Time gap b/w ceremony and at-home reception

[lock3130]

My fiance and I are trying to decide how long after our DFTW we should have our at-home reception. The main thing holding us back is cost. We are paying for our Disney wedding and the thought of getting back right away and paying for a large reception kind of stinks.

His family is quite large and he wants to have the typical meal, dance, etc. so I know the price is going to be a little more than we thought.

What's an appropriate time gap between the ceremony and the at-home reception? Also, did anyone wear their wedding dress? I'd really like to wear it again because it's so beautiful.

 

[lurkyloo]

One thing to consider is how long it's going to take to get your pictures and video back and use that as a guide. We had ours about 2 months after the wedding, which allowed us to make photo books to pass around and show our video.

The thing that worries me is that you have to pay for what amounts to two wedding receptions just to please his family. If they aren't contributing financially, I think you should feel free to have whatever kind of reception you can afford. We had a potluck. Maybe it was tacky, but it was low-cost and low-stress, and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

The point is to celebrate your marriage in the company of friends and family, not to re-stage the whole wedding.

Now if his family is paying, that's a whole 'nother story...

 

[lock3130]

Thanks Carrie. It does kind of concern me too. I would be okay w/ a brunch or a cookout at a park or something but I don't think that idea will fly. I kind of said that it was my idea to go to Disney and he 100% supported it, so I will support what he wants to do back in his hometown. Compromise, right?

His parents said they will contribute some, we just need to clarify what SOME is!

Did you think 2 months was an okay amount of time? That's a great idea that you waited so that you could have the video and pictures. I really like that. But I pretty much loved everything about your wedding!

 

[lurkyloo]

Now let's hope "some" = "a lot"!

I liked the 2 months. It gave me time to recover from planning the wedding and get back into the swing of things after a 2-week honeymoon, but it wasn't so far off that I could barely remember what happened.

 

[Bridie1996]

We're actually planning on waiting about 3 months. We have decided to do a cook-out and need to wait that long for the weather to start getting nice enough to do something outside. We're still debating on the budget and how we want to work things but have agreed to keep it uber-casual. In fact, we aren't even calling it an "at-home reception". It has been dubbed "the big party."

Now, if I could just talk DF into turning it into a Ceili, I'd be all set!

 

[Chilly]

Mine will be 2 months later as well. My Dad asked me why I hadn't waited even longer so the weather was better.

 

[pghloveswdw512]

We're getting married January 3rd, and we're waiting until Memorial Day to have our party. Pittsburgh weather can be bad even in April! We have to wait until the weather clears.

We are doing a potluck as well with lawn games. I am going to wear my dress, and we're going to do a slideshow of wedding pictures.

I think any amount of time would be fine as long as you're comfortable with it. I'm kind of excited about having to wait almost 6 months for our at-home party. It gives me something to look forward to during winter!

 

[Chilly]

Oh and yes i'm wearing my dress.

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

We married on August 17th, then returned home to the UK on September 26th. We're having our reception on September 26th as we wanted to have it before the weather got too bad!

I will be wearing my dress again, plus having hair/make-up etc. However, we didn't spend a huge amount on our Escape wedding (mum added all the more expensive things as a surprise!!), and we're having the reception at a local venue who, although not the most prestigious hotel by any means, has a good reputation for putting on good wedding receptions, and this has kept the costs down as well.

 

[gemmybear83]

Were planning our 1-2 months after our wedding. Were planning on getting married early December (9th hopefully!) and are hoping to have a party with friends and family in January (everyone is depressed/broke in Janaury so hopefully this will give people something to look forward too!).

Like others have said were planning on having a "party" not a formal wedding reception, at a local venue. I will be wearing my dres - and hopefully will still have a tan to go with it

 

[lock3130]

I'm glad to hear that people are waiting and we wouldn't be breaking some unwritten wedding rule. That's also good that people are wearing their dresses. I didn't know if it'd be taboo. Why not get your money out of it, right?

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

I'm glad to hear that people are waiting and we wouldn't be breaking some unwritten wedding rule. That's also good that people are wearing their dresses. I didn't know if it'd be taboo. Why not get your money out of it, right?

I totally agree! I'm even thinking of having my train removed (possibly turned into a christening gown) so I can wear it in future as an evening dress - I love it so much that I would be really sad not to wear it again.

 

[Disneychix]

We had our at-home reception one week after we were married. It was easier for us to do everything at once so my family could take off of work and travel all at once.
We didn't have the professional video or pics back but we did set up framed photos that family took and we had an 'unprofessional' video playing of our wedding and honeymoon.

For me, it was nice to have everything done and over in one week. I don't know how I would have handled more planning and worrying about if I'd fit in my dress or if I'd know where DH's suit was. Plus, it made it easy for friends and family to know when to send gifts and celebrate. It was just nice to be stress-free and enjoy being married.

 

[Nicsnick]

We got married March 23 and had our reception June 26. We live in Portland OR and our reception was in Houston TX. We waited in order to be able to take more time off. We left for our honeymoon June 27 after our reception. We also had a get together here in Portland on Aug. 29 with my DH's family who couldnt travel to Houston.

My family joke that our wedding is the year long celerbration and ask us where we are going next!!

 

[adisneygal]

We were married April 28 and are having our at home reception on Oct. 3rd. We were gonna have it like May 25th or something but I wanted my pics and video back first so we pushed it back. I just got my video last Sat. so I would allow for any production delays.

I am soooooo glad we pushed it back. We thought we were only gonna have 50ish people and our guest count is around 140 now. Planning this is just as extensive as the wedding...

 

[Donald'sGirl]

We are getting married this Dec 14th but we live in MA we are going to wait until the following summer when the weather is better and have it then so it will be about 6 months later.