Mike Steelman Photographers

As with the ceremony, there is a fairly standard sequence of events at most receptions. In personalizing your reception, feel free to exclude any of the following reception rituals that do not appeal to you.

As guests enter the reception area, they will sign the guest book and deposit your wedding gift in the designated area. The guests then mingle over appetizers and drinks as the soft music of your DJ or musicians plays in the background. During appetizers, your photographer will take formal photographs of the wedding party and immediate family. Once photographs are completed, your family enters the reception discretely and the master of ceremonies (MC) announces the grand entrance of the wedding party and you take your seats.

The meal is then served by wait staff or each table in turn moves through the buffet line. Once everyone is served, the best man presents a toast, which may be followed by additional toasts. At the planned time, the MC announces the cake cutting. You and your Groom complete the ceremonial cutting of the cake, then the rest of the cake is cut by the caterer. The MC will announce the Bride and Groom’s first dance. This dance may be followed by several additional special dances and then the floor is opened for everyone to dance. The final reception event is the bouquet toss and garter throw.

The Map. Create a site map, identifying where each key element of the reception should take place. Include the receiving line, buffet tables, drink table, bar, wedding cake, groom’s cake, DJ or musicians, head table, immediate family tables, guest tables, guest book table, and the gift table. Discuss logistic options with your Reception Site coordinator. This person has the experience of numerous receptions held at this very location – experience that will be a great help to you. Generally, you will want to locate key elements apart from each other to prevent congestion.

Grand Entrance Your MC will introduce each member of the wedding party as they enter the reception and make their way to the head table. The maid of honor and the best man are introduced just before the Bride and Groom, who are introduced last. Be sure to have a clear path planned between the banquet tables so that you can easily get to your table. Later, take time to walk around the reception visiting each table so you can be sure to greet each of your guests.

Receiving Line. If you plan to have a receiving line, place it at a location where guests enter the room. The gift table should be located before the receiving line so that guests are able to set down their gift prior to greeting the family. The guest book table may be located either before or after the receiving line. The receiving line is formal and time-consuming and has therefore lost some popularity in recent years; however, it is a good way to ensure that you greet each of your guests.

Head Table. With the exception of the children, all members of your wedding party will sit at the head table. Most head tables consist of long rectangular tables where the wedding party sits facing all of the guest tables. The Bride sits to the Groom’s right followed by the best man. The maid of honor sits to the Groom’s left and the remaining attendants alternate male/female seating. An alternative to this large head table is the Sweetheart Table, which is a small round table for only the Bride and Groom. This table allows the Bride and Groom a bit of privacy and makes it easier for guests to walk up and visit the couple without the barrier of the large table. It also allows wedding party members to join their spouses who may otherwise be at a table alone with a group of strangers.

Bella Castle Photography

Before you can book your Caterer, DJ, Florist, etc, you have to have a confirmed wedding date set. You cannot confirm your wedding date until you have booked a wedding location. So the first service you should book for your wedding is your Wedding Location. The main items to consider in selecting your wedding ceremony and reception site (or sites) are any date restrictions, your wedding style and size, site availability, site attributes and cost.

Date Restrictions. Some couples are dead-set on a specific wedding date while other couples have several dates that are possible. If your selected date is an absolute, this will help you to quickly narrow down your group of semi-finalist venues since some of them will already be booked on your selected date.

Wedding Style and Size. Your wedding style will help in narrowing the list of potential sites. Some sites have solely indoor or outdoor facilities, may be formal or casual, at the beach or on a ranch. Check out our Location Table for the Central Coast County in which you want to marry to see a quick summary of Site Attributes of the major Venues in that county. Place the sites that best match your wedding style onto your finalists list. The smaller your number of guests, the more options you will have. Sites that cannot handle the size of your party may be taken off of your finalist list.

Availability, Attributes and Cost. Armed with your semi-finalist list of potential Wedding Venues, conduct some focused research. Visit each of their websites to learn more about their services and to see photos of the site. A quick and easy way to link to the Websites of your Venue finalists is to click on the Local Wedding Vendors Tab, select your County of interest (or multiple Counties), then click on the Locations Tab on the left. This will give you a listing of local Venues with links to each of their websites!

Then call or email your finalists. Do they have your preferred date available? If so, does the site have all of the attributes you want? See our Reception Site Worksheet (Planning Tools Tab  >> Worksheet Tab >> Reception Site Worksheet) for a list of potential questions to ask. Make copies of this worksheet for each of the venues you call and record the answers so that you can evaluate your data later.

What is the cost for your size of reception? Because each site has different attributes and different pricing structures, it can seem difficult to compare apples to apples. Some sites include tables and chairs while you would have to rent them at other sites. Some sites include food, plates, and flatware while you would have to hire a caterer at other sites. Some sites are naturally gorgeous so your decoration cost (and labor) will be minimal.

So the best way to evaluate price ‘apples to apples’ is to add up all of the costs associated with having your ceremony or reception at a given site and then divide the total cost by the total number of guests. This will give you the overall cost per person. Although cost is a consideration, your final selection will be based on many factors – including your gut feeling, which should never be disregarded!