Wedding Reception Ideas

When you are hiring your DJ or your band for your wedding consider the following tips. Next to the food and drinks you will serve, the entertainment is the most important aspect of your wedding reception; uou want your guests to have a good time, and hiring a wedding professional will ensure that your guests are motivated and hit that dance floor.  A professional DJ and/or MC will ensure the proper flow to your wedding reception, making sure all of the introductions, proper toasts, special dances and announcements are made in a timely and proper fashion.  A good DJ will also collaborate with you to make a custom playlist for your reception.

You should also consider the following tips when considering your wedding reception music:

1) Don’t neglect the cocktail hour!  The cocktail hour sets the mood for your reception, a bit of light music starts off your festivities right.

2) The key to a successful wedding is lots of dancing, you want your guests to have a good time, not just sit around and talk all night.  That means disco, eighties pop and today’s popular dance songs should be incorporated into your music mix.

3) Select some oldies too!  You’ll want to offer some slow dancing too, and some music for your family who may not be from your generation too also enjoy. 

4)  Make sure your DJ knows when to speak.  Some DJ’s are too chatty, while a professional DJ or MC will know just when to speak and just when the pace needs to be picked up.

5) Pick a memorable song to end the reception.  Songs such as “Last Dance” by Donna Summer, “White Wedding” by Billy Idol, “Closing Time” by Semisonic or something romantic by Frank Sinatra.

Last but not least, if your reception is a music themed bash, why not send your guests home with custom hand made wedding favor CDs or a music themed wedding favor?

And if you are looking for a professional DJ company, we suggest Party Perfect NYC for all your NYC, NJ or CT wedding DJ needs. We’ve worked with them many times and would highly recommend their services.

“I’m planning on having a luau-themed wedding reception, any ideas on how to incorporate my theme?”

Luaus are a fantastic reception idea. Tying in the theme to your menu is easy. Talk to your caterer about exotic fish, platters of exotic fruits, or Hawaiian cuisine. Consider having a pig roast as an exciting and unique approach to your reception fare. Drink selection should also be fruity and tropical, served in bright glasses, coconuts, or with small umbrellas.

For entertainment, consult with local entertainment companies about hiring hula dancers or fire performers to give a one of a kind performance on your wedding day.

Be sure to let your guests know about the theme so they can dress accordingly!

As for décor, rent some tiki torches and break out the grass skirts. Decorate your venues with tropical flowers, seas shells, palm fronds, or Hawaiian tapestries. As a great centerpiece, gold fish bowls will be exciting and interesting. Add on some shells, sand, and flowers,and you’ve got a luau!

Tie everything in with some of these exotic Beach Wedding Favors. Your guests will celebrate in a true island paradise. Aloha!

Did you know that you do not need to spend a fortune to have fresh de-petaled rose petals for your wedding?  Nor do you have to purchase silk rose petals which although manufactured to “look” real, are not.  Freeze dried rose petals are cheaper than fresh rose petals (but still the real thing) and rather than silk petals, freeze dried is an environmentally friendly option!

Our freeze dried rose petals are de-petaled from real, fresh roses and dehydrated in a facility which is powered by wind and hydro energy.  Freeze dried rose petals will not wilt like fresh rose petals while giving you the appearance of freshly plucked petals!  They also do not stain fabrics and are not as slippery as fresh petals.

Freeze dried rose petals can be used in the same way fresh rose petals would be used – to line the aisle in the ceremony, as your flower girl toss, to decorate your reception tables or to use them as a rose toss when the couple leaves the ceremony – in lieu of brideseed, rice or bubbles.  Freeze dried rose petals are biodegradeable so you won’t have to worry about harming the environement.

To prep your freeze dried rose petals, order them at least 3 weeks before your event.  Once they arrive the easiest way to soften them is to place them in your bathroom while you are taking a shower.  The humidity will gradually soften the petals – however, for typical uses (tossing, decoration, ailse lining) you do not need to soften them unless you want to.

Be careful though!  Do not submerge them in water, and do not use these as floating rose petals.  Although these will float, these will quickly absorb water, get soggy and lose shape. 

Our Premium freeze dried rose petals are available in 8 different colors.  Look for them in our eco-friendly wedding favors section.  And also check out, speciality freeze dried rose petals and our seasonal mixed colored freeze dried rose petal blends.

