Wedding Reception Ideas: 4 Ways to Make It Extra Special

After the formalities of a wedding ceremony, your reception is the perfect time to let loose and celebrate the opportunity to bring your friends and family together in one happy place. While you’ll find tons of wedding reception ideas out there, you may want to do a few things that make yours extra special. Try running these ideas past your partner to see what they think about adding these unique twists to the traditional parts of a reception.

Invite Your Guests to Walk Down Memory Lane

Many reception venues are impersonal, since they need to be comfortable for people from a diverse range of backgrounds. While table settings and flowers are always great ways to decorate, you might want something a little more meaningful. Try putting framed photographs of you and your new spouse with various people from your guest list along the walkway. You can also scatter some random snapshots of similar moments on the tables to spark conversations.

Arrange for Personalized Food Service

By the time that your guests walk through the entrance to your reception hall, you can bet they’ll be hungry. SOme companies, such as Terra Catering, know just how true this is. Catering services make it easy to feed a crowd, and you can work with your caterers to plan a menu that fits every dietary need. From preparing hand-crafted cocktails to setting up memorable food displays, leaving this part of your reception to the professionals lets you have time to enjoy a plate with your loved ones as you celebrate your special day.

Add a Twist by Mixing Up the Music

Most people either choose to do a DJ or a live band for the music, but you don’t have to pick between the two. Many wedding guests prefer to hear the actual artist’s voice during popular songs rather than a cover band’s, yet they still like to hear traditional songs at wedding receptions. An easy way to fix this is to hire a band to play the instrumental parts while the DJ plays the original song. You don’t even have to hire a full band for this to work. Just having a guitarist or drummer highlight the instrumental parts of a song generates a romantic effect.

Plan an Unexpected Source of Entertainment

Many wedding planners stop at the band, and this could cause you to miss out on an opportunity to give your guests the surprise of their lives. Depending upon the theme of your wedding, you can hire magicians, fire dancers or tarot card readers. Or, you could invite a dance instructor to give everyone a crash course in line dancing. Choosing an entertainment option with an interactive element is a great way to get everyone involved in your wedding reception.

By now, many of your loved ones have likely been to so many receptions that they all seem to run together in their mind. Finding a few fun ways to highlight what makes you unique as a couple helps to make your reception memorable. Whether you two are foodies or love to show off your dance moves, you can add a few unexpected events to your reception plans that will have everyone lingering for your big send-off.