How to Reel in Wedding Reception Costs

Since half of your entire wedding costs will be dropped on the reception, it pays to plan carefully.

The earlier the wedding, the cheaper the reception costs. If your reception is before noon, you don’t even have to have a reception. If it’s between noon and 4 p.m., consider a lunch reception (buffet or sit-down). With an afternoon wedding, you can have an elegantly informal appetizer or just cake and punch reception. It’s generally accepted that any ceremony after 7 p.m. will include dinner — this is the most costly option. But there are ways to save.

THE CAKE
It’s a largely held belief that wedding guests come to see two things: the bride and the wedding cake. No matter what type of reception you choose to have or how much you plan to spend, don’t scrimp on the cake.

Order three smooth frosted white cakes of different sizes from you local grocery store. Have the bakers pipe colored icing around the bottom edge of the cake, but other than that, have them leave it plain. (Or have a friend do the same.) At the reception site, arrange them with the biggest one resting on the table, the middle one propped up on upside down wine glasses directly behind it, and the smallest cake on a taller tier made out of an upside-down vase. Decorate the tops of each cake with cut flowers that match your bouquet.

For a Christmas-season wedding, place small ball ornaments on the cake instead of flowers. Sprinkle the cake with edible glitter for more snowy, holiday flare.

THE FOOD
If you’re planning to serve dinner, save money by offering a buffet instead of a sit-down meal at your reception.

When arranging the food on the buffet table, put the most expensive items (meat) at the end of the line and place the less expensive items (finger foods, fruit, salads, etc.) at the start. Your guests will fill their plates with the less expensive items and won’t have space to take many of the high-dollar items. Go with chicken or fish instead of meat.

To save even more money, think ethic. Asian menus are increasingly popular and less expensive because they have more vegetables than meat. Additionally, Italian or Mexican cuisine are similarly inexpensive and crowd favorites.

Lastly, the easiest way to save money at your reception is to not serve alcohol.

CENTERPIECES
Have your bridesmaids place their bouquets in vases of water on the reception tables after the wedding. On the leftover tables, create inexpensive centerpieces. Purchase flat mirrors from a wholesale decorating store like Old Time Pottery. Arrange four to five pillar candles of varying sizes on top and sprinkle rose petals for striking centerpieces.
Wide shallow bowls filled with potpourri or water and several floating gerbera daisy blooms are another way to create a casual, yet elegant centerpiece.

For a casual daytime wedding, place flowering plants in terracotta pots in the center of each table, or fill empty pots with green moss and a variety of white or off-white pillar candles. Place a handful of flower blooms around the base of the candles.

Place inexpensive, fresh fruit like lemons and limes in a large glass bowl or pillar. Sprinkle flower blooms at the base.

Spray-paint small wicker baskets from a local craft store to match your wedding’s colors. Fill with raffia or dried moss and top with ribbon, beads, flowers or wedding favors.

Wrap or decorate empty boxes of varying sizes in wedding wrapping paper (plain white will work) and ribbon. Stack or place next to each other. Swag garland and faux pearls between the gifts. For a Christmas wedding, wrap with gold or silver (holiday looking paper) and swag garland between the gifts.
 
MUSIC
Hook up a CD player or iPod to the sound system and pump out tunes that fit your reception’s mood, whether it be big band, classical or soulful classics. Make sure the level of the music doesn’t drown out conversation.  

Hire a local college music student or students to play the piano. Consider asking someone play a saxophone to pre-recorded instrumental music.  

Hire a DJ instead of a band. Remember that the longer your reception goes (including dancing and/or drinking) the higher your costs are going to be.

WEDDING FAVORS
Guests just don’t appreciate or care about wedding favors much these days - probably because the wedding favors couples can afford to buy are cheesy or useless. Try to use wedding favors that will work into the design of your reception tables to get a double use out of them.

Here are some ideas for simple, elegant wedding favors:

• MMM … CANDY
  Wrap Jordan Almonds, candy-coated chocolate, jellybeans, hard candies, or mints in tulle circles. (Get a friend to help make these.) Scatter them across your tables. For a simpler favor, sprinkle Hershey’s Kisses on the tables instead.
• PICTURE THIS
  Picture frame place card holders (if you need them) can double as favors. Try to buy in bulk to reduce costs.
• WHO ORDERED TAKE-OUT?
  Buy white Chinese takeout boxes in bulk from a restaurant supply store. Fill them with inexpensive candy (bought at bulk) and tie the box in a strip of tulle.
• MAGNETIC APPEAL
  Buy packs of adhesive paper for printers at an office supply store. Print a photo of you and your fiancé with the wedding date sixteen-up on a page, print the photos and place the adhesive side down on a sheet of thin magnet. Cut the magnets to size and place on reception tables.

THE SEND OFF
If you’re having a send-off, make sure the reception doesn’t drag on. People just don’t stay that long at weddings anymore. Here are some tips to make the send-off as memorable as the day itself:

• If you rent a limo, call your local funeral home for the best rates.
• Buy a bag of rose petals from your local florist for about $5 and ask your attendants pass them out to your guests to toss instead of birdseed.
• Pick up sparklers (after the fourth of July when they’re on clearance) for a beautiful evening send-off that will look fantastic in your photos whatever the month is.