Weddings are always about joy, happiness, and kisses, but a successful wedding requires proper planning. If you’re serious about making sure that your wedding reception isn’t an unimaginative reception party that’s indistinguishable from what everyone else has, you’ll need to have an idea of the kind of possibilities available. Here are ten wedding reception ideas that you can try.
Table of contents:
- Gather your guests for elegant lawn games
- Get lots of fireworks
- Pay a great deal of attention getting spectacular, danceable music
- Be thoughtful, get your guests dancing shoes
- Make the bar the center of your reception
- Run a shuttle service
- Set up a wedding reception guestbook with the difference
- Bring in a cartoon artist
- Set up a cigar bar
- For those who don’t like cigars, get an ice cream truck
1. Gather your guests for elegant lawn games
If you plan an afternoon reception, a feel-good game of bocce ball and croquet can greatly cheer up your guests. To make sure that everyone plays, you can bring the photographer in to get attractive shots of everyone playing and set the ball rolling by playing yourself.
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2. Get lots of fireworks
While fireworks aren’t a possibility at every wedding venue or location, you should make a point to make inquiries. If fireworks are allowed, you get to have a finale to your reception that’s unlike anything else you could do.
3. Pay a great deal of attention getting spectacular, danceable music
Most weddings have a wedding band or a DJ playing a selection of reasonably pleasing songs. Often, though, the selection offered isn’t danceable enough. The sound system can be a problem, too. Most weddings make do with merely passable amplification.
If you’re serious about giving your guests a good time, you need to invest in spectacular, movie theater-quality amplification and a DJ who is known for his ability to get the crowd on its feet. Next to lots of free alcohol, it’s excellent music that makes guests go back home happy.
4. Be thoughtful, get your guests dancing shoes
It isn’t enough to hire a DJ and give your guests a dance floor – many wedding guests stay on the sideline simply because they don’t want to ruin their dress shoes by dancing in them. If you really want your guests to let their hair down, you need to have plenty of comfortable shoes available for them to change and a safe place to store their good shoes until they need them back.
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5. Make the bar the center of your reception
While a generous free drinks policy at a well-stocked bar has the power to make wedding guests very happy by itself, you can make your bar better with a bit of hoopla and imagination. You can find a bartender who knows how to put on a great show for the hoopla part. You could also ask your bartenders to create great, experimental creations. Your guests will be impressed.
6. Run a shuttle service
Often, guests at a wedding love the idea of having a good time but worry about being sober enough to drive back home. Rather than have your guests arrive in their own cars, then you can run a shuttle bus service to bring your guests in and take them back home.
7. Set up a wedding reception guestbook with the difference
As your guests come in, one of the first things they will all look for is an opportunity to sign the guestbook. Rather than have your guests sign pages of the book, it can be much more colorful to set out a large map of the country and have each guest pin a little signed flag on it for the part of the country they come from.
8. Bring in a cartoon artist
Every wedding has photographers and photos. They don’t have a skilled cartoon artist who can catch a quick caricature of every guest and give it to them to take home as a favor. Most people never get to see a cartoon of themselves. You’d be giving your guests a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
9. Set up a cigar bar
If your reception venue allows smoking (it isn’t a given that it will), a separate cigar smoking area with a great selection of cigars can help your guests relax and have a good time.
10. For those who don’t like cigars, get an ice cream truck
An ice cream truck isn’t just something that would interest kids – grown-ups can have a great time with them, too. If you have guests who are too serious-minded for ice cream trucks, a wine tasting session could interest them.
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It doesn’t take a huge budget to make a memorable reception. You only need to set your priorities. For instance, you could cut down on what you spend on the reception dinner and apply your budget to hiring the cartoon artist. You need to put your money where it will do the most good.
