3 Overlooked Details When Planning A Reception

Planning a reception is one of the hardest parts of planning a wedding. You’re dealing with many different moving pieces during this event and even one of them going wrong can send it all crashing down. Some of the most important things are those that are often overlooked, though. Below are just three of the things that are commonly overlooked during reception planning.

Seating

If you’ve ever watched a wedding comedy, you already know the obsessions with seating. Certain people need to be in certain places, generally away from others. While everyone remembers how to make seating arrangements, some brides and grooms forget about getting the seats. Surprisingly, many wedding venues don’t include chairs and tables in their estimates. Make sure you have enough comfortable seating for all of your guests at your reception. While this might seem like a minor issue, everyone will remember if they had to stand during your reception—and nothing else.

Wait Times

Putting together the big day is a complicated process. Between moving the bridal party from the wedding site to the venue, coordinating professionals and dealing with photography sessions, there’s a lot to do between the wedding and the reception. Unfortunately, everyone outside of the wedding party is forced to wait while the party takes care of business. Make sure that there is either enough of a gap for guests to go home between the wedding and the reception or that there is something for the guests to do while they wait for the bridal party to show up.

Disposal

Eventually, you’ll have to dispose of the leftovers from your reception. Some venues do include clean-up in the costs, but not all. Unless you really like the idea of making your guests clean up after themselves, it’s a good idea to hire professionals. You may consider using professionals like those at Peterson’s Service Corp to help you get the equipment you need for clean-up. You’d be surprised by the amount of trash that can be generated by a wedding reception and you likely won’t be able to fit it all in a standard trash can. You may well want to consider renting a small dumpster just for this reception.

Make sure to pay attention to the little things while you plan your reception. While they certainly won’t make your reception more memorable, forgetting them can result in disaster. Pay attention to seating, timing, and clean-up—doing so will help your reception to run much more smoothly.

About the author:

Emma is a freelance writer currently living in Boston, MA. She writes most often on education and business. To see more from Emma, say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2