scheme, and money is not a problem, think about having covers made to go over the chairs. However, this can work out quite costly, especially if you have over 100 chairs to cover.
Wall decorations
If your budget (and your venue) will allow it, try decorating the walls of your venue, or marquee posts. This can really complete the look of your venue. Garlands, tiny fairy lights, ribbons or balloons lend themselves easily to this type of decoration.
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