Gym reception

redsoxgirl09

We are having our reception in a school gym. It is at the school were I work and as where we got engaged. I was wondering if anyone might have some ideas on how to decorate a room like this.

ElisabethJoanne

My early-adulthood dream wedding was for the reception in my high school's gym!

Most gyms have very high ceilings. Your choices are either to embrace this or work around it. I don't know how to embrace it, not being an engineer or really crafty.

To work around it, just have lots of eye-catching stuff on the tables. Could be flowers. Could be ice sculptures. Could be photos. It doesn't matter what it is, just that clearly, the interesting/fun/pretty place to look is not the ceilings.

RebeccaB88

Eek. I've been to two gym receptions.  Both couples really tried, but it still looked like they tried to dress up a gym.    

I know you can tubes and draperies, like hotels use for events and conferences and stuff. That can be rented and you pay a fee for it to be set up.  Design companies can do fabric draping, sometimes with backlighting.  But again, you pay big $$$ for it.  One of my friends used balloon arches and sculptures, which were all really cute in themselves.  But you could still see the basketball goals behind them. 

A lot of it will depend on your budget.  The more you can spend on it, the better someone will be able to make it look. But for both my friends, they couldn't do any of it themselves, and what they could afford to spend wasn't enough to hide the fact they were in a gym.  (Plus one of the gyms smelled like a gym...)

ElisabethJoanne

Let me re-iterate: It was an early-adulthood dream, not a silly teenager thing. My high school didn't have a gym when I was a student. It was about celebrating a place that meant a lot to me, and saving money.

Don't worry that your reception has to look a certain way or be nice enough or fancy enough. You do the best with what you have, what you like, and those you love. That's always enough.

jesslynn1012

My reception is going to be in a gym as well. My aunt is the secretary at my church, so I think we are getting it for free (or as cheap as possible).  I am planning on hanging things like lanterns and string balls (not really sure what the technical name for them is) and pomanders to bring the eye level down and to make it feel more intimate.  I am possibly hanging fabric from the basketball hoops to make fabric columns and hide the ugly hoops.  I am planning on hanging a wall hanging or large piece of decorative fabric over the scoreboards.  Once the basketball hoops and scoreboards are covered, I think that the room will just feel like any other banquet room.  It's going to be full of tables with beautiful centerpieces and lots of people.
My mom and I have thought about possibly doing uplighting, but I think I'd rather spend the money on fabric/decorations that I can keep or re-use/re-purpose after the wedding:)

lb1212

Love it!! I'd totally embrace the gym!  Maybe do a play on "High School Prom" themes?