Wedding Reception Planning:

Celebrate your wedding in your own unique style!

Every bride dreams of having a special wedding celebration, it’s the definition of special that may vary from bride to bride. When I got married I knew that I wanted the atmosphere and décor to be a reflection of my own personal style. The big challenge for me was; what was my personal wedding style? Sure, I knew my colors, chocolate brown and scarlet red, two sensuous shades that have always spoken to me. And I was also confident that I wanted our wedding to be a really fun and fabulous night for everyone in general. Now, I know that you are probably thinking, "Who doesn’t want their wedding to be fun?" but what I mean more specifically by a fun and fabulous night is that I wanted our guests to experience that awesome, magical kind of fun that you can’t plan on just any old night out. It was important to me that instead of memories of me cutting a cake, tossing a bouquet and otherwise basking in the spotlight, our guests left with memories of dancing to their favorite music, enjoying delicious and unusual delicacies and reconnecting with old friends and family. I had little other wedding planning ideas past these, but these I was sure of.

I was a very fortunate bride-to- be in that I have experience in event planning, not tremendous experience, but enough to feel that I was starting this process with an advantage. And unique to many other brides, without panic. So I carefully and thoughtfully began, step by step, to formulate the decisions that would define the atmosphere and décor of our wedding in a way that would help it to stand out among the typical cookie cutter wedding reception that we have all come to tire of. I would love to share some of my tips, techniques and advice that allowed me to plan and execute the wedding of my dreams and even enjoy doing so!

#1 Tear Sheets

Congrats! You are engaged! Now run immediately to your favorite newsstand and buy every bridal magazine! WAIT! There are so many more resources out there than every bridal magazine. I suggest buying two bridal mags to get a read on what the trends are in the wedding industry. Are brides going for traditional gowns? What are your contemporaries doing for favors? Find the look of invitation that most catches your fancy. Scour the two magazines you choose for whatever peeks your interest and then tear, tear, tear! Move on then to the interior decorating magazine you picked up with your latest issues of "Modern Engaged Bride-to-be". And then pour through an issue of "Real Simple" or "Fine Cooking". These are magazines dedicated to the finer aspects of living and celebrating life and they offer great insight into chic and distinctive ways of hosting a spectacular event. Lastly go through your favorite home catalogues, mine is Crate & Barrel. Tear out the pictures and advice that speak to you and along with the pages that you favored from the bridal mags and lifestyle publications begin a wedding production binder. Spend some time with these images and ideas, envision how you could incorporate them into your ceremony and reception and give yourself a little time to think on it! Before you realize it, your style will begin to rise to the surface.

#2 Book your locations

While you are mulling the images and ideas over and over in your mind, begin making appointments with ceremony and reception locations. While you factor in cost, layout, capacity and availability, keep in mind the mold-ability of the location and how you could incorporate your pages from your production book. Is there a great built in fireplace that you could fill with candles? Is the décor shabby-chic just like your favorite catalogue? Are the draperies inspired by your favorite destination? Make mental notes of the design influences in the space you are checking out, you may be able to play off of those features in a way that makes HUGE impact! Once you find your locations, the remaining decision fall into place much more easily.

#3 Invitations & Dress

Not many wedding planners would likely group together two such major event aspects like stationary and wardrobe, but for style purposes – they work well together. Keep in mind that both areas will complement the style of your wedding but are typically considered separate areas of the event. Well, they are and they’re not. For one, the invitation and dress set the tone of the event. By choosing the best wedding stationary and wedding gown, you can bring together all of the aspects of your wedding style that you have selected. If your décor is a sleek and modern white wedding staged outside under a tent of glowing Chinese lanterns, your perfect invitation, menu and escort card could be printed on delicate rice paper featuring the Chinese ideogram for love. Your ideal dress may be a gauzy and simple boat necked gown cinched sharply and intentionally at the waist with a silk obi. This complete look, preceded by the invite and completed by the décor, harmonizing food and drink and capped off with arrangements of cherry blossoms and votives, will be breathtaking! Pulling off your wedding style is as simple as minding your details and keeping in mind that every decision is an opportunity to make a statement.

#4 Food, Drink, Tunes & Favors

The final details to incorporate into your fabulous event are the guest’s favorite! Perhaps you have chosen a location at a beach club. Your stationary could feature a save the date "flip flop", a lobster embossed engraved invitation and escort cards of painted seashells. Your dress is a simple silk bias cut sheath, with a gorgeous cowl neck accented with a designer flat thong. Imagine your guests enticed by the scents of lobster hors devours wafting though the air and the whimsical sounds of a steel drum band. You could have your signature "beachcomber" cocktail passed on trays with mini umbrellas in them! This is the making of a memorable event! As your loved ones depart they can take with them his and hers flip flops in the colors of your wedding, wrapped in a beach towel monogrammed with your wedding date and a message of thanks! The trick to adding the best details to any event is to ignore the pressure to make a decision and think of a natural choice. Sure, the websites and magazine might suggest favors for a wedding being hosted at a country club, but those favors wouldn’t incorporate the feel of your event. Use your imagination. If you decide that you would rather have centerpieces of hurricane vases filled with shells and candles rather than flowers than you can make it happen! Shells and candles are easily obtainable at craft stores such as Michaels. Another cute centerpiece idea for a beach wedding is a aluminum sand pail with shovels filled to the brim with garden roses according to your colors. What an impression you would make!

I hope my approach to wedding planning has given you a decent jumping off point. There are a few more areas to tackle, like wedding party plans and transportation… Look for my next article dedicated to bridesmaids, groomsmen and carting them around. There I broach the subjects of shopping for flattering dresses in bulk and censoring the Best Man’s toast!

Good luck, enjoy and follow your heart. It will lead you right to your style!

By: Ellen Preimesberger