The Separation of the Wedding Ceremony and Reception Areas

A typical wedding is composed of two main parts or sections, namely the wedding ceremony and the reception that follows the wedding. Many weddings take place in the church, with the reception being held later on at different location. However, in those cases where the wedding and reception are planned to be held at the same place, you are faced with the challenge of demarcating and planning both the distinct activities and sections within the same space.

There is a sense of drama and suspense in each wedding. The first excitement occurs when the guests turn up at the ceremony venue. The second highlight occurs when the bride makes a grand and resplendent entry into the church or the wedding are in her dazzling wedding gown and all accompanying accessories that can just take anyone's breath away. Similarly, when the guests view the reception area at the first instance and the moment when the bride and groom make a dramatic and beautiful entrance into the reception area in all these evening attire finery are also highlighted. You cannot afford to have guests see the reception during the ceremony itself as it would ruin the novelty and sense of expectancy.

The clever use of fabrics can really greatly help in separating the ceremony area, the dining space and the reception area. If you have only one room in which the wedding and the reception have to be conducted, fabric can be used as a partition between the wedding and the reception spaces. Once the wedding ceremony is completed, you can remove the fabrics to create an altogether new setting and creative milieu which is totally unique and exclusive.

Hotels make clever use of the same space (ballroom) to create different settings for the wedding and the reception. These utilize a cocktail area to divert the guests to the porch, some other ballroom or the atrium to offer refreshments and cocktails to guests who vacate the ballroom for some time when attendants and hotel staff comes and quickly changes the setting and the seating arrangements of the ballroom to make it suitable for the reception. This has to be done quite fast with less turn around times.

In case you have an outdoor wedding and space is not a problem, you can have the ceremony and the reception area location wise disparate and distant, maybe at two ends of the open space. If space is less you can have different tents for the wedding ceremony and the reception areas to keep up the element of surprise and anticipation. The second (reception) tent must be closed and catering staff must discreetly use flaps to prepare the reception area. You can reveal the reception area with a flourish when all arrangements are in place.

It is important to keep up the suspense and sense of drama by separating and distinguishing between the reception and the wedding ceremony areas. As you spend much money, time and effort on two different wedding sections, it makes sense to also keep these two areas distinct and separate.