Planning your wedding reception

You’ll begin the planning of your wedding reception by considering what the venue has to offer in the way of size, facilities, and ambiance. Some hotel and country clubs sites are accustomed to staging weddings and receptions and will assign you an on-staff wedding coordinator who can recommend florists, musicians, or photographers and help coordinate the other details of the event. Most brides confer frequently with the wedding coordinator, reviewing the menu and making sure things are moving along smoothly.

The challenge in hotel or country club weddings is to make them uniquely your own. The wedding coordinator should be enthusiastic about your vision of the reception, and forthcoming about any trouble spots he or she might perceive in your plan. If you’re working with a florist or other designer who’s not familiar with the hotel’s way of doing things, you should include the wedding coordinator in all the important meetings.

Weddings that take place in less traditional locations or at home can still benefit from the watchful eye of a coordinator - a role usually filled by the bride and her mother or by a professional wedding consultant. More grooms are getting involved in the planning these days, too, which can be a great help.

The basic elements of the wedding reception, once you decide on the type of reception, are the decorations, catering, the cake and music. The physical comfort of the place is another element to bear in mind. If your wedding will be held outdoors, the possibility of rain, wind, humidity, or heat must be factored in, and you’ll need to have a backup plan in case of inclement weather. Indoor venues need to be checked to make sure they have adequate heating or air-conditioning, changing rooms for the wedding party, restrooms, and kitchen facilities. Almost any site can be made to work with the help of an additional tent or two, but those come at a cost.