wedding reception ideas?

Question

We are on a very tight budget. Any ideas on what to do with our reception???

Answer 1

There are so many ways you can save on your reception- some ways you have to be creative with.

Low Cost Places:
VFW
American Legion
Family or Friends home
Park
Church reception hall
Community Center

Low cost food choices:
Have a brunch or lunch- it is always cheaper than evening meals
Chicken
BBQ
Appetizers only
Cake and Drinks only

Alcohol
Dont provide any
try to bring your own (but through a wholesaler)
limit the bar to beer and wine
Have the reception earlier in the day so you dont need it.

Decorations
-Try to have it at a place that already has nice or natural decorations such as a park, VFW (usually has very nice lights in the hall), or anywhere like that.
- Make your own with flower petals, fish bowls and water
- buy christmas lights! (i know that sounds corny but those lights come in different colors and if you buy right after the holidays you can get them really cheap)

Music
- provide your own stereo and cds
-shop around for the best DJ in your budget. I suggest to gather all the DJ's email addresses and email them all at once stating what you want, and all of the info like what city, what date, times needed and then they will all write you back and try to outbid each other and offer you extras to secure your business (i did that and got the dj i chose to go 6 hours for 450 plus lights were included)

Guests
-limit your guests
- choose a one course meal
- if you go with a smaller venue that does in house catering, you most likely can negotiate a better rate. Ask for kid plate pricings for children, and see what deal you can get if you have a certain amount of people (i chose a place that is about 15 minutes from my home in a smaller town and will be having 3 meat entrees plus the regular stuff for 12 bucks a person)
- if you keep it to a minimum- say a few hours, then you will save money

email me if you need any more ideas!!
Congrats (i am in the same boat with you so trust me, i have been studying!)

Answer 2

You can make your own invitations,
Don't do flower arrangements (if you get married around Easter or Christmas the churches normally have flowers already) Just do bouquets and boutonnieres.
Do a buffet instead of a sit down dinner
Think about having the wedding on a Sunday afternoon or a Friday night. (big $$$ savers)
Don't include "and guest" on invites for single people.
Only serve wine at the bar.
Rent a local hall like the VFW of firehouse. You can decorate yourself
Get a DJ as opposed to a band
If you want or have to give favours make Cd's of your favourite romantic songs
Have a small bridal party (limits the number of flowers and gifts you have to buy)
Only include immediate family {Parents, Siblings, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, (Cousins if you are close)} and only very good friends
You're mother (or any woman you are close too) may have a dress you can wear or refurbish (something borrowed)
Rent tuxedos (much cheaper than buying them)
I hope this helps
Congratulations!!!!!

Answer 3

instead of having a meal have your reception later in the evening and have an all desert wedding. Also skip the party favors on the tables, most people leave them their and don't care about them. I put so much time into creating party favors and they were left at the reception. For the bridesmaid dresses I found beautiful matching prom dresses on clearance for half the cost. Look on ebay before you buy and compare prices on bridal accessories such as a tiara, purse, garter. All these items will be used only once and the bridal shops jack the prices up on them. Good luck and remember low budget can still be beautiful.

Answer 4

Make the table decorations yourself. Make the favors yourself. Use a bird cage for any cards that you receive. Guests can just slip them between the bars of the cage. Cut the number of people invited to the reception. That's the best way to cut costs. Don't serve alcohol. Have cupcakes instead of a wedding cake or do the top two layers of the cake as styrofoam and a small layer as part of the bottom layer for you to cut. Then serve sheet cakes as the wedding cake. Guests won't know the difference as the cake is cut and then brought out. Serve finger foods instead of a hot buffet or sit down dinner. Put your favorite music on CD's and then have a friend play them through a sound system to cut out the cost of the DJ. Use your car instead of a limo for transportation from the church to the reception site. Have a friend drive you. See if the reception site will give you a reduced cost if you cut the number of hours that you rent the facility.

Answer 5

The more stuff you do yourself the more money you will save. Instead of having a big fancy meal, ask a friend or relative to help make cold sandwiches with ham or turkey. Have salad and some veggies. Hold the reception at someone's house if you know someone with a large room, or do it outdoors in the backyard. Do the decorating yourself. Usually you can find plenty of people willing to help.

Answer 6

Understandable you want something not too expensive but tasteful..i found a great web site that is very useful and can help you out! its a life saver and relieves that wedding headache that i know you are experiencing...http://www.weddinghelpers.com/
For my wedding which was a very tight budget but also small so this may or may not help.. we rented a big suite at a hotel room, brought in our own alcohol (huge money saver) hired someone to bartend, order catering and it was really nice....wish you the best

Answer 7

since we had a small destination wedding, i made a deal with both moms that if they let me do the wedding my way, they could each host a reception in their hometowns (within reason). one had a reception at a park and had a restaurant cater a light lunch, which was really nice. the other rented a small hall and had light snacks, which was also nice. that way they had free reign to pick the decorations and food, and we just had to show up.

Answer 8

To decorate the reception hall inexpensively but elegant, I would suggest white Christmas lights. You can find them on sale at Home Depot or Lowe's. String them up anywhere in the space you can hang them from. For the tables buy votive candles in your wedding colors or even just white ones. *I would suggest three per table* Place them in the center of the tables and then buy confetti and sprinkle it all around the candles and the middle of the table. Not expensive and your reception will look beautiful.


White Christmas lights are on sale here:
http://www.christmasdepot.com/detail/298...

Answer 9

I know this is crazy, but if I were to do it all over again I would have it catered by my favorite mid-scale fast food place. We have Chick Fil-A here in Dallas and they do great party trays. Oh and we had ours at the local arboretum which only costed a couple hundred bucks to rent. And the pictures turned out great with all the flowers and such. I wouldn't skimp on the beer and wine though.... then you might look cheap. But that could just be my strange family.

Answer 10

Well you have a decisions to make, you can have a very light wedding (ie no alcohol, just snacks, etc) with a lot of people or a blow out wedding (sit down dinner, etc) with a few! One you make that decision the rest will be easy. Any wedding book you read will tell you that the easiest way to cut costs is to cut guests.