At Home Reception Question?

[Tink143]

Hi Ladies,

DF and I were discussing what to do for our At Home Reception. How soon after the wedding? What type of reception do we want to have?

Alot of it depends on if my parents are going to contribute anything money-wise, but I need some help on ideas! I've learned so much other stuff from this fabulous bunch of ladies, thought it couldn't hurt to ask! Thanks!

 

[princessdisneybelle]

You first might want to check with your photographer and see when you will have some pics back. We are doing ours 2 weeks after our wedding. Our theme is " Mad Hatter Picnic". Also alot depends on if you want to wear your dress again. I'm not. Too hot in TX for a huge dress. GL with your planning.

 

[D&R love Disney]

We had our at home reception 6 weeks after Disney wedding. It was a casual party with some basic decorations that we did ourselves. We did have it catered so that was the only expensive part of the party. I wore my dress again and it was fun getting to wear it.

 

[dmslush]

We are looking at a couple of months.. we want all of our pictures and video back, plus we are also debating it being a cookout. So, we will have to wait long enough for the weather to warm up a little.

 

[PirateKitty]

We're having a cocktail reception at home a week after we return from the honeymoon. I'll be wearing my dress again, but we're keeping it Saturday night casual for everyone else. We want everyone to be comfortable. Our beach wedding really won't work with the venue we're having the reception at, so I'm steering clear of a theme. Gosh, I sound so boring, especially after seeing all the fantastic details some of the brides on here are putting into their weddings/receptions. We just plan on using lots of candles and flowers, and we're going to have a candy bar for our guests to fill up on goodies before they leave. We're also spending some extra money for a coffee bar (kind of like a Starbucks) so our guests can choose from different kinds of coffees, teas, espressos, etc. while they enjoy cake.

 

[Tink143]

You first might want to check with your photographer and see when you will have some pics back. We are doing ours 2 weeks after our wedding. Our theme is " Mad Hatter Picnic". Also alot depends on if you want to wear your dress again. I'm not. Too hot in TX for a huge dress. GL with your planning.

That sounds like fun. I bought a dress that I am planning on wearing for that party, and for two other occasions - High School Reunion is the first. Trying to get multiple uses out of it. Definitely too hot in TX for me too. Even though this spring has been unusually cool and beautiful, I can't get that lucky two springs in a row!

Thanks so far ladies for the advice!

 

[disneybridetobe]

I'd definitely give it at least 2 weeks.. ours was the weekend after we got home, and it got a little crazy.

GL!

 

[Emwit27]

Our wedding is in August and we are having our "home" reception in November. Our home reception is actually a destination reception as we are having it in Las Vegas (I went to school there so I have a lot of friends there). Because of this it is a lot of extra planning so we decided to leave a big gap between the wedding and reception. I guess it all depends on how elaborate a reception you want. But I agree, leave at least 2 weeks inbetween.

 

[dznystar]

Our at home reception is 1 week after we get home from our honeymoon. We're having a luau in our back yard. Last week we bought one of those giant moonwalks off the internet. I have a 3 1/2 year old son and there will be lots of kids from my school there, and I don't want them running through my house.

 

[Ticky Toria 78]

Hi there, we've just got back from getting married. Our "at home" celebration is 3 weeks after our return.

We are having a party at a local golf club for 80 close friends/family.

I'm so excited as I can wear my dress again!!! One of our friends is taking some pictures for us. After food, we are having a disco.

We are in the process of putting our photos on a dvd to play on the big screens for all our guests to see.

Happy planning!

 

[figmentfan814]

Our wedding is March 3 and our at home reception is going to be at the end of May. We wanted to make sure that we had our pictures and our video back to share with everyone. I am also going to wear my dress again since I know a lot of people want to see it. We're being pretty casual with the party. Since our wedding is a garden/spring theme we're doing our reception as an garden theme too.

 

[Chantelle]

We're getting married July 17 and will be back from the dismoon on July 21. The home reception is booked for August 4th.

We are having our marriage blessed in the catholic church so it has essentially turned into another full wedding. We have to go through our vows again and exchange rings for the marriage to be legitimate in the eyes of the church. I will be wearing my wedding dress for the ceremony and then changing into my dessert reception dress for the barbeque reception and dance we are having afterwards. I have bought a fake bouquet for this as well as to use for the bouquet toss. I will be working on making my bridesmaids rose wands for it using fake flowers. We will be doing our own hair and makeup. My friend works at the body shop so I can get make-up for 50% off!

It will be fairly low key at my fiances parents farm to try and keep costs down. My future mother in law has planned almost everything so it will be very stress free for us and should be a fun time. A lot of the food will be prepared by ourselves on a big barbeque we have rented and the music will be from an ipod. We are looking to host around 80-100 people.

Hopefully we will have our pictures back by then as I intend to put together a slideshow. We just had a home theater installed in our new home so we will be bringing the projector and setting up a big screen at the farm to show the slideshow as well as to do a "drive-in" movie night the friday before.