At Home Reception (AHR) Do's and Don'ts

[mmcst38]

thanks Tracey, we are excited about it, and we did get lucky because the park is less than 15 min from our house

Originally Posted by traceysteve 

mcmst38-your party sounds awesome! I wish I was able to find a venue like yours, it sounds perfect. Mine will be more than that only out of necessity. My dream AHR would be bbq-style, but can't find anywhere to have that. Boo.

 

[proti007]

"Encore Celebration" - I LOVE IT!
 

Originally Posted by mmcst38 

I don't know how I missed this thread, and actually was kind of shocked when reading it to see how many couples are basically having a formal reception.  But, that is probably because my FI and I picked a destination wedding in part to avoid all that formality, since I have been in 7 weddings and he has been in quite a few as well, neither of us could conceive of having the traditional reception. Guess it just proves to each their own, not only with DW but the AHR as well!

So our "Encore Celebration" which is what we are calling it because it is by no means a reception, will be held at a local park that has pavillions for rent,

-we rented a 500 person pavillion has full kitchen in it, and enough room for people to be underneath in case of rain,

-we will have plenty of food, full bar, along with barrels of beer, also I will have the Jamaican rum punch made,

-will have cupcakes instead of cake, made by my favorite bakery

-we are having a DeeJay and, it will be for dancing and fun music, no dinner music here!

-there is a huge playground on the pavillion site we rented along with a baseball field horseshoe pits,

-we will setup some pics of our trip, along with some other things from the trip just so everyone can see

-I will not be wearing my dress obviously as this is informal, was loking to get a white sundress or maybe somethign tropical, my FI wants to wear a tuxedo tshirt..he thinks its funny, lol, I don't mind at all and if he does we will get matching kids ones for my two nephews

-we will decorate cover tables, flowers lanterns things like that, can't decide if I want to do our wedding colors for decoration or jamaican flag colors

- we will be sending out invites (got at michaels) 6 weeks prior and asking for rsvp since we will still need to know whether 50 or 150 people are comign to plan for food...

-our budget is not really set but minimal, my mom paid $400 for pavillion (it was $800 but we got half off for being residents!) she also paid for deejay which was $1000 but we got for $600 since we know him casually...

 

wel thats all I have so far, we wanted a party to celebrate our marriage with those who couldnt attend our wedding, nothing stressful, just fun

 

 

[michelle3]

great thread!

 

check out this blog: thesweetestoccassion.com 

 

LOTS of party ideas that can be applied to the AHR - theyre usually informal but totally personal and cute!

[KayCee2117]

Our AHR will be quