Your reception is the time when you get to unwind and have some fun! You get to each some great food and dance, drink, and party with all of your guests! It really is a blast and a great way for you to celebrate the fact that you are MARRIED! YAY!!!! Below are 5 tips for your reception.
Make The Reception Your Own
Just like your whole wedding, you will want to personalize your reception and really make it perfect for you and your fiancé! If you don't feel like doing a certain reception event, feel free to skip it! If you want to add something special in to your reception, then do it! Make it your own!
Don't Keep Your Guests Waiting Too Long
After the ceremony you will more than likely have a cocktail hour where your guests will mingle before the reception starts. During that hour is when you will take your family portraits and any other portraits that you have left to take. You won't want to take too long between the end of your ceremony and the beginning of your reception. Your guests will get a bit antsy and bored. This is why making a timeline with your photographer is so important. They are able to make sure things stay moving so you can get in to the party! This is also where a first look comes in handy, you can free up a lot of portrait time by doing the wedding party and couple portraits before the ceremony.
Keep The Reception Moving
Once your reception starts, you will want to keep it moving. Plan a lot of your events back to back so that there will always be something for your guests to do. By getting a lot of your special events done right away after dinner, this will allow you and your guests to party the rest of the night and relax! Doing all the special events early will also allow your older guests or guests who may have a ways to travel to head out and not miss anything.
Don't Forget To Enjoy Yourself
It's easy to get caught up in greeting each and every guest and talking to everyone, and that's a great thing to do! However, you will also want to make sure you are enjoying yourself and having fun! You won't want the end of the reception to come and you still haven't had a drink or gotten down on the dance floor!
Reception Photography Coverage
Your photographer doesn't need to stay until the end of your reception but you will want to make sure that they are there for all of the special events. A good rule of thumb is having your photographer through all the special events and then about 30 minutes to an hour of open dancing. This will allow you to have all your special events documented and be able to get some great shots of everyone dancing!
