Wedding Reception For Under $1000

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RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

My fiance and I are having a local restaurant with fabulous desserts cater our reception, just lots of cakes, pies and pastries! Sounds delicious. ( And inexpensive)

Post By nicole (Guest Post)

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

You can purchase white paper lanters online really cheap and hang them from white outdoor lights. We did this for our daughters wedding last summer and it turned out beautiful. It had a big impact for very little money.
Food- We did everything ourselves. My mom made tons of brownies and froze them in advance. We cut them into bite sized pieces before we froze them. They were delicious. She also made mexican wedding cake cookies and froze them way in advance. They too were awesome. We used large amounts of grapes from her backyard and other fruits. Large blocks of cheese sliced, french baguette bread sliced really think. Crackers that we bought at the dollar store!! That were really quite good. Check out my website for more photos. www.thestylesisters.net

The Style Sister

Post by stylesister

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

My fiance and I are getting married in Dallas and we have paid $2300 for ceremony and reception at a really nice hotel. We are paying for everything and at 26 yrs old we don't have millions...YET! No, but seriously we can't afford to get people full, if we could we would but we opted for a heavy hors de ouvers instead. Also we are getting married on a Sunday and that gave us a price cut. Hope this helps. Congratulations on your engagement and good luck.

Post By Alex (Guest Post)

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

I've been married for 32 years and I loved my reception more than the ones that cost thousands of dollars. We made a ham, a turkey, and a roast for sandwiches and all the aunts brought potato salads and baked beans. Like a pot luck or family reunion. The food is homemade! And everyone gets their favorite things.

Post By Susan (Guest Post)

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

Here in the South, lots of weddings are more like afternoon teas, with punch, nuts, cookies, and the wedding cake. You could easily add finger food and fruit salad. By the way, a new trend is to have fancy cupcakes instead of a traditional tower cake. Several churches will rent their halls cheaply; most have kitchens where friends can fix the food. My sister used a school gymnasium, which we decorated--it even had a stage for the DJ. Both my sister and I got our flowers at a floral outlet. They made all the arrangements and bouquets for about half the price of a florist. Only they didn't deliver, so we had to have someone pick them up. The town we live in has a beautiful park with a gazebo that many use for free. One even has a really fancy and clean enclosed pavillon with a small kitchen area that rents cheaply. Good luck.

Post by susanmajp

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

I had a beautiful wedding. I purchased an absolutely gorgeus dress from the JC- Penny's bridal catalog for only about $300 and the veil was about $50. We married in my parents' backyard, renting chairs from the local funeral home.

As for the reception. We had it on the deck. My Mom and my Aunts made the food. We had 2 different types of punch and lots of finger foods and a beautiful cake. The cake was actually from the local bakery supply store. My Mom called them up and had them bake the layers. She purchased the pillars and decorations from them and they boxed the layers up and told her how to assemble them at home. My cake was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen!

You can get a lot of wedding decorations at The Dollar Tree or other dollar store. For a center piece at my sister's wedding reception, I used a big, deep clear glass bowl and filled it with pretty gold wrapped bon bons, through it I weaved tiny strings of "pearls" through it that I had purchased in the crafts department of Wal-Mart, and then I also placed tiny silk roses in her colors throughout (they came on stems, but I cut them off the stems and just used the buds); the only problem with it was that it was TOO pretty. People thought it was just a decoration and didn't eat the bon-bons! LOL But it was pretty! :)

There are lots of ideas out there, and there are even books on the subject. Just go to the library and look up "Weddings" in the card-catalog computer. There should be books on "thrifty wedding ideas" or such topics. The important thing though is that your entire wedding, including your reception should reflect yours and your husband-to-be's tastes, and be uniquely your own!
Good Luck! Jana in NC

Post by bailegirl

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

Thank you for your post. It was very informative and I will be using many of your thoughts. If you don't mind, can you tell me the name of the hall you used? Only if it's in Chicago.

Post by LaToya

RE: Wedding Reception For Under $1000

I had the best wedding. I bought my dress & made my own bouquet. We rented the reception hall & bought the cake & one keg of beer & several bottles of champagne for toasts. I had a friend that was a good photographer take a bunch of pictures.

But, as far as food, it was a "potluck"my closest friends brought their favorite hor d'ourves & snacks (mostly my moms friends). The cool thing was, everybody just loves the food & had a wonderful time! If your friends ask you "What can I do to help?" Say "You can help me decorate the hall, or sweep the hall afterwards or bring a dish of food."

Forget about spending money on flowers for the alter & the actual wedding (besides your bouquet). Save your money for the reception. This is where you'll spend the most time with your friends. My dress wasn't an actual "wedding dress", it was a white prom dress which I got on sale. You can either use sheets or better yet buy white plastic tablecloths at the dollar store. Buy cups, plates & forks at the dollar store too!

As far as decorations for the tables, Buy 10 or so short glass vases at the dollar store with a white candle in each & clear flattened "marbles" inside the vase & around the candle (all from $1store). Put one on each table. Pick 1 or 2 colors for your "theme" colors (I chose blue & white) & have your cake made in these colors & buy some crape paper & balloons in the same colors from the dollar store & decorate with these. A little crape paper goes a LONG way to add color to a room & around tables. The place your rent should have tables & chairs so you don't have to also rent these. As long as you clean the place up you'll get your deposit back. Move most of the tables along the walls (so people have room to dance) & put your potluck food on these side tables.

Unless you have a friend who's a DJ, Tape your music ahead of time or number each CD & write a list with each number & the number of the song you want played & have a friend who will be responsible for the music tapes or numbered CD's deal with this (as a wedding gift) for you. If you tape 3 or so tables before hand. One for you guys to dance to, one with fast songs & one with slow songs & one that has both. This way, depending on the mood of the crowd, you've got the music covered! Depending on the age of the crowd.

Think "oldies" Most all ages like music from the 1970's. You really can't go wrong with the 70's classics. This way both the older generation & the younger generation will be both be happy. Throw in several "dance" tracks in to get people up & dancing & stay away from music that people love to hate(like rap). Now, if your & your friends just LOVE rap, then by all means play it, but try to include music that most everyone loves like R&B or oldies. Just remember you probably have lots of age groups there, so try to make as many people happy & want to have fun & dance as possible. Have lots of the tunes your family & friends like to dance to & don't forget to include some special songs for your parents & grandparents & the older folks too.

* Friends & Family won't look back at how much money your spent, they'll just remember how much fun they had. One keg of beer goes a long way. But you'll probably need a "party permit" if you serve alcohol, & YOU'LL be responsible if someone drinks to much & get in an accident (at least that's how it works in our state). So use care! Make sure to have some punch with NO alcohol too.

Post by Cyinda

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