“It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” No, we’re not talking about that wonderful Christmas song, but the most glorious time of the year – Autumn!  It provides a beautiful and almost magical backdrop for your wedding.  There is something about the crisp Fall air, the lovely changing colors of the leaves, and the cool, crystal clear Autumn nights that is simply breathtaking.  No matter where you live in the country, brides getting married in the Fall months share the same marvelous backdrop for their outdoor photographs – beautiful, colorful leaves.  Think about it – Spring brides can take their photographs in a variety of places with a variety of flowers; Summer Brides have beaches, parks, and pretty gardens to choose from; Winter brides may not all have snow for their day – but Fall brides everywhere share the same color inspired scenery.

 It’s no wonder that the wedding favor designers focus their favors around the inspiring leaves and their majestic colors.  For the Fall nature loving bride, we recommend natural and even earth friendly wedding favors such as our “Natural Selections” Fall Themed Candle holders – which ship in a lovely Autumn color assortment of deep green, burnt orange and fall brown and are accented with leaves and natural cotton.  Or, if you want to bring the scent of Fall to your reception tables why not try our “Natural Selections” Rattan Design Candle Holders, which are tied with two fragrant cinnamon sticks? 

 But no matter what type of bride you are, we also have a lovely selection of Autumn inspired place card holders to fit your Fall reception theme.  Brand new from the designers at Kate Aspen are their “Autumn Branches” Bronze finish place card and photo frame – which not only makes beautiful reception decorations and fall wedding favors but also will serve your guests as a pretty photo frame to take home.  Also if you are looking for fall wedding reception decorations, centerpieces or unique place card holders, we would suggest our handmade in the USA, Faux Candied Apples available in red or green.  These lovely 8″ tall by 3.5″ wide apples look good enough to eat! 

 And finally, if your bridal shower is being held in the fall, why not have fall themed bridal shower favors too?  We would suggest the brand new “Fall In Love” leaf scented soaps as fall bridal shower favors.  Each leaf shaped soap sits in a natual looking nest of straw and is packaged in a beautiful, stunning gift box in brown and cream shades with matching ribbon and thank you tag.

By the way, you can check out all of our fall wedding favors at http://www.littlethingsfavors.com/ – including our new fall favors for 2008 and some of our older favorites too!

Family bar or family pub signs make a great gift for all your wedding party.  With classic Irish designs, to modern Martini Lounge signs (perfect for your Sex In The City lovin’ gals), even to gameroom signs (great for the kids) and sports signs- the new personalized pub signs we carry make a wonderful wedding party gift. 

These pub signs also make for great wedding decorations!  Order one with your new name on it and place it by your escort card table or place it on your open bar at your reception.   There are beautful vineyard signs for those who are having a wine themed wedding, poker signs for those Las Vegas inspired weddings, even a Tiki Bar sign for beach weddings! 

Each high gloss, laminated wood sign measures 11 1/2″ x 15 3/8″ and is the perfect finishing touch to many areas of your home.  Each sign has a hange attached and is offered with free personalization.

This is just to piggyback on my post from yesterday about our new music wedding favors.  I adore music, and I would personally love to get re-married and have my wedding around this theme.  I was asked “How would you incorporate a music theme into your wedding?”  It got me thinking, and here are some ideas off the top of my head:

• Location – I’d probably look into a small concert venue, I know of one in my area where semi-major bands play during touring, but it can be rented for events.  It’s already got a bar, a dance floor and a stage for the band, and it’s on the smaller – more intimate side.  If it was to be held in the summer time, I might go with an outdoor location such as a park or garden.
• Music – well this would depend on your musical style.  But if I could afford it (which I can’t) I’d hire my favorite band.  I suppose a cover band would do though   I’d also hire a DJ to play my favorite band’s songs and other music in the same style.  Since the theme is about music – this is probably the most important aspect of the wedding.
• Decorations – Ice or flower sculptures designed like musical instruments or music notes would definately be an idea to think about.
• Centerpieces – sheet music on a stand, maybe our first dance song, or maybe a different song for each table.  Surrounded by candles and flowers.
• Table Names, instead of Numbers – I’d name each table a song title instead of the typical numbers.
• Place Card Holders – I would definately use guitars (but that’s just me!) there are plently of other instruments to use though – pianos, music notes, violins, etc.
• Cake – I’d have a white cake with the sheet music of our first dance on it in (music notes), and I would find a music inspired cake top.
• Favors – Personalized CD’s with our favorite songs.  If there was a band which played, then maybe even a commerative playbill with our names and wedding date and a picture of the band and the happy couple.

Happy planning!  And Have a GREAT weekend!

If I had to plan my wedding again, I might have picked a Paris theme with damask accents. And if I did, I’d be in style with today’s wedding trends.  After all what’s not to love about Paris?  Known as the city of love, Paris reminds me of quaint neighborhoods, chic cafes, patisseries, haute couture, art and of course the Effiel Tower. 

