Need help with Reception Activities

[hope1826]

For those of you who have not had/ will not have a traditional reception location and format, what did you do?

The reception is set to be in The Attic.
We have 40 guests, 11 of which are children.
No dancing. No bouquet or garter toss (since two of my bridesmaids will have finalized their divorces 2 months before our wedding, and one of the groomsmen may be getting divorced).

I'm going to have prince/knight and princess themed toys, games, coloring books, tiaras, crowns, etc for the all of the children. We are going to have two characters come about an hour and a half apart. And we are getting a fun questionnaire type guestbook from guestbookstore.com, but other than that I am at a complete loss as to what to do to occupy the adults during a four hour reception. Oh, and of course there will be speeches.

Does anyone have tips or advice? Anything would be much appreciated!!

 

[caryndisneydiva]

you could have a caricature artist!

 

[FIREFLY01]

Karioke Machine.

Instead Of Bouquet /garter Toss Present It To The Couple Who Has Been Married The Longest!

 

[Skylarr29]

Are you having no music at all or do you just think your guests won't dance. If you are having no music at all then I would suggest cutting your reception down to 3 hours instead of 4 so you don't have too much spare time where guests are doing nothing. I like the caricature idea.

 

[hope1826]

Thanks for all of the ideas so far!! The caricature artist sounds fun!!

No, we are going to have either an ipod setup with mostly Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald playing, other stuff too. If we can afford a musician or a string trio, then we may have that instead. The problem is that other than my DF and I, no one else coming likes to dance. Also, the Attic is not a large space, from what I hear. So he and I may dance and maybe some kids will dance, but that's it.

 

[hope1826]

My fiance came up with an idea. I think it's great, but I don't know if there would be enough time for it at all.

Does this sound feasible at all?

5pm Ceremony at SBP
6 pm-8:00/8:30 Dinner reception at The Attic (only dinner with music- no dessert, no dancing, no characters)
8:45- 10:00 pm DP at Epcot (dessert, wedding cake, one character right after the fireworks)

I like the idea of giving the bouquet and garter to the longest married couple, but do you think that that may be just as difficult for my newly divorced cousin and friends. I don't really know what they will be ok with and I don't want to hurt them. I don't think they even know what they will be ok with, since things haven't even been finalized yet.

DF loves the caricature idea too!! We're going to look into it. Thank you Caryn!!

 

[hope1826]

Firefly- Are you having a dinner reception at Epcot or Dessert or both?

 

[lurkyloo]

Oooh - I like the new schedule, but I was going to say that I don't think you need anything else to do - people like to have time to just sit and talk! We are also having an Attic reception with iPod and only first dances. Our reception is just 3 hours, and by the time we have a speech or two, brunch and cake, it'll be time to go!

But we are having a dessert party in Epcot later that night, so I'm a big fan of that too! Sounds like you have it all figured out!

Oh - also, we are skipping bouquet and garter toss, but that's because I think they're sexist...

 

[Skylarr29]

I love your new plan... the only thing is I don't think characters are allowed at the DP's. I could be wrong but I believe the recently made the rules stricter so I would check with your planner.

 

[cseca]

Hey,
That's a similar schedule to what we're thinking about too!

Altho the way our coordinator says it is,
5pm for the ceremony.
5:30~6 or 6:30 cocktail hour
6 or 6:30 ~8:30 reception (no dancing etc.)
8:30~9:30 DP

Good luck with your planning...

Altho the only downside I could think of, is you'll pay so much $ for the whole thing and it'll be over in less than 5 hours...

 

[hope1826]

YAY!! I talked to Pam Pearce about the new plan and she said it would definitely work, like you said cseca!! She also said that we could extend the DP so that the whole event would be 5-maybe 6 hours.

But just like skylarr29 said, we can't have characters in Epcot, but she said there may be time during the reception.

Lurkyloo - that is definitely an excellent reason to not do the bouquet/garter tosses.
My FMIL really really wants us to have a very traditional roman catholic wedding and reception (with the bouquet/garter tosses and a polish money dance- not going to happen). At first I actually told her that I felt the tosses were sexist, but that meant nothing to her, but when I told her that it wouldn't be considerate to do with the newly divorced wedding part members there, she finally let it go.

Thank you all for all of your help. You guys are great!!

When is your wedding cseca

 

[FIREFLY01]

Hey, We Are Getting To Epcot At 830 W/open Bar And Cheese And Bread Platters, Then Illuminations Starts At 9pm, During That They Will Set Up The "buffet" We Are Doing A Coctail Party Rather Than A Dinner Since It Is So Late And To Save Money, We Are Gonna Have 4 Appetizers On A Buffet Not Passed , W Mickey Mac & Cheese In Martini Glasses! Then We Will Have The Cake After Some Dancing.

As For The Bouquet /garter Toss Not Sexist At All.... Its A Fun Wedding Tradition.

As For Your Ur Newly Divorced People, The Reception Will Be The Easy Part The Ceremony Is What Is Gonna Be Hard, The Reception Is A Party They Can Relax And Have Fun, Plus Its You And Ur Husbands Day! Don't Worry About What Everyone Else Is Gonna Think, Its About You Two! Make It A Fun Night W/upbeat Music So They Can Have Fun! With All They Are Going Through They Probably Don't Want People Feeling Sorry For Them They Would Prob Appreciate The Fact To Get Their Mind Off It A Lil And Have Fun!