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How to chose a wedding reception venue

by Tash Hughes of Word Constructions

There are a lot of decisions to be made when planning a wedding. Although the dress and flowers may get a lot of attention on the day, choosing where to hold the reception is just as important to the success of the whole day.

You may already have a clear idea of where you want to celebrate after the ceremony, but if you don’t, it can be a big decision to worry over.

What are your choices?

Obviously, there are thousands of venues available, but the main categories of venue are outlined below.

• At home
• In a backyard
• In a hall
• In a reception venue
• In a restaurant
• On a boat or other ‘mobile’ venue
• Outdoors
• At a landmark

Making choices…

Some of the following choices will be easy for you as one option won’t suit your taste, budget or the season of your wedding. However, the other choices may take a bit more thought before one is clearly your preferred option.

• Indoors or outdoors
• DIY or professional venue
• Stationary or mobile
• Formal or casual
• Table service or smorgasbord
• Close to home or somewhere particular
• Traditional or modern
• Morning, afternoon or evening

Once you have these general terms and your budget decided, your choices are fewer and therefore it gets a bit easier. For instance, if you decide you want a casual reception near home, there will only be a handful of places to look at and decide between.

Being creative

Maybe you and your fiancé can’t agree on one aspect, or you don’t think you can manage your choices on your budget. This is when you get creative and see what you can come up with – try the following examples for inspiration.

Diane and James wanted a formal sit down reception but didn’t like the only reception centre in their area. James’ parents had a large backyard so they hired a marquee and caterers to have a formal, indoor reception in the back yard.

Suzie wanted a cocktail party so everyone would mingle at her reception but her parents were horrified that people wouldn’t get enough food that way. Tony and Suzie decided to marry in the early afternoon so the reception could end before 7pm, meaning people didn’t expect a full meal anyway. A group of close friends then had dinner with the bridal couple and their parents.

Jason hated the idea that people would leave the reception early so he wanted to celebrate on a boat, but Trudy wanted a traditional wedding. They had photos taken at a historic mansion near the pier and celebrated on a boat that offered formal dining.

Linda and Andrew didn’t trust the weather to be fine for an outdoor wedding so they had the ceremony and reception at a reception centre with beautiful grounds. The ceremony was planned for the rose garden, followed by drinks in the courtyard and an indoor reception. When it rained, the ceremony and drinks were simply moved into the lounge area in front of an open fire.

Kathryn and David were keen dancers so they didn’t even look at professional wedding venues. Instead, they choose a local hall so there would be plenty of space for a dance floor and they could then also afford a band to provide the music. By hiring uni students as waiting staff, they still had a formal meal with table service and the reception went late into the night as there were no nearby residents.

Tash Hughes is a professional writer and an incurable romantic! In between romantic gestures, she runs Word Constructions so she can solve writing problems for all business people. Tash regularly writers, letters, webcopy, media releases, articles, newsletters and marketing documents.

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