Food at your reception

“How can we budget for the food and music/entertainment for the reception?” It is one of the most frequent questions we are asked. That’s because the reception is the most expensive part of your wedding. However, you can plan it within your budget and have a memorable event.

You must be very particular when choosing your wedding reception venue. It should be appropriate and fit in with your wedding reception plan and budget. It doesn’t have to be a traditional salon. How about celebrating your wedding in a historic house, a park, a museum, fairgrounds, public gardens, on the beach, etc.?

You also need to know if the venue provides all of your furniture and dining needs. If not, you must calculate the rental rates.

When choosing a wedding location, choose a slow period and a Friday night, Sunday afternoon, or weekday, when the caterers are not busy. Doing so will allow you to negotiate with suppliers for the best deals.

To attend or not?

You may not need to attend. If you invite some good cooks to your wedding, you can ask them to prepare your favorite recipes for your reception. Also, if you invite some good bakers, ask if they could make sweets and desserts or maybe even your wedding cake. You’ll save money and they’ll be honored to be asked. In fact, they’ll probably be happy to serve, too. If not, serve a buffet or hire some college kids to serve. Or, how about having a barbecue, serving just hors d’oeuvres, sandwiches, or presenting a beautiful dessert table?

If you have your reception attended, you should consider the following:

• Number of invites,

• Time of the day

• How the food will be served. It will be:

  • soft drinks only?

  • only dessert?

  • light snack?

  • sandwiches and snacks?

  • a sit down,

  • A buffet?

Pub- Will be:

• do you serve alcohol?

• Do the bartenders serve alcohol?

• Do you offer open bar?

• Do you or your guests pay for drinks?

• It only serves champagne, wine and beer and instead has open bar with hard liquor.

Ideas, suggestions and information about

“How to save on wedding food.”

There’s a huge price difference between a light brunch, a five-course sit-down meal, and everything in between.

The following are some suggestions you can refer to to fit your budget.

• Provide an early brunch or lunch. Serve fruits and vegetables, salads, eggs, cheeses, cold cuts, pastries, coffee, tea and cold drinks, buffet style.

• Grab a late lunch of sandwich and salad and just add a few drinks, fruit and dessert.

• At your option, you can still serve it buffet-style or as a sit-down meal.

• For a dinner reception, you can serve a buffet or a formal dinner. A catered dinner is by far the most expensive option.

Should you ask for favors?

Don’t be afraid to ask for favors. More often than not, you’ll find that people will feel honored to be asked to contribute their talents and connections on your special day.

When I got married, my brother’s best friend, who is a DJ, was more than happy to provide his services as a wedding gift for me and my groom.

You can also borrow accessories from a friend or family member. I borrowed the veil and the tiara. Something as simple as a headpiece, veil, or jewelry can be very expensive if purchased new. You’ll have a lot of “Something New” items, but you need “Something Borrowed.” So, look for someone who has an accessory stashed away in their closet and who will be more than happy to lend it to you as their “borrowed something.”

What you can do about music/entertainment

The budget for wedding music can range from hundreds, even thousands of dollars, to almost free. What you need to decide when it comes to music/entertainment is what fits their personalities and is within their budget. You must decide if you want to have:

• musical entertainment for weddings,

• a disc jockey,

• a wedding entertainer,

• a wedding singer,

• recorded music or music from the Internet,

• instrumental music,

• A quartet, guitar soloists, harpist, violinist, etc.

Check out your local colleges and universities and see if they have a music department. If so, ask if there are students in the music program who can perform at your wedding.

A GREAT IDEA OF A BRIDE:

Thanks to Meredith from Phoenix, AZ, who sent us the following information on how she’s saving money on wedding music while helping the local high school band with their fundraising efforts.

She writes:

“I’m getting married and I’ll pay for it myself. So I had to cut costs like you couldn’t imagine! One thing that was very important to me and my fiancé is music. We were both in band and choir at school secondary”. and I love music to this day. Unfortunately having a string quartet was too expensive and forgetting the live band or even a DJ at our reception so I had an idea.

I was in the jazz band in high school and we were really good, winning all kinds of awards and stuff. High school bands are always looking for fundraisers, so we approached my old high school jazz band director to play our reception. We worked really hard to pay them, but it was significantly lower than getting a professional band. And, the school usually already has uniforms, just ask for them, as part of the package.

Thank you for your website it has been very helpful. I wish it was printable.

Meredith from Phoenix, AZ

Ask guests to share their musical, entertainment, and even storytelling talents.

Don’t overlook your guests. If you invite singers, let them sing. Ask them to sing alone or in a group during the ceremony and/or at the reception.

Also, you may know someone, even a teenager, who would be willing to “take charge” of recorded music. There are also quite a few music channels that you can use on the Internet. If you can get the music loud enough to dance to, you can get free music entertainment.

Good friends and family are often eager to contribute to your wedding. you’ll save money and know that your wedding needs will be taken care of with love and care.

Transport, Decorations and Flowers

Ask your friends to serve as your drivers and save. Instead of a limo, rent a luxury car and have a friend drive it. Ask your friends to help you decorate the reception room, arrange the flowers, etc.

Attitude

Have a positive attitude, we can do. Be upbeat about your wedding planning and about your special day itself.

If something goes wrong, as it can, keep in mind that the things that went wrong will become things remembered. You will laugh at them later and throughout your married life. So, have fun while sharing the happiest day of your life with the friends and family who love you and rejoice with you.