Wedding Tips: Organizing Multiple Wedding Receptions

As a couple who has friends and family all over the country, many of whom are young and on a tight budget, we decided to have multiple wedding receptions in different locations. This allowed many more people to participate in celebrating our marriage with us while keeping their travel costs low. However, the logistics of planning multiple wedding receptions can get tricky. Here are some ideas on how to put together a few wedding receptions without all the headaches.

Decide Where Your Wedding Receptions Will Be

If the bride and groom are from hometowns very far away from each other, a logical choice for a second wedding reception would be the groom's hometown. This will allow many of his childhood friends, his extended family if they're in the area, his parents' friends, and anybody the bride knows in the area to all attend the wedding reception.

Another logical location for an additional wedding reception may surface if you met each other at a college far away from either of your homes. It is likely that you have many friends in that area who would like to be a part of celebrating your marriage. One more place to consider is if one or both of you have settled into an area that is not any of the above locations and have a lot of friends or co-workers there.

Pick Dates for Your Wedding Receptions

Obviously, you will want your additional wedding receptions to take place after your actual wedding. Depending on where your honeymoon is, you could consider stopping by one of the locations immediately following your honeymoon, even as a long layover on your way to wherever you are going.

Another option, if you are driving to a final destination to settle in, is to stop somewhere on the way (even if it requires a bit of a detour). Give yourselves at least a couple days there to rest and enjoy the fellowship with everybody who is there. And of course, if you want a reception in the location in which you are settling, plan that wedding reception for soon after your arrival, as a bit of a welcome home party.

Appoint People to Plan Your Wedding Receptions

The most important part about all of this is that you should not be the ones planning your extra wedding receptions. For each reception, designate one person who will be in charge of planning it. For a reception in the groom's hometown, his parents will be a logical choice because they will be most familiar with the area and the people who are to be invited, and they probably did not have a huge role in planning the actual wedding ceremony and reception. If it is somewhere else, find a close friend, or the pastor of your church, to organize your wedding reception.

Invite Guests to Your Wedding Receptions

If the person or people planning your wedding receptions don't have a complete list of guests in the area who should be invited, make sure to get them the addresses. Communicate with your planners about your expectations for the wedding reception, including the size, length, and activities that will be involved.

Keep Your Wedding Receptions as Formal or Informal as You Want

Remember that your additional receptions can be as extravagant (or more) as your first wedding reception, with the bride and groom in their wedding attire and fancy dinner, or they can just be special gatherings of friends with cake and gifts. The important thing here is that your wedding receptions are focused on you as a couple, and on the delight of celebrating your new marriage with friends and family!