The wedding reception will make up the biggest part of your wedding day, as well as the bulk of your wedding budget. The solemnization or joining ceremony is the easy part of any couple’s wedding day, it’s in the wedding reception that you’ll need to spend the most time, make the most efforts, decisions and expenses when planning your wedding. In this post, you will discover the simple steps to planning a good to great wedding reception, Naija style. Read on.
Photo Credit: Nigerian Wedding Photography by Dotun
Wedding Reception Planning Essentials: Step by Step
Planning a flawlessly successful wedding reception involves a lot of planning, time, efforts and logistics. You need to think about the outfits, the food, drinks, the entertainment, the decoration, the souvenirs, the wedding vendors and more details. So, no matter whether you want to host a big or small wedding reception, you require careful planning to bring your wedding dream to life.
Step 1: Dream and Fantasize about the D-Day
Brainstorm about the reception setting, the look and feel of the venue; the atmosphere & ambiance, what you are wearing (bride & groom’s attire, the guests’). Pinterest wedding inspiration boards are the perfect place to start. You can also get wedding style ideas from magazines like Ovation or sites like BellaNaija that showcase pictures from real Nigerian weddings that have taken place.
Take a minute to dream about the type of reception you want to have, about all the things that would make a dream wedding reception for you. Write them down. Don’t worry even if your initial ideas seem stupid, later you can go over the list and take out the not-so-realistic things, so that you would be left with only the things you really you and your fiance are happy to have at your wedding reception.
Answer these small quizzes that will help you flesh out your wedding day essentials
Step 2: Set the Date
What day would you like to have your wedding? Be sure to consider the season and weather, as well as the month (do you want to have the wedding in a popular weddings month or other?). Set the date before looking for venue and vendors – because you want to be sure that the vendors and venue would not be booked at the time. And, it’s a good idea to set a date at least 6 months in advance, so as to be sure that the venue, vendors and the most important guests you want to see would be free to attend the wedding.
3. Set the Wedding Reception Budget
Set aside a ballpark figure for the wedding, and use our wedding calculator to split the budget to know how much to estimate for your wedding reception (which includes food, drinks – basically, most vendor payments are related to the wedding reception).
Break down your wedding budget into the different parts of a wedding reception – you want to get an idea of how much to spend on every single thing. So, put a price beside each of the following (any amount, you need somewhere to start from – you can change it later when you confirm prices). You can make a list of what to spend on or start with our ready-made full Nigerian wedding budget list.
Read also: An easy way to know how much your wedding reception will cost, just from knowing how many people you want to invite
4. Decide on How Many Guests to Invite
How many people are coming to the reception? Put a number to it, because the number of guests guest determines how big or small a wedding reception will cost. The number of guests you expect will also determine:
How big/ small a venue you should rent
How many invitation cards to print
How much food/ drinks you should purchase, and
How many wedding souvenirs to buy.
5. Choose the Place, Location & book the Venue
Get a venue early enough, because the good venues get fully booked even 6 months to 1 year ahead. Decide on:
Where will the wedding and reception take place- what country/ state? in Nigeria, abroad, in the village, what state/ city?
What type of venue would you use for the reception – outdoor or indoor? hotel/ events center/ town hall / garden?
Glam Reception Venue Tips:
Whatever your choice, keep the following tips at the back of your mind:
Know that the right wedding reception venue determines the flow of your wedding day, and a great reception starts from choosing the right reception space.
When thinking of the wedding reception venue, be sure to find a place that is close to the church ceremony location.
And, if your preferred wedding date is during the rainy season, an outdoor venue is your best bet.
6. Plan the Wedding Outfits (couple’s, the guests’)
Will you have a dress change? How many times?
What would the bride and groom’s reception attire be like – formal? traditional? What colours?
How would you like your guests to wear – aso-ebi or not? Formal attire (e.g. black tie affair/ a touch of purple / what colour?)
7. Decide the Wedding Reception Menu
What food will you serve your guests? Will it be Nigerian feood only, Naija + continental or what?
How many different food will be served (list them by names)? Will there be finger foods/ small chops?
What types of drinks will you serve?
How do you want guests to be served – sit-down meal or buffet style?
Glam Reception Food Advice:
If your fiance is not of your tribe or country, it’s a good idea to incorporate both bride’s and groom’s culture and food into the wedding reception menu.
Be sure to plan the wedding reception food according to your budget – no need to borrow for a wedding and later starve or drink garri everyday after wedding.
8. Plan the Wedding Cake
What would your wedding cake look and taste like – the shape, height/ number of tiers, the colours, what flavours/ frosting type/ icing?
