If you decorated your own reception...

jesscmpls

How long did it take you? How many people did you have helping you? just curious. I am planning to do the decorating of our reception hall the day of the wedding and i am just trying to plan way WAY ahead...

anna.oskar

It took about 2 hours to bring everything in from cars and get it all set up.  I had 3 people helping me.  I mapped out the reception hall on a piece of paper with everything labeled so it was easy to put everything in the right place.  It went really smoothly!

kristigiles

We did it two days before and it took about 2 hours if I remember right.  We had a ton of stuff to set up though like a candy table, candles, tulle on the head table, escort cards...

I had way too many people there to help...I wouldn't suggest it.  Bring like 5 people, only the ones who really know what's going on.  Otherwise it can get a little stressful!

jesscmpls

Good to know, thanks for the tips and advice ladies

leggwilliams

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_decorated-own-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:e1c53290-abb9-42cb-bb78-a688b79d7d92Post:74f60a6b-d6e8-493e-9f26-e174fbec5f3e">Re: If you decorated your own reception...</a>:
[QUOTE]Good to know, thanks for the tips and advice ladies :)
Posted by jesscmpls[/QUOTE]

Off topic, but you should come hang out on the Sept 2011 boards too! Just noticing your siggy ticker ;-)

drdifabio

K so this is not at all what you asked so completely ignore me if you want but coming from past experience with my wedding and my friend's wedding you do NOT want to decorate your own reception. You will have tons of other stuff going on that morning that the last thing you should do is set that stuff up! If you could get in the night before maybe but even that night is busy! And this is coming from an uber planner - i planed WAY out too and still stuff came up. For instance, I got a flat tire the Thursday before the wedding and good thing I had planned ahead or I wouldnt have had time to fix it.

Do you have friends or family that are reliable that you could delegate to?
The even better option would be to hire a DOC - that way your friends and family can enjoy themselves and you can leave it to a Pro. You can find ones for under $500 and they are SO worth the cost especially if you are anything like me and your mood is a very important piece to how that day will go. The more someone can alleviate stress the better IMO. I bet you could even find cheaper ones on craigslist if they are just starting out.

Again completely ignore me if you have other plans I just had to share as having a DOC was such a great part of our day!

kristigiles

oh my gosh I totally missed that you want to do it the day of...  I would definitely try not to do that if at all possible.  That morning was crazy as it was just because I was an emotional roller coaster!  I can't imagine adding setting up the reception into that equation...

debbieupper

I would absolutely not plan to decorate your own reception on the day of your wedding. To echo Danielle, really consider a DOC. One of my number one pieces of advice to brides-in-planning is to get a DOC, and if you think it's not in the budget, rearrange something else and MAKE it part of your budget. It's a million times worth it.