When Planning a Wedding Reception What Will make or Break that Reception?

Question

Lets forget about $$ Right Now - If you had Unlimited Budget for the Reception. (Not Ceremony or Dress etc)

What is Most Important to a Bride and Groom?

What Will Be most Important to your Guests Attending??

What will make your Event Memorable (and for Good Video and Photos?)

Please be as Informative and Descriptive as possible! Thanks

Answer 1

For us, it was hosting our 200 guests to an amazing celebration! They honoured us by coming to witness our vows at the ceremony, so we had an all-out wonderful bash to have them celebrate with us.

Full open bar, an amazing buffet, and dancing til you drop - those were the most important, and people had an awesome time. We had an ethnic wedding, so that was great for the special dances with ethnic music and a great fun, party atmosphere. Lots of kids in families, so lots of great fun there too.

Answer 2

What is Most Important to a Bride and Groom? - that your guest have a great time, the food is good, and you have good music

What Will Be most Important to your Guests Attending?? good food, keeping entertained, and a nice area

What will make your Event Memorable (and for Good Video and Photos?)- special dances, personalizing things to your own style, making it your own

Answer 3

Most imp. to b&g would be that their friends/family have fun and the food is good. Most imp to guests is the food & band.  Never, EVER skimp on either of these.

Answer 4

Your guests don't care about anything other than the food and the music, our family doesn't serve more than champagne toast because I saw too many drunken wedding guests.

Not fun that.

Good decorations with lights and flowers in abundance, beautiful food presentation, great music, all put the guests in a party mood, having them dress up helps too, anything to make it special from any other occaision that they go to.  Getting them dressed to the nines helps out in the video and photo divisions too.

As far as being informative and descriptive, so much depends on your individual tastes that it would be pointless to tell you mine...(crystal, silver and white, right now...but that could change come winter) when I know yours would be different.  Just make sure you use professionals and check out their reputations and see and/or taste their work before giving them a deposit.

I see the brides and grooms didn't notice the food, but believe me your guests did, no one is going to be crass enough to tell you that they thought you might have cheaped out on the food.  But I've know dozens of people who discuss the wedding starting out with, "Well they went for the Roast Beef and two other choices."

The bride and groom are mostly dazed anyway, they are the ones who don't remember the food.

Don't feel bad about the negative votes, people see things from their perspective, and its possible that there are some heavy drinkers here who see liquor as a necessity to having a good time.  Its natural that they would TD me.

Other than that, there was nothing unusual in my reply

Answer 5

The first wedding I'll ever attend is my own, surprisingly enough (I'm 25, go figure).

But I asked my  two cousins (my BMs) because they've been to many weddings and they said that the most important thing at the actual reception is the people, the alcohol and the overall mood. They said they've never left a wedding and said, "Wow, what great food." They leave weddings and say either, "Wow, so much FUN" or "Wow, that was boring ... boring people."

The best advice I've ever gotten is  to not splurge on the actual dinner because guests won't remember it. It has saved me so much money, going with the cheapest dinner package. We put the extra money toward the top-shelf liquor and welcome baskets for our guests (we're having a destination wedding).

Even with an unlimited budget, the best way to have fun at a wedding really depends on the people attending. You pay for world-class bands, caterers, DJs, etc., but if guests all just stand around, then it all goes down the crapper.

That's the main reason I'm not hiring a band or DJ (having an iPod play music) ... because I know my crazy family members will be enough entertainment. We're all really personable, and we're not inviting people we hardly know, so it'll be a great time.

Answer 6

The food and the liquor, music makes the reception.

What is most important to me and my fiance is the comfort of our guests.

Answer 7

As a guest at a wedding reception what is important to me is that it feel welcoming. When three of the courses would be a meal in themselves no one is comfortable, so I'd go for an appropriate amount of good food. (Served family or buffet style so that everyone gets enough and no one ends up having to either overeat or waste). I want to keep the decorations to a minimum. I want the MC to be a family member or friend, not done by the DJ. I want a minimum of choreographed dances.

What will make the event memorable is that it will be right after a wedding, and people having fun (see above).  

Answer 8

Well the most important thing was the ceremony, honestly. The reception was also very FUN. Not dull, boring or pretentious.

The food was good, but we didn't break the bank on the food.

Our DJ was wonderful. Played every type of music imaginable so there was a huge selection to dance to. Also he was so friendly with everyone and really amped up the crowd.

Also we made sure to spend lots of time talking with our guests and mingling. I've been to many weddings where the bride and groom didn't really talk to anyone.

Answer 9

I'm sure it's different for each couple, based on the things they personally value...

For me, as the bride, the most important things were that I end up married after it all was over, that my family was present, and that everyone had an actual good time.

As a guest, the most important things to me are good food/drinks and a fun atmosphere. Weddings can be boring if not done right.

What makes a wedding memorable, IMO, is a happy couple, people having fun, and it not being exactly like every other wedding I've ever attended-and I don't mean choosing green over pink as your colors.

Answer 10

Make a video with 3 parts to it. In the first part, use various pictures of her growing up, including pictures with and without her parents. Then have the next part of the video showing pictures of him growing up including pictures with and without his parents. Finally, the end should be pictures of the guy and girl together as a couple. Use a different song for each part. Have this playing while they are waiting for you to show up...it gets REALLY boring for guests otherwise. It may also be a good idea to have water and a small snack such as peanuts or mints available on the table for people to snack on while they watch the video. Play the video on 1 or 2 projector screens if possible.

Tell your bridal party to speak LOUD when they give their speeches. Nothing stinks worse than not being able to hear the bridesmaid and best man saying their speech.

Secondly, you need to have open bar. You are going to have a ton of different people there, and an open bar is much more guest friendly than making everyone pay for each and every drink they get. Let alone the long line because each person has to pay which takes up more time than if they could just walk up and get their drink and get back to their table or on the dance floor.

Have music that everyone can enjoy. Don't do just the new age dance songs, use old songs that older folks can dance to as well (Van Morrison's: Brown Eyed Girl is an example). Make sure your DJ is involved and have a good entrance for the bridal party into the reception.

Lastly, have fun! If you want to smash the cake into each other's faces then do it, because it makes a good laugh and great pictures. Make sure to make your rounds and talk to everyone before all the dancing begins because once the dancing begins, a lot of people will start leaving gradually and you don't want to miss talking to someone, some people made a long trip to see you at your wedding, take advantage of seeing them while you can! Also, make an announcement to thank your parents, the bridal party, the DJ, the bar tenders, your pastor/priest, and all those who attended the wedding. It's a classy touch.

EDIT:

Why would I get a negative vote? Why single me out...and one other person? I just got married about 11 months ago and this is what we did and I was told by so many that it was the best wedding they had ever been to or we got the "I wish I did that" comment.

Answer 11

In my opinion...

The most important thing for my partner and I would be to have a low-key stress free day that is centered around love.  We would want our guests to be happy and comfortbale to share in such a special day for us.  This probablly means, getting everyone involved in the ceremony and celebration and being thankful for their presence.

As we're having a very small event, I can honestly say that the guests in attendance will find seeing the two of us happy and not caught up in what a wedding day "should" be according to the wedding industry will be most important.  After this, good food, and not having to wait a horrendously long period between the ceremony and reception for the groom and I to have pictures taken.  We're solving this by keeping posed photos to a minimum and hiring a characurist to set up and sketch guests and having refreshments and music available during this time.

As for being memorable, I'd say that it's taking place in an art gallery/cafe. Unique location, it will be intimate and comfortable through having a small guest list(25 people), and having a fireworks display to follow in leiu of a dance.

Answer 12

have it in the evening,with a real good dj, and lots of finger type food at the buffett, and don't forget the open bar. good lighting, and decor,or just hire a wedding planner and tell her /him your thoughts and she/he will make it happen.