How to Plan a Small Wedding Reception
According to Best Wedding Sites, the average wedding has 186 guests. A smaller, more intimate wedding reception could be as small as a handful of people or as many as a few dozen. Locations for small wedding receptions vary depending on the budget and desires of the host couple. Planning a wedding reception is a detail-intensive task. A properly executed small wedding reception presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities.
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Instructions
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Secure a venue that will reasonably accommodate a small reception and place a deposit on it. Houston City Wedding Services notes that a venue that is too large and cavernous will make guests uncomfortable, while a venue that is too small will crowd the guests and make seating and maneuvering around seating awkward.
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Hire a friend or relative to cater the reception. Enlist a friend or relative to create the appetizers, entrees and desserts for the wedding reception. When selecting food, take into consideration the skill of the cook and the dietary preferences of the wedding reception guests.
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Handwrite addresses on invitation envelopes. The Wedding Channel notes that using calligraphy will add class and elegance to the invitations. Hire a calligrapher to hand-write the names and addresses on the envelopes.
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Personalize wedding favors. Write the name of each guest and/or a personal note to accompany each wedding favor. Moments of Elegance, a wedding favor company, recommends purchasing cards for each wedding guest to use for writing personal wedding favor notes.
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Create a different centerpiece for each table. Avoid the monotony of using the same centerpiece on each of the tables at the small reception by creating slightly different centerpieces. If you are using flowers for your centerpieces, arrange different flower types and colors on each table. Use a family of colors or a combination of colors as the theme that ties all of the centerpieces together.
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Tips & Warnings
A self-serve buffet is acceptable for a small wedding.
When enlisting a friend or family member to help cater the wedding reception, consider paying them or taking his or her work as a gift in lieu of a traditional wedding gift.
To add a personal touch to the intimate reception, use family heirloom china for the plates.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit reception table wedding aerial image by Paul Retherford from Fotolia.com