Glam Wedding Cake Tips:
It’s a good idea to pick two or three pictures of wedding cakes you’d want your own cake to look like – see our wedding cakes lookbook here;
About cake colour combo, nothing is prettier and cheaper than a wedding cake in cream and white;
Finally, know that great cakes are not necessarily the tallest – small, simple cakes are sometimes more beautiful than over-designed ones
9. Plan the Wedding Reception Decoration
Think about how you want your wedding reception venue decor to be, including the decoration colour scheme, the lighting, the seating and tables arrangement, the wedding cake, outfit colour matching of outfits of the couple and their wedding party’s (bridesmaids and groomsmen), the flowers etc. The reception decoration is basically about the look and ambiance of your wedding, and a big part of your wedding style. And, it’s not just about the colour scheme. So, keep decoration minimal and simple (rainbow colours are not elegant).
We recommend that you sit with your wedding decoration vendor to brainstorm ideas for wedding venue decoration, but it also helps if you have a small idea of what you like – such as: how you want the seating arrangement to be in your wedding hall (rectangular tables? sets of chairs around a round table? or how? Where will the bride and groom sit?
10. Plan the Reception Music/ Entertainment
Would you want to have a DJ or music band, or both? What other forms of entertainment can you afford to thrill your guests with – comedian/ traditional dancers / solo singers? There’s no right or wrong here – let your personality shine through your choice of wedding reception entertainment, while ensuring to keep a balance with what your guests are likely to like.
Glam Wedding Reception Music Tips:
If you’re on budget, DJs are cheaper than live bands. And, a great DJ is better than a sloppy music band, any day. However you choose to entertain your wedding guests, know that a bad DJ/ band will dull your wedding reception mood and make your guests want to leave early. Don’t be stingy when it comes to getting a professional DJ that will keep your guests up and dancing. Do everything you can to keep the mood in your reception festive.
11. Plan the Pictures
In what forms do you want to keep your wedding day memory?
Based on your budget, can you afford to have both wedding photography and video coverage, or only photography? Wedding photography is another area where we advice couples not to be stingy – work around the budget you have to get a professional wedding photographer to cover your big day. We’ve heard many stories of couples who ended up having no pictures or very blurred photos of their wedding day – don’t make that mistake!
Be sure to give your photographer the glam wedding photo posing list (download it from this page)
12. Research and Choose Wedding Vendors
Who and who (or what companies) will help you put together the different areas of the wedding reception – such as: the MC, the DJ, the caterer, the cake baker, the venue decorator, the makeup artist etc.
There’s a lot of logistics with wedding receptions, and you require other people (wedding service providers/ vendors) to help you translate your wedding dreams into a reality. The good vendors always get fully booked early, so start researching for (who to hire) from at least 6 months in advance. The best way to find wedding vendors is by asking around for the reputation and quality of the local vendors near your wedding reception venue. Good places to contact when looking for a wedding vendor include asking hotels and other wedding service providers to recommend reputable wedding vendors they have worked with in previous wedding events.
13. Decide How and Who to Coordinate the Reception
The wedding day is labour-intensive and you (bride or groom) cannot be there, except if you want to miss your wedding and regret it later. You should plan your wedding so that you can attend it like the VIP guest. You have to keep your wedding day for yourself, to totally enjoy all of it. Get someone (NOT YOU) to coordinate the wedding reception tasks in the last weeks leading to your wedding day. That person’s role will also help put out a few fires and last-minute confusion.
If your budget can afford it, hire a wedding planner for the coordination role. If not, find one or two capable friends or family members to help you out.
Related: Effective Tips on How to Coordinate Your Wedding Reception to Run Without You Involved
14. Design the Wedding Reception Program
It’s a good idea to create this with your wedding MC, but be sure to let him/ her know how long/ short you want the event to be. And it’s best to incorporate ideas from one or two wedding receptions you’ve attended and really like.
15. Decide What the Wedding Souvenirs Would Be
Wedding souvenirs should not be a do or die affair – if you give your guests a good food and entertainment, they’ll feel special even if you didn’t give them souvenirs. However, if you have a budget for wedding souvenirs, go for it, but know that a perfect wedding souvenir doesn’t have to be expensive.
Wedding Reception Planning Takeaway
Finally, your wedding reception should be about giving your guests a nice time, and that starts from knowing these facts – wedding guests hate to be kept waiting and they also hate a very long reception. So, be sure to be on time at your wedding reception (no Nigerian time thing) and keep your wedding reception not too long.
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