Decorating a reception?

Question

Hello yahoo answers family. I need help decorating a reception. There isn't a theme, the colors are light blue, silver, and white. I need help because I have never really seen a wedding since I was five. I don't want answers like the knot or other sites I have tried them all. I wanted true answers. Please help if you can. Decorations for the place itself, tables and cake table.

My wedding is August 8,2008. Its not a huge reception only 30 people, very intimate. I have floating candle centerpieces. And as far as a budget, I'm looking to go over the top, reasonable prices.

The reception location is in a hall that caters to small receptions, they have supplied white linen table cloths and the dinner ware.

One more thing the reception is at 7 pm

Answer 1

The colors can carry a theme by themselves if you like.
You will need a silver overlay for the head or sweetheart table. Have silver chargers for ea. place setting. I would suggest blue runners for ea. table which you can either buy, rent, or easily make w/ some pretty blue fabric. For that few guests, you really have the option of really dressing ea. table without going over budget.
* I would find something for ea. table to rase the floating candle display up about 4 inches.
*tea lights in frosted votives.
*rent chairs or chair covers- it completely changes the look of the room. my favorites are the bamboo style chairs. they are very elegant.
*the cake table. dress it w/ draped fabric and ribbon, flowers, or use a wine barrell for the table - really have the cake stand out and put it in a place of importance so that it becomes part of the decorations.
*use the ceremony decorations and bring them in for the reception.
*Have candles on all the tables -the guest book table/ the gift table, etc. It really adds a rich glow.
*hang a chandelier above ea. table if you can afford it. Then you can give them away to lucky guests. (or keep them for future events).
*rent cozy couches and small tables to create intimate and relaxing conversation areas for guests.
*hire a cigar roller or a photo booth for some unexpected fun.

these are just a few ideas to get you started. happy planning! :D

Answer 2

I am currently coordinating a reception where I am doing all the decorating for my client.

So for your centerpiece, what type of style floating candle holder is it? Is it round and flat, you can buy inexpesive mirrors to go under the candle holder and make it look a little fancier. (Dollar store mirrors work great, take them out of the holders!)

Make sure to check with your reception site because you can't always use lit candles. If they do not allow candles you can float roses or some other flower in them.

If the centerpieces are taller you can surround them with flowers either real or silk. I love Michaels craft store I practially live there and they have a nice selection of silks.

I saw these paper weights at Hobby Lobby that are HUGE diamonds and they sparkle like crazy and I thought I could use those for something!!

Tulle is not really expensive, you can get enough to make a swag for the front of the head table and cake table and where ever else you want to use it. Small white lights under the tulle have a nice effect. You can also use some tulle to tie around the tops of the chairs with a bow facing back.

I suggest go to a craft store or home goods store and get some ideas!

Good luck!

Answer 3

Try www.bigrose.com and order lots and lots of roses..you can get like 250 for $199 and they have every color under the rainbow.

You could get the deep purple/silvery roses, some white ones, and the green ones and buy a ton of vases at Good Will... put some shimmery baby blue tulle from the fabric store crunched up in the bottom of the vases (enough to fill it 1/3 full loosely), fill it half way full of water afteward and add the roses with the leaves on...I've seen this done at a wedding and it looked amazing...
Then you could buy a ton of candles from the dollar store, or get Christmas lights on white cord all over the place - dim the overhead lights...the light will reflect in the shimmery tulle in the water.

And you could buy some chinese paper lanterns from like www.orientaltrading.com or some other place to hang down from the ceiling on ribbon. And then buy the rolls of tulle that are at Michaels which are about 4" wide and have that draping down between the rows of lanterns - I did this at our reception and it was soooo pretty and whispy looking - ours was an evening reception in September.

Its a good way to use the tulle which is so cheap without doing the blah bows.

We did the lanterns with tulle draping between them, and the vases of roses minus the tulle (didn't know about it then) all over the place with candles of every size lit and it was sooo pretty. And we had some white Christmas lights around the bar, etc. It was very lovely as the night went on.

Answer 4

Without a theme, a lovely option would be flowers, flowers everywhere.
Could you give us more info like the reception location, time of year, likes/dislikes, budget?
Edit: If the location needs something more, you could get potted trees to add some life to the room. Turn the lights low and add tiny white lights to the trees for romance. Plus, youll have the candles burning. Invest in an amazing cake and it showcase itself-- maybe some votive candles around it. One thing I saw which I couldnt use myself but really liked was a flower wreath on the door to the reception.

Answer 5

Well with my wedding keeping it simple seemed to make it more elegant. For flowers depending on a budget. I think Calla lillies would be very elegant, but they do run on the high end. so what i did was got miniature calla lilies. For the centerpiece i would put a mirror under the candle holder and then put the glass pieces they are in the marble section of any craft store. If there are any pillars or polls, I would wrap tulle around them with some with lights (chrismas lights) buy them after christmas when they go on clearance. Daisy also go nice with Blue. Or Gerbera daisies. I they have an area to take some pictures. trees make a nice backround, and sometimes lights look nice in them too. maybe an arbor. I had my husband make me an arbor, because buying one was to expensive. so if you know anyone the is handy with wood working just ask them. I think we spent $400 on our arbor, but it had alot of detail you could probably make one for $200.00. also Sea shells may look nice in the bottom of the holder that you will have the floating candles in. Well Hope this Helps. Let me know if you would like more Ideas.

Answer 6

I see that theknot.com wasn't very helpful. Have you tried www.weddingchannel.com? It's a great site!!

Table ideas: For centerpeices-- You can use tall vases and put white lilies in them. In the bottom of the vases you can put some light blue and clear glass rocks. Around the vase you can have about four or so candles lit. Scattered on the table you can have silver confetti hearts. No too much though.
You could have white tablecloths with blue centers.

You can have white lights decorated in fake tree plants and what not. Over door ways you can have blue white and silver drapery. Docorate with lots of flowers and candles.

Answer 7

I love white lights strung around. since the wedding is 2008, most of that stuff goes on sale after Christmas. you could get strings of white lights and put them up everywhere with lots of greenery and flowers. simple and classic is a great way to go. my advice is to chack out some local craft stores for ideas and check out some bridal magazines. I was looking at some with a few friends and they show alot of decorated halls thats can give you some ideas too. I wish I could be more of a help, but its hard to describe how to decorate online without seeing the place too. good luck.

Answer 8

I saw something like this on one of those wedding shows on cable--they had a huge space that would hold almost twice as many guests as they had coming, so they put up little mini-tents all over the room. They had a tent over the dance floor, over the cake table, over the head table, etc., etc., etc. They were mostly open on the sides, but the ones that backed into a wall area that wasn't being used, they simply enclosed 2 or even 3 sides of the tent. It seemed to work very well to make a very large, expansive space feel much smaller and cozier, and definitely more intimate.

Answer 9

I'm getting married in November and what we are doing for the tables is white linens, with also the floating candles and sprinkled around that is autumn leaves and like those crystal half marble things (the ones you put in the bottom of vases) in order to catch the light of the candles. It's really cheap and really cute! You could use rose pedals in your colors. Hope that helped a little.

Answer 10

when you said the colors, i knew somthing that would be really perfect

an ice sculpture!
Make it into a heart, or two hearts intertwined. or even their favorite animal.
Get blue punch to be squirting out of it, or if you dont want it to be that extreem, two blue punch things beside it.. you could put actual ice cubes around the sculpture, so they can get the ice and keep their drinks cold.

sorry if this wasnt what you're lookng for
but congrats!