How to Provide Comfort and Excitement for Your Wedding Guests
When it comes to planning an unforgettable wedding reception, keeping your guests’ comfort in mind is vital. It’s easy to get caught up in the quest for the Pinterest-perfect wedding, but providing comfort and excitement for your wedding guests is what really gives them something to talk about months after the big day.
Here are a few Pin-worthy ideas to help inspire you:
Choose Favors People Will Actually Like
There are hundreds of adorable favors out there to put your monogram on and put at each place setting, and hopefully you still like them when you have eighty left after the reception! Before you invest a chunk of your budget in hundreds of tiny favors, make sure that you won’t mind having the bulk of them left after the wedding! Edible favors are a hit for that exact reason – someone will always be glad to eat the leftover candy bars or drink the champagne splits that get left behind! Budget savvy couples are doubling up their food and budget allocations by offering a late night snack or take home treat that can double as a favor – boxed tarts, slices of cake, or treats in stamped kraft paper bags make a lovely end to any reception, while donuts or cinnamon rolls make the perfect morning after snack. A favor bar where guests can assemble their own coffee blend or candy selections in personalized bags ensures that hundreds of pre-made favors aren’t left on the reception tables, and saves a lot of planning time!
Perfect Your Seating Chart
If your dream wedding Pinterest board includes a handcrafted ‘We’re All Family, There’s No Seating Plan’ sign, be prepared for a cute photo but a timeline nightmare as guests struggle to find enough open seats for each group. Seating for dinner happens during a crunch time for kitchen prep – lengthy delays can lead to entrees sitting out and food getting cold. Take it from us – assigning each guest to a table, if not to a seat, may take some extra time in the planning process but more than makes up for it on the day of!
Keep things thematic – a gilded mirror for a ballroom wedding, vintage glass doors for an outdoor reception – but make sure that guests can find their seats quickly to avoid cutting into dancing time! The key – list names alphabetically, not by table name!
Create A Spot For Treats
A station welcoming guests to your ceremony serves a dual purpose – it is absolutely adorable, and it’s a wonderful way to ease guests into the hospitality that you have in store for them. Since it’s become more and more common to send the invitation with an earlier start time than planned, reward guests for their promptness with chilled water, lemonade, and iced tea. Drinks aren’t the only way to greet your guests – sunscreen and parasols for an outdoor wedding, pashminas and cocoa in the winter. Keep alcoholic drinks for the cocktail hour – if you’ve ever had to herd guests away from the wine and champagne so you can start the ceremony on time, you’ll understand why!
Provide Specialty Cocktails
There are thousands of themed or color coordinated cocktail Pins out there, and with good reason! Specialty cocktails aren’t just an opportunity for a cute bar sign or striped straw (although those are definitely perks), they serve the dual purpose of allowing bartenders to pre-mix drinks to be able to quickly serve the sudden influx of guests at the start of cocktail hour. Ask servers to circulate with trays of your drink of choice as guests enter the reception space to ease lines at the bar – and to make a great photo op. A drink that can be pre-mixed and poured quickly also gives the bartenders breathing room to add your picture-perfect garnishes! Picking a specialty drink or two expands your drink selection if your budget runs more to beer and wine than hard liquor – you can pre-select which beverages will be offered and avoid sticker shock from an open bar tab.
Provide flip flops
Dancing the night away is easier said than done in sky-high heels. Going the extra mile and providing a basket of flip flops for guests to change into is not only an inexpensive and thoughtful idea, but will be sure to make your guests gush!