Your wedding is about your public commitment to each other, but it is truly the wedding reception that is the true celebration of those vows. That is where most of your time on your wedding day will be spent. As a result, that is where you want to spend most of your money when it comes to wedding reception decor. This party after the ceremony is where, for most people, your wedding theme will come alive. So here are four tips to help you plan the overall decor of your wedding reception.
Concept: The old adage applies. If you do not know where you are going, you will never know it when you get there. But it gets worse when you are planning a wedding reception: If you do not know where you are going, it is usually obvious to everyone who cares to look that you did put enough thought into your choice of decorations.
It is simple really; all you have to do is narrow your focus. Instead of garden wedding, plan a butterfly themed garden wedding. Instead of a traditional white wedding choose a baroque style wedding. This will make every other decision immensely easier and save you from wasting money on decorative items that detract from the theme you are trying to achieve.
Location: Ideally you have not yet chosen your location for your wedding reception and now that you have your specific concept in mind you can start looking for a location that will carry your theme a long ways. By doing this you can potentially save yourself a lot of money because you can work with, instead of against, the natural decor of your wedding venue.
If you have already booked your venue, do not despair. You can work with your choice. You just have to ask yourself what your choice will allow. This might mean tweaking your choice of themes. For example, it would take a huge amount of work to pull off a white taffeta wedding in the psychedelic ballroom!
Once you have your location then you need to you do a walk through and decide what aspects of the building or grounds you want to feature in your decoration plan for your wedding reception and which you will want to bury. That is right. Make use of what is already there for your decor, not just for your pictures.
First Impressions: Just like in anything else, first impressions in wedding decorations are everything. As a result, pay special attention to the entryway through which your guests will pass to enter your wedding reception. For a elegant winter wedding you might play with evergreen boughs on the door posts with white lights and scented pine cones. For a masquerade ball it is perhaps a mask motif would welcome your guests just right.
Choose a Focal Point: At this point brides are often tempted to object, "But my new husband and I should be the focal point of the wedding reception." No, the bride and groom are not decorations, they are the celebrants. Do not confuse the two.
To make your theme work you need a focal point. Perhaps it is an ancient oak tree around which your reception in the park will be built. Perhaps it is a painting that you will later hang in your living room. Maybe it is a four piece string ensemble. Most commonly, it is the wedding cake or the ice sculpture.
Whatever focal point you choose for your decor it will probably be your most expensive decorative item in your wedding reception. That's okay though. A well chosen focal point can save you wasting a lot of money on knick-knack decorations for your wedding reception. Moreover, like the painting, the wedding cake, or the ensemble some focal points can serve multiple purposes.
Like anything, there is always more to be done, but resist the urge to go out and try to take care of the details until these, the big picture, aspects of your wedding reception decor have been properly addressed.
Jeanette Shinn is a wedding professional with over a dozen years experience making dreams come alive. Find tips and accessories from crystal wedding cake jewelry to beach wedding favors at http://www.ExcitingWeddingFavors.com.
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