The Reception - Part 1
Theme Receptions
Would you like to do something different for your big day? Here are some suggestions for popular theme weddings:
Period wedding
You and your guests dress up in the clothes of a certain era. Most popular are Victorian and early 20th century weddings. Expense is something to consider if you decide to do a period wedding.
Ethnic wedding
Celebrate your ethnic backgrounds with food, dress, and rituals of your heritage.
Holiday wedding
Of course Valentine's Day is the most popular variation on this theme. People also have Christmas and Halloween weddings.
All-night wedding
Sometimes this party continues in an additional hall after the normal-length reception. Sometimes it moves to someone's home. Usually it winds up with a breakfast the next morning.
Weekend wedding
Takes place at a resort or hotel. You spend the whole weekend with your guests on a mini-vacation.
Surprise wedding
It's a surprise for the guests. Invite them to a regular party, and when they arrive, they find out it's actually a wedding.
Home wedding
If you have a backyard big enough, or an interior big enough. It can be as formal or informal as you want.
Memory Lane wedding
Hold the wedding at a place that is special for the bride and groom. It can take place where you met
(such as your college or high school), or where you first proposed marriage (a park or restaurant).
Receiving Lines
The receiving line is an opportunity for the bride, groom, and key members of the wedding party to meet and greet every guest on their way out of the ceremony hall. These days most people do away with this ritual, and no one seems to mind. This way everybody gets to the reception hall that much quicker.
Guests / Seating
If you have to limit the number of guests, children are usually the first to go. Next are your co-workers. If you have a group of friends at work and you really want to invite them, you can invite them as a group and not invite their spouses or significant others. Also, you can whittle down the list by establishing a cut-off point and sticking to it. The most important thing is to be consistent and not make any exceptions. If you say no second, third, or fourth cousins, don't invite one or two of these. Usually you invite married guests' spouses. Lots of times you invite single guests' significant others, but if you have to keep the number down, you can ask the single people to come alone.
If your parents are divorced and one or both are remarried, you will probably want to invite your stepparents. Stepparents sometimes play a role in the ceremony or in the preparation or payment for the wedding. Make sure your natural parents are appropriately honored at the ceremony, however. If there is any tension between divorced parents, talk to them about how special this day is to you and seat them far apart from each other, without making either of them feel like they're being banished from the rest of the party.
During the ceremony, the bride's family usually sits on the left, and the groom's family sits on the right. At the reception, try to have eight to ten people at a table. Try to be considerate of the guests. Group people together at tables by age, relationship, common interests, profession, anything that will make them comfortable with each other. Elderly people will usually be happier away from the band or closer to the buffet table (if there is one). Some people have a head table with the bride and groom seated in the center of the table, with their bridal party members flanking them. In this situation, the bridal party members' spouses or partners are not seated with them. Often people opt for alternate arrangements, like having the bride and groom sit together at a two-person table, thus allowing the wedding party to mix comfortably with the rest of the guests. Usually you will employ placecards with each guest's name and table number. For a more informal choice, you can set up a seating chart with all the guests' names on it.
