No reception!

We actually looked at this option before we changed DW locations. It isn't a bad idea and some restaurants even have private rooms that let you decorate. We did notice that some still had a pretty hefty rental fee and made you order a set menu. In the long run, you still will put out some money but it is nothing compared to a full blown reception.

I am doing this as well. It's much easier to plan and helped us stay under our budget!

View Quoted Comment You are right. Food cost so much.

View Quoted Comment It’s hard to find a nice venue that will allow us to only have a reception. Do you plan to have brides maids and groomsmen?

View Quoted Comment We are having DW and we had limited time slots and days available to us to choose from. But, they made it happen for us. We do my 2 sisters and FH 2 best friends.

Yup! We chose a resort venue that offered catering (a restaurant on property). After our ceremony we walked to the wine cave on property and enjoyed a great dinner (accordionist during cocktail hour and just a playlist during dinner). Best fun dinner party ever! No DJ, dancing or phototbooth required. 👍

View Quoted Comment I love the idea of the resort venue!

My fiance and I are paying for our own wedding in FL.(destination wedding) We didn't want the traditional reception either but it was important for him to have a traditional ceremony (his first marriage, my second) so we are doing a formal ceremony at a resort and then having an "after party" at a bar/restaurant on the resort where our guests will order dinner and drinks on our tab. No seat assignments, set menu, dancefloor, flowers, just good company. Because it was important to us to have photos and video of the big day, we hired a photographer and videographer. I was worried there wouldn't be much to capture without the traditional reception, so we are going to have the videographer have each guest say something to us on camera throughout the day since we don't get to see them often. It will serve as a live guest book and will be so special to watch during our final video. We're doing getting ready shots on both sides, reading letters from each other on camera, first look, formal portraits with our wedding party (we each have 2) and family, and will sneak off with our photographer/videographer on a golf cart around sunset to take pics with just us around the resort. Still working on all those details and timeline now. Good luck in your planning!

View Quoted Comment That’s sounds amazing!! That’s similar to how I wanted to do ours. I wanted a nice ceremony and intimate dinner where we can enjoy family. Now I have some direction on the dinner portion. Thank you for your feed back!

View Quoted Comment Are you guys planning to have bridesmaids and groomsmen?

View Quoted Comment Yep! He has a best man and a groomsmen and I have 2 maid of honors since I couldn't decide between both of them. 😃 Since it's a destination wedding, we didn't want to burden our wedding party with extra costs on top of travel, so we covered their lodging at the resort, wedding attire, and makeup/hair for my ladies. Totally not necessary but important to us. We cut costs where we could by not sending traditional invites, doing minimal flowers, and cutting out the reception. We weren't planning on doing video at first but really wanted it so we're a little over our budget right now which is 5K-7K. When we priced out the full reception, we were looking at closer to 15k. Actual cost so far without finalizing flowers for the ceremony (still talking to vendors to decide what we want) and not knowing what the final restaurant bill will be is $5,500 so we're feeling ok about it. It would be less if we opted out of paying for our wedding party expenses of course.


Btw, wedding planning is so not my jam so I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible lol. We have 41 guests confirmed right now. We think the final guest count will be around 50. Wedding is May 16th, 2020.

View Quoted Comment I loved that you paid for your wedding party! Are you guys allowing kids at your dinner party? I think that’s where is going to make our wedding court bigger. We have 3 kids and most friends/ family have kids. If everyone confirms we will probably have 60-65 that’s including kids as well. I appreciate your feed back. I don’t feel as bad anymore for not going the traditional route.

View Quoted Comment Kids are allowed! I have 2 from my previous marriage. One of my maid of honors has 2. We accounted for kids and +1's lol. We figured the kids won't eat/drink much anyway. 😁

View Quoted Comment They’re usually beautiful for photos/ceremony AND they have at least one nice restaurant on property! How many guests are you having? If under 20-30, they may have a great weekday night rate ((Sun-Thur). We had 15 guests and because we chose a weekday night, off-season, we saved more than 50% off site fees.

View Quoted Comment I’m having about 60 that’s including kids. I’m hoping I can find a restaurant private room or place that can accommodate my dinner party.

View Quoted Comment I bet you can find one. 👍

We're not having a traditional reception either. After the ceremony we plan to go back to the shore house to have bbq, our cake, and a DIY cocktail bar. We're having a "family reunion" package the restaurant offers. Then that evening we're going on a 2hr private sunset sail with all of our guests. Only 20ppl (dw). We planned something intimate and memorable since we don't have many attending. Just our closest friends and parents. My brother is letting us borrow his 15" speaker, so we'll just jam out to pandora or something when we get back to the house

View Quoted Comment Your ideas sound great!! I love the idea of BBQ. Thanks for your feed back!

View Quoted Comment You're welcome! Glad to help!

We are wanting to have a intimate wedding then out to dinner then fun at a resort like place, Its called the island it is at pigeon forge. My mom wants to be traditional but i don`t want all

the attention on me.