Ideas

cmramirez06

Hi everyone!  I'm only a few weeks out from being engaged, so I'm still wrapping my head around the whole idea of wedding planning.  We've booked our ceremony & reception at the Catholic church in Rapid City, SD for July 17 (Saturday).  My dream wedding didn't include a reception at the church, but due to extremely tight budgeting, the money saved on the reception site (not a huge priority) will be able to go to more priority details (food, alcohol, pictures, etc).  Here's where I need some help....

Our ceremony will be at 1 pm & we're allowed to begin our reception any time after that.  Catch 22 - the church has Saturday evening mass at 5:30 & although we're allowed to have our reception at that time, we won't be able to have our music blaring.  I'm worried if we start our reception at 2:30ish (after ceremony/pictures), it will be a complete buzzkill if we have to quiet our music at 5:30.  My thought is to start our reception at 4:30/5, so the first hour or so can be more background music while people mingle, eat, get drinks, etc.  I don't think lag time between ceremony & reception will be a problem; there's plenty of sightseeing & things to do.  We're also planning to rent a party bus to bring people to their hotels at the end of the night, so the lag time gives them a chance to drop their cars off back at their hotel, relax, change, whatever, & then the party bus can pick them up to bring them to the reception.  Would it be better to start our reception later (sorry, can't have the ceremony later) so the first part of the reception can be "dimmer" music?

I think it will help we're not planning to have a DJ (my bro & sis-in-law did their own music, through an iPod, & it worked so well); the church hall has a sound system, so next time we're in town (we live in a different town), we want to check out how to use the sound system & that will give me a chance to see just what volume we can have music without disturbing the other room where they have mass.  The two rooms are not connected, so I'm fairly certain we'll at least be able to have some background music.

I'm also not planning on having a "typical" seated reception.  I'd like my reception to be more cocktail party style, to encourage more dancing, mingling, walking around, eating, drinking, etc.  I'll have probably 10-15 seated dinner tables (for a guest list of 220, that's less than what would be required for a seated meal) where people can sit to eat; several high top tables (probably near the bar & near the buffet food, which we hope to have food "stations"); & extra seats probably in a U-shape around the dance floor for people to sit.  My brother & SIL had this style reception & I loved how it turned out.  If you've had a cocktail-style reception (even while serving a full meal), how did you have the room set-up?

danieliza1127

Well, in my experience, afternoon receptions don't last much longer than about 2.5 hours anyway.  So if you start it right after the ceremony, it would probably be over by 5:30 anyway. 

If you're wanting a more party type reception and you're wanting people to dance and drink, you should have an evening reception.  The problem you face then though is a huge gap between the ceremony and reception which a lot of people think is really rude and should be avoided at all costs.

I would probably try to either have the ceremony later in the evening and go straight into an evening reception, or stick with the 1:00 ceremony and start the reception immediately after knowing it will likely be over by 5:30.

Chickadee2010

Usually I'm the first one to complain about the huge lag between ceremony and reception, but in this case I would vote for the evening reception. The only thing, please please take the time to think about your guests and PLAN things for them to do during the break. You mentioned sightseeing so go the extra mile and put together a package/brochure listing all the sights (with directions, history etc) as well as listing other options like places in the area to grab a quick drink or a bite to eat. This could be a fun DIY project to help keep it on budget. This will make the guest feel thought of as opposed to abandoned.

For room set up, the best cocktail weddings I've been to have divided the room into zones. Large tables for the talkers/groups, high tops near bar/stations. As for extra chairs, I would have a few near the dance floor for people to take a break from shakin' it, but most of the time if people aren't dancing they're talking, so have a few good conversation areas too. Hope I've helped a bit.

jenn.daniel

lag time = annoying

aerinpegadrak

Holy wall of text, Batman!  Cliff's Notes?

I'm not a fan of gaps between ceremony and reception, usually.  A girl on my local (Las Vegas) has a gap of a couple of hours, but anyone who can't find free entertainment within walking distance in Vegas just isn't trying.  Unless you're somewhere that there's that kind of plentiful free entertainment (that people would want to do in dress clothes), then you should try to have the reception as soon after the ceremony as humanly possible.

Da0419

Aren't you supposed to wait til after you're engaged to set a date and firm up plans? ...I'm just sayin.


Other than that, it seems like you've gotten a lot done already!

Da0419

...nevermind, I'm retarded and completely read that wrong...

lyndausvi

I would find it odd to attend a ceremony.  Leave the location for a few hours only to return to the same location for the reception.  That is just odd to me.

Can you have the ceremony eariler?  Then you can have more time for the party?  As long as their is food, booze and good dance music my family will dance and party at any time of the day.