At home Reception

[Soon2bMrs.C]

DF and I are planning an Escape wedding for December 21 @ SBP. We were looking for some help on how to plan an at home reception for all of the guest that will not be attending the wedding ceremony. How do you tell your guest that you are getting marrie at Disney, but they cant come. Also anyone who has had one on a tight buget, please share how you did it!!!!!!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Well, we didn't tell them directly that they couldn't come. Our immediate families got the word out that the wedding was small and far away, and that we'd be having a local reception when we got back for those who couldn't go out to Florida.

Then on the morning of our wedding, we mailed combo marriage announcements/invites to the at-home reception to everyone who didn't come to the wedding.

 

[weedee]

This is exactly what we did! Word got around through our family that we were having an intimate destination ceremony for immediate family/friends. They were happy to hear that we were holding an at-home reception for everyone!

 

[prettyblueskies]

We actually sent out separate wedding and reception invitations. Our reception invitations basically said that we were going to be getting married in Florida and that we wanted everyone to help us celebrate when we got back. There were no hard feelings what-so-ever (that we know of anyway!). I think everyone understood that because of the location and venue restrictions, we could only have our closest friends and family with us.

We were on a tight budget as well, so our reception at home was a little more informal than most, (our venue was our favorite restaurant, not a hall or anything like that) but we really enjoyed ourselves and I think our guests did too, it was just our style

 

[rosworms]

how do you word an invite like that? i've been thinking over it and can't figure out anything not totally awkward sounding.

 

[Lulu83]

DF and I will be doing exactly the same thing - although it will just be the two of us at our ceremony at WDW (we're not even going to ask anybody to travel, it's just too expensive and too far.. plus we've really gotten used to the idea of it just being us and love the idea now hehe)

I've started thinking about wording on our invites and will probably say something like (this is a really rough idea off the top of my head - the final version will be a lot more polished but to give you an idea):

P & L are getting married at WDW on 11/?/12 followed by a honeymoon in the USA
We would love it if you could join us at a reception to celebrate our marriage when we return home.. etc etc

For some people it will be the first they've heard of our wedding plans when they receive the invite! That way it's very "final" that we're not inviting anyone to Florida and hopefully not really open to discussion! Of course our immediate family and closest friends know, but we're kind of wanting it to be a surprise "elopment" type of thing as well..

HTH!

ETA: Post 112 on this page http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1868496&page=8 might be helpful for some people (it's the invitations thread - this bride included a card with her invites about due to number restrictions extra guests can't be accommodated at the ceremony/reception)

 

[beatlesblonde]

We relied mostly on word of mouth until we sent out physical invitations. Those whom we wanted to invite to the actual wedding at WDW got invites and everyone else got Save-The-Dates for our reception not long after the wedding so that they knew it was coming. Luckily everyone who was involved we're close to so they understood.

 

[Soon2bMrs.C]

For those of you who had an at home reception:
1. Did you have a "normal" reception or more of a party
2. Did you wear your wedding dress
3.Did many people come( as many as if you had gotten married at home)

 

[beatlesblonde]

For those of you who had an at home reception:
1. Did you have a "normal" reception or more of a party
2. Did you wear your wedding dress
3.Did many people come( as many as if you had gotten married at home)

1. Ours was a little of both, we did a lot of the traditional reception stuff (bouquet toss, garter toss, first dance, etc.) but we tried to give it a party-like atmosphere

2. Yes but I changed into a party dress after we got all of the reception traditions done

3. We invited about 175, about 125 showed up, it certainly would have been the same people who would have been invited if we had gotten married at home

 

[DznyGal]

1. Did you have a "normal" reception or more of a party

We rented a covered pavilion at our local park and did a picnic type setting. Chicken Wings, Pizza, sandwiches etc... We also had a DJ and losts of pictures and things from our wedding.

2. Did you wear your wedding dress
I wore a white sundress

3.Did many people come( as many as if you had gotten married at home)
Yes we had a great turnout and most people commented on how they enjoyed the relaxed setting.

Here are a few pictures:

Our display table

The tables

Our Favors

About to cut the cake.

 

[Lulu83]

About to cut the cake.

Your cake is gorgeous and looks exactly like the one Disney offers! (based upon what I've seen in photos that is) How did you recreate it? I'm a bit of an amateur cake decorator and I'd love to be able to do something like that for our at home reception..

 

[DznyGal]

Your cake is gorgeous and looks exactly like the one Disney offers! (based upon what I've seen in photos that is) How did you recreate it? I'm a bit of an amateur cake decorator and I'd love to be able to do something like that for our at home reception..

Thanks, I loved it too! My husband's aunt had it made for us as a gift, so I am not sure how it was done. It is all buttercream though no fondant.

I also have a friend that decorates cakes for a local icecream shop, so I asked her to make me one for our 1 year anniversary, here is what she came up with.

 

[lurkyloo]

For those of you who had an at home reception:
1. Did you have a "normal" reception or more of a party
2. Did you wear your wedding dress
3.Did many people come( as many as if you had gotten married at home)

1. We had an open house - people were invited to stop by my inlaws' place any time between 1pm and 5pm. It was very casual, with potluck-style food out all day. I did bake a re-creation of my parent's wedding cake though, and we had a little ceremonial cutting of it (quickly, before it could completely topple ). We also had our wedding video playing on a loop and passed around photo books of our pictures that we gave to the grandmas at the end of the day.

2. I didn't wear my dress, but I did wear my over-the-top chandelier-crystal necklace!

3. I think about 75 people showed up at various times, of the 125 invited. It was hard to tell b/c not everyone arrived at once, but the house was packed all day.

 

[Disneychix]

For those of you who had an at home reception:
1. Did you have a "normal" reception or more of a party
2. Did you wear your wedding dress
3.Did many people come( as many as if you had gotten married at home)

1. We had a 'normal' reception in a banquet hall with dinner and cake and drinks. We did the whole first dance deal and had the Best Man and my dad speak.
2. Heck YES!
3. Yes, we had 125 people at our 'home' reception. All the family and friends we'd have invited if the ceremony was directly before.

We pretty much spread the word that we'd be getting married in FL long before any invitations went out. We had a few surprises of ppl who came to FL with us and a few surprises of those who didn't.
Our intivation for our home reception was along the lines of:
You are invited to share in the celebration of the marriage between blank and blank who were married date.

 

[Disney-Chick]

1. We had an open house - people were invited to stop by my inlaws' place any time between 1pm and 5pm. It was very casual, with potluck-style food out all day. I did bake a re-creation of my parent's wedding cake though, and we had a little ceremonial cutting of it (quickly, before it could completely topple ). We also had our wedding video playing on a loop and passed around photo books of our pictures that we gave to the grandmas at the end of the day.

2. I didn't wear my dress, but I did wear my over-the-top chandelier-crystal necklace!

3. I think about 75 people showed up at various times, of the 125 invited. It was hard to tell b/c not everyone arrived at once, but the house was packed all day.

This is what we are doing. I just sent out the invites...and by email to those who had it with an attachment stating the date/location etc...it will be held at my parents place. When I sent out my invites for the wedding/reception in Florida it was stated that we would be holding a reception in Spring/Summer so everyone knew about it. It's going to be very informal.

I was originally going to wear my dress but decided against it. Actually im trying to sell it. Once I get a count then I will prepare a list for the food. It's only a drop by between 3-7pm.

Im very excited about it.

 

[Nichole33]

We are not having an at-home reception. Instead we are having a "celebration" before the wedding. I found a poem somewhere and used it in the invites. Here is a photo.