If you can’t afford a destination wedding to Paris, why not duplicate the theme close to home?  Start your wedding off right by sending our Fleur de Lis Save the Date Magnets or Fleur de Lis inspired wedding invitations.  For decor think vintage French inspired Damask or Toile table accents and a wedding cake in the same design.  Another dessert idea is to serve French inspired petits fours which consist of small desserts such as small cakes, cookies, baked meringues, macaroons, and puff pastries.

For food, you can start your cocktail hour by serving hors d’oeuvres such as mini quiches, canapes, crudites with dip, baguettes with tapenade.  You may even want to have a crepe or a wine and cheese station.  For dinner serve traditional French recipes.  Champagne and wine should be served as both are French inspired. 

For Paris inspired wedding favors, you may want to consider our Damask Design Mint Tins or our Paris Lights Mint Tins.  For upscale and elegant Paris inspired favors consider our handmade Damask Be Boxes.

Chances are if your having a wedding, proper etiquette dictates assigned seating.  Whether you choose just to assign tables or to be more formal and assign actual seating, is up to you, but whatever the case may be – you will need place cards and/or escort cards. 

What’s the difference you may ask?  Well, its simple.  Escort cards (which the proper name, although they are mistakenly referred to as place cards) are commonly found at a table near the entrance of your reception location.  They tell guests what table to sit at.  Place cards are exactly that – they are found at each place setting and tell guests where at the table to sit. However, you can use a place card holder or frame to hold your escort cards or your place cards. 

Place card frames and place card holders are a wedding necessity – guests want to know where to sit.  Imagine you were running 10 minutes late for a reception, and when you and your guest walked into the reception, all the seats were taken and you couldn’t sit next to each other!  How would you feel?

Now you need not spend a fortune on place cards.  Many place card frames and place card holders come with place cards included. But if they don’t or if you don’t want to handwrite out each place card / escort card – we have a quick and inexpensive solution for you!

First measure your inner frame size to see what size card you will need.  If you are using a place card holder you can have varying sizes, but the most common is 2″ x 3″.  If you have word processing software simply create a template with your size cards.  Within this template you can either type each guest’s name and table number in each box or type out two lines, one for the name and one line below for the table number – so you can handwrite the cards out later.  You can even get fancy and add a graphic or change the color of the text to match your wedding colors.

Once your place cards are finished on the computer, you can print them up.  If you are using place card frames, you can print on plain paper (no one will notice the difference through the glass) or you can even purchase cardstock for an added touch.  If you are using place card holders, I would suggest purchasing heavier cardstock or even pre-perforated business cards (purchased from your local stationary/office supply store) so they will “stand up” in the holders.

And if your not the do-it-yourself type, check out our selection of pre-made escort / place cards

I was watching Color Splash last night with David Bromstad (I admit I’m a HGTV design addict), and he was designing a tropical themed bedroom.  When planning his design he said, “You don’t need to go overboard with a theme to make your theme work.” And I couldn’t agree with him more, as this even pertains to designing a wedding.

If your traditional, your Asian inspired wedding will follow the traditional color scheme: red, gold and black.  However, if you are like me, and you lean towards a more contemporary Asian flair, you may want to consider an Asian Fusion wedding, where you combine traditional elements with modern counterparts. 

A great color scheme for modern Asian Fusion weddings is pink, silver and black. Pink reminds me of cherry blossoms and lotus flowers - traditional themes found in Asian inspired design, silver is gold’s counterpart and black is found in traditional Asian themed weddings. 

How can you incorporate these modern Asian colors into your wedding without going overboard like David Bromstad said?  It’s easy – keep it simple.  Start with modern table settings and linens in black and white.  Black table linens make modern white dishes pop off the table.  Add accents of silver and pink for a fabulous touch.  Silver can be incorporated with silver stemmed champagne flutes at each setting, silver chopsticks, and/or silver place card holders such as these: Silver Plated Fortune Cookie Place Card Holders .  Add pops of pink to your reception tables with pink and white tipped orchids, pink gerber daisies, pink roses, or pink cherry blossoms.  Add pink Asian inspired wedding favors to each setting such as these: Pink Asian Brocade Wedding Favor Boxes or these Pink Oriental Slipper Wedding Favor Box. 

For your bridesmaids and groomsmen, think simple black and white attire with pink bouquets and boutonnieres.  The pink will stand out against the black without going too overboard with pink accents. 

The black and white are grounding, (think of the complementary principles of Ying Yang – another traditional Asian symbol) without screaming “Asian Theme” to your guests.  And the silver and pink are your Asian inspired accents – simple, sleek and modern.