Many couples these days, especially those who are paying for their own weddings, are choosing to have alternative wedding receptions to save money on rental of a wedding reception site, a catering bill, decorations, and a band or DJ. To help stay on a tighter budget, there are a number of fun budget wedding receptions that couples can have instead of a traditional sit-down dinner and dance.
Budget Wedding Reception: Sunset Park Dessert Reception
If you are having an evening wedding during the summer, one great idea is to follow it up with a reception outdoors at sunset. Whether it is held in a nearby public park or the church grounds, this will be far less expensive than renting a separate facility for your wedding reception would be.
At your sunset reception, you can have all the festivities such as toasts and cake and the tossing of the bouquet, but without the large meal accompanying it. If you would like to serve some light snacks with cake, consider fresh fruit, or maybe even a fondue fountain if you want to do something fancier.
Budget Wedding Reception: Farm Reception
One option if you live in a part of the country that has farms nearby is to have a farm reception. This works especially well if you know the people who live on the farm, in which case you won’t have to pay a rental fee at all. For food, you can ask some of your close friends to prepare a simple dish to be served as an appetizer as a wedding gift for you.
There are a number of activities that can take place at a farm reception, Hold a dance in the barn with a rented sound system and a playlist you made. You can also play fun farm games like 3-legged races and sack hopping races. Another good activity is to hide wedding-related items in a haystack and have the wedding party go madly digging for them, seeing whether the women or the men can find more.
Budget Wedding Reception: Church Reception
Many couples, especially those who are getting married in their home church, choose to not leave the church building at all for the reception. Many churches have either a large foyer or a fellowship hall that will accommodate many guests for a standing reception. If it needs to be set up and decorated, recruit some of the groom’s friends to do the heavy lifting, and some of the bride’s friends to help out with decorations.
After the ceremony is over, the guests will be able to just mingle, and to be leisurely in progressing to the reception area. The bride and groom can, instead of having a receiving line, have a small table in the reception area where the guests can come by and chat for a minute or two after they get their snack foods. The reception can also include traditional elements such as toasts and cake before sending the bride and groom out to their honeymoon.
