After HM receptions or parties. How are you doing them?

FSForever

FH and I are getting a lot of slack from our friends who are not invited to Maui.  My mother just completed a complete lanscaping project of her backyard and we are planning a bbq party the weekend after we get home from our HM to share our trip and pics with them.  How may of you are planning a post wedding party/reception or had one?  Did you do the same theme or keep the same flow as your wedding?  I would kind of like to keep it similar and FH would like a bbq style.  Also how did you handle the invites?  I am DIY pocket invites for the wedding but I only have to do 20 and I can't imagine doing another 40 for an after party. Wondering if I can bring my WC home with me. :')

Tanq&Tonic

We did an AHR after the wedding but before the honeymoon.  Our AHR had nearly 400 people, and we had the invitations printed by a local printer.  My sister came over and helped us assemble them all in one night.  The theme had nothing to do with the wedding.  We kept the same logo (our initials + hibiscus) but everything else was different -- colors, mood, etc.  I wore my dress, though.

maui2011

Still debating this one...initially we were not as we're inviting everyone to our Hawaii wedding as we would to an at home wedding...however we know that family and friends that we would like to be there cannot be due to medical, financial or prior commitments...thus i started to look at potential venues at home were we would invite everyone to an AHR.  IF we do go this route...not very likely as my extended family has really pissed me off...we would have a cocktail reception at a restaurant in a private area...passed pupus and a few food stations lasting no longer than 4 hours, live jazz duo or trio...slide show with wedding photos and we would show our highlight video.  No wedding reception stuff like dancing, dinner, or bouquet or garter toss...not doing either of these in Maui. The AHR would be totally different from our wedding reception except for maybe incorporating some decor items that i purchased on ETSY and maybe a candy buffet as i have the candy jars already but everything else would be totally different perhaps even including are logo...Tanq i would love to compare logos with you as our logo is J hibiscus A and i would like to get away from the Hawaii theme altho it is our logo so more than likely we would keep it. HTH! J. :-)

sparklegirl84

We're doing the simple backyard bbq. I really don't have the energy/time/patience to get all elaborate with things and our friends are all really low key so it works for us. I ordered 100 free postcards from vista print for our invitations (pic in bio). I plan to re-use my white paper lanterns and cut flowers from my garden for centerpieces but I'm not going overboard and we're not really sticking to a theme. Bright picnic style colors are kinda taking over though.

breaness

We're having a reception for about 60 (the guest list has grown a bit, but we're still under 70) at a local hotel. We tried to find a way to make it as not lame as possible, since my FI hates pretty much anything about traditional weddings. We got the dueling piano players from the local piano bar and they're going to be the entertainment for the night (which everyone who knows is over the moon about) and then really really great food and desserts. It's mostly going to be a mingling kind of thing. 

The plan is:

1 hour for cocktails with lighter dueling piano music

1 hour for dinner and either before or after dinner, play our 2 minute video of our story which follows us from friends to best friends to bf/gf to engaged to married including a clip from the ceremony

2 hours for party time and the full on dueling piano show

The party doesn't really have a theme, but the chef at the hotel did make up a special "Maui Tropical Sauce" for the citrus chicken, just for us, and our cupcakes will have hawaiian flower fondant. Our favors are wow-wee bars, but other than that it's largely non-themed. We're going with the default centerpieces from the hotel (mirror tiles with various candles) which looks lovely. This is really low key and not a lot of work required from us, but it's going to be a blast!

Our invites for everything were designed by me and printed through vistaprint.

The AHR invites came in yesterday and I'm so thrilled.

kaesha

We opted not to do one, as our guest list was already so spread out across several continents. There was no point in having an AHR.

Plus, one of the reasons we did Hawaii was to have an intimate wedding. I would have felt really weird about throwing a big party to celebrate something that I wanted to keep close.

FSForever

Thank you for all of the views/ideas.  We were thinking a low key bbq would be nice but then I started thinking themes and he didn't think that was neccessary.  Almost all of our wedding guests are my family, our kids, and each of us will have our BFs with us in Maui. Most of the AHR would be his friends so I was thinking more of a hawaiian theme and cater to his liking.  I like the idea of doing simple invites ordered from an online source.  That would definately help me out as far as planning. 
@Kaesha, I kind of feel the same way.  The only tradition we are keeping is our first dance at FH's request.  I don't like being the center of attention and really wanted the actual ceremony to be more intimate, which is why we are doing it away from home.

Tanq&Tonic

@Kaesha - couldn't agree more.  Unfortunately for us, agreeing to the giant sh*tshow was the only way to ensure the wedding stayed at 40 so we did it.  It was HELL.  I don't recommend it

sharkbitemiller

We are having a AH...CELEBRATION with 150 invited. I wouldn't call it a "reception". It's at a venue where I get full reign of the place like decorations and bringing in my own food. So we are having the celebration on Cinco De Mayo complete with taco cart, margarita machine, and nice cold Dos Equis on tap. Although our party is on Cinco De Mayo, the "theme" is still hawaiian but not too elaborate where it looks like a cheezy luau. And the only "tradition" wedding reception stuff we are doing is first dance, father/daughter dance and money dance. We will be wearing our wedding outfits.
The AHR invites were designed by me with sample ideas coming from Shutterfly (used our Engagement photos) and printed at work.

kimmykupcakes

We are having one a little over a month after we get back.  Sticking with the Old Hawaii theme and doing a backyard luau. We will be inviting about 150. FI and I will wear our wedding clothes. We are doing cupcakes, a candy bar, some food catered, some made, will have a bartender, dancing, and a photographer.

WinstonsGirl

We're looking at having one to keep Mom happy (so she gets to plan something).  She was a little unsure of the DW idea, having never seen one before and was worried about us/others missing on important wedding things (not sure what).  We're thinking of an open house idea, maybe 2-6pm, come whenever you want, stay as long/short as you want, snacks, maybe a BBQ, nothing big.  That way, people can come and go as they need to and don't feel like they have to stay all day!!

dianab0237

We're having a very casual home celebration as well for our extended family and friends that couldn't make it to Hawaii.  We're keeping it really simple, at a sports bar that has a private room. They are providing the food and drinks and will let us play a slide show of our wedding pics. No traditions, just a shindig for those who want to party.

fabutan

I'm 100% in the same vein as kaesha.  No AHR for us...  Our friends and family are spread across different continents as well -- one of the reasons for having our wedding in Hawaii was for ppl to meet in one place.  We wanted an intimate wedding, so I don't think it even crossed our minds having something possibly larger at home.  As kaesha said, that would defeat the purpose...

It helped that we kept our invitation list VERY limited...  It's possible some folks might have felt left out, but no one made it known to us...  We made it very clear to everyone from the get-go that we wanted something small.  That was the vision we stuck with, no exceptions...