Stages for Wedding Receptions

Champagne and Cake Reception: This is probably the least expensive type of wedding reception, and was once the norm for most weddings: everyone gathers after the ceremony for a bit of cake and a few toasts. However, don't ask your guests to drive home inebriated! Have your reception in the garden of your ceremony venue, or even in the same room. It's advisable to mention on wedding invitations that "champagne and cake will follow" so that guests know there will be no meal afterwards.

Pros: It's cheap! If you're not a fan of big crowds or lots of mingling, a champagne and cake reception is often short and sweet.

Cons: Guests often expect more! You might find that it's over far too fast for your liking and you'll have to skip out on some of the traditional aspects of a wedding reception.

Cocktail Wedding Reception

Cocktail receptions can be elegant and stylish, and allow guests to really mix and mingle with each other. They tend to be a bit more relaxed than traditional sit-down meals and often feel like a great party.

Pros: If your venue is small, cocktail receptions allow you to have more people. They're typically shorter in duration than a traditional wedding dinner, and they allow you to really circulate and enjoy the party.

Cons: While you might anticipate that a cocktail reception would be cheaper, your guests will likely drink more than at a dinner reception. Since most people won't be seated, some guests will have trouble viewing events like the first dance.

Dinner Wedding Reception

The most classic, formal type of wedding reception is a sit-down or buffet dinner. It enables you to really celebrate your wedding, give your guests the 'velvet glove' treatment, and still have everyone on the dance floor afterwards! You'll start with a cocktail hour, then proceed into an adjoining room for dinner, followed by dancing, cake cutting, bouquet tossing and hopefully more.

Pros: Your guests will feel special because you've gone all out. Moreover, you won't feel rushed or hurried.

Cons: Generally, this is the most expensive kind of wedding reception you can hold. You might also feel a little sad that your wedding night in the hotel room is starts so late!

A New Twist: After an hour or two of dancing, your guests might have worked up an appetite again. Serve a "surprise" treat at midnight of donuts, an early breakfast, or even fast food.

Wedding receptions are parties held after the completion of a marriage ceremony. They are held as a courtesy for wedding attendees, hence the name reception: the couple receives society, in the form of family and friends, for the first time as a married couple. Hosts provide their choice of food and drink, although wedding cakes are popular. Entertaining guests after a wedding ceremony is traditional in most societies and can last anywhere from half an hour to many hours – or even days in certain eastern cultures!

Before receptions—a social event structured around a receiving line and usually held in the afternoon—became popular, weddings were more typically celebrated with wedding breakfasts (for those whose religious traditions encouraged morning weddings) and balls (for those who were married in the evening). The popularity of receptions over breakfasts, dinners and balls during the 20th century led to the label reception being applied to any social event after a wedding, be it brunch, tea, dinner or a dance.