How to Plan Your Wedding Reception Without Becoming Bridezilla

When planning your wedding reception it’s important to set a goal. Through all the months of planning it’s easy to get overwhelmed, but you never want anything important to get overlooked. This is especially true when it comes to your reception. Though your guests might comment on your nice ceremony or flowers, the part they will all remember the most whether good or bad is the reception.

In order to come up with a theme or goal that is just right for you, consider you and your future spouse as a couple. What are your interests, what type of personalities do you have, what’s your style? The easiest way to be sure your reception is just what you want it to be is to think about just who you two are…then communicate it through your choices while planning. This type of goal may be the best roadmap you have to help narrow down your search and prioritize your planning.

Always go back to your original vision to be sure you are getting side tracked by all the options that are being thrown out at you. Just because someone might want bling and glitz as part of their reception doesn’t mean it will fit with your simple elegance, eco friendly, outdoorsy vision.

Two good ideas for cakes:

1) A Cake for Every Table

If you choose to ditch the idea of a traditional wedding cake, but still aren’t ready to say goodbye to cake all the way, then choose to have a bunch of smaller cakes. Using a cake as the centerpiece of each table will not only provide dessert but also decoration. This cake can be small, just enough for the number of guests at the table, and not as elaborately decorated as one would be if you had just one large cake. The benefit of this idea is that you never have to make too many tough choices when choosing a cake. You can have multiple flavors of both the cake and the filling and also have a variety of decorating done to them. Guests are going to love looking at all the different cakes, cutting into theirs to discover the flavor, and trading with a neighboring table to taste all the variety.

2) Serve Yourself Candy Bar

Another great option, which is not actually cake at all, is to have a candy bar. This could be one large table or a couple smaller stations around the room. The best part of the candy bar is that it provides both decoration to the room and entertainment for the guests. A special part of this idea is that it can be very personalized to the bride and groom. The guests will love if all the candy is chosen favorites of the bride and groom.

Don’t waste time on things that just aren’t you. It may be the trend that is in this year but if it doesn’t fit with your theme or really communicate who you are, just pass right by it. It will probably end up being overdone anyway.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to be flexible. Not every idea will come together just exactly like it did in the magazine picture but that’s okay. If you hold too tightly to any one idea you might risk getting disappointed by something that doesn’t work out. Just go ahead and continue on and no one will even notice the part that is "missing". Also, you may come across brand new ideas that weren’t part of your original goal but go ahead and welcome them in to your planning just as long as you are having fun with it and making the event about you.