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Bride and groom cutting the wedding cake

If things go wrong at the wedding reception (wedding party), you might think that people will make allowances or soon forget. Don’t believe it! They will talk about it for years.

Make sure your wedding reception is a roaring success by consulting this checklist. Don’t forget to add any points to it that are particular to your own reception.

• Book the venue for the reception early, probably at least a year in advance if it is popular.
• If the venue is providing the food, for example a hotel or restaurant, you should have lunch and/or dinner there a couple of times at least before booking so that you know the food and service are acceptable.
• Find out how many guests the reception venue will hold and don’t exceed it because you don’t want people to be uncomfortable. There can also be issues with fire regulations if approved numbers are exceeded.
• If the venue is a hotel or restaurant or some other establishment which provides the food, discuss the menu early. Make sure you know exactly how much per head it will cost so that you can budget well ahead of time.
• You will need to decide whether it is going to be a sit down meal or a buffet.
• If you choose a sit down meal, are you having a set meal or will your guests have a selection? The second option will probably cost more.
• Make sure there is a vegetarian option – just because none of your friends or relatives are vegetarian doesn’t mean that their spouses or partners aren’t. Also check whether any guests have other special dietary needs, for example, diabetes or food allergies.
• Find out if the reception venue charges corkage if you buy your own champagne for toasts or other alcoholic drinks elsewhere. This might make it more expensive than buying the drinks from the venue – do the sums and make sure you are choosing the most economic option.
• If corkage isn’t charged or is not prohibitively expensive, if you live in the UK you can consider going to France for the day and buying champagne and other alcohol there because you could make considerable savings.
• If this is going to be a sit down meal with waiter service, does everybody need to be seated and ready by a specific time? If this is the case, make sure the principal participants (bride, groom, mother of the bride, mother of the groom and best man) know.
• If you are having a marquee, perhaps in your garden or in the grounds of some establishment, book your caterers early and make sure you know that they are capable of supplying what you want to the right standard and at the right price. Get recommendations!
• With a marquee, make sure you have enough seats for everybody even if it is a buffet meal. You will probably have some older guests who can’t stand up for hours.
• Decide what alcoholic and other drinks you will pay for at the reception. At some weddings, only the champagne is provided and guests buy all other drinks themselves. At other receptions, there is an open bar and all drinks are provided for guests. Bear in mind, though, that the second can be a very expensive option.
• Don’t forget to make sure the wedding cake is in position at the venue of the party. It wouldn’t be the same if the bride and groom don’t cut the cake!

Above all, enjoy it.

Tags: champagne, Food, Venues, Wedding, Wedding cake, Wedding ceremony participants, wedding party, Wedding reception, Weddings

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Featured, Headline, Special Occasions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.