Five Tips To Help You Select The Best Reception Location
The right size venue and location of your reception hall makes for a happy and memorable wedding celebration for friends & family...
Being disc
jockeys, we get the opportunity to evaluate many wedding
reception facilities while having little or no bias to sell
one location over another.
Most brides
and grooms know where they will be holding the wedding ceremony
before they decide where to have the reception, so we have compiled
five observations that can help you when selecting your venue.
Distance
If people have to drive a long way to get from the wedding
ceremony to the reception, some will get distracted or decide
to do something else. Try to keep the reception within a 15 to
30 minute drive of your ceremony. If it is not possible to get
a reception hall close to your ceremony, make a caravan. Have
the wedding couple lead the parade, and people will follow you
to your reception.
Time
Time is just like the distance issue. If your wedding reception
is several hours after the ceremony, people will get busy doing
other things and not show up for the reception. Try to start the
reception within an hour or two of the ceremony. If you don't
want to start your wedding dance at 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
have a Meet and Greet mixer before your reception. Serve some
punch and get people to mingle. This will be one of the few times
that the families of the bride and groom will be together. Encourage
family members to share stories about your childhoods.
Size
People like their personal space, and they have most likely
spent an hour packed into a church for your marriage ceremony.
If you let them spread out, they will enjoy themselves more. Make
sure your reception hall has plenty of room for your guests. The
people renting the location might tell you it holds 200 people,
but that doesn't necessarily mean it will hold 200 people comfortably!
Make sure to visit the venue before booking your wedding reception.
Climate
Control Having a summer wedding? Is your reception
hall air conditioned? If people sweat while just sitting, they
won't dance. On the flip side, if they are cold they won't dance
either (who wants to dance in a parka?). Also make sure you know
who has control of the thermostat so the temperature can be adjusted
if needed. Chances are wedding your reception will be warm and
stuffy while all the guest are there, but as they trickle out
during the night the room will begin to cool down.
Smoking
This is a hot button issue, but if your reception hall
is non-smoking, you can fully expect smoker's to leave your reception
for 15-30 minutes every hour. If enough of them leave the reception
area, you may find a large percentage of your guests just hanging
out in the smoking area. This can be a big problem if you have
many smokers in your wedding party.
You don't
have to allow smoking, but it is something you should consider,
especially if anyone has any health problems like asthma or allergies
that could be triggered by smoke. If you decide not to allow smoking
in the reception area, how close is the nearest place for a smoker
to go? Is it close enough that you will be able to get needed
wedding party members during events like the bouquet toss or garter
auction?
Facility coordinators
will no doubt bring up several other factors for you to consider
when you interview them for your booking, but these are often
missed items, especially if they don't favor the potential
venue. If you keep the overall picture in mind and work with your
wedding planner or event coordinator on the decorating ideas,
you will no doubt have an enjoyable and memorable wedding reception.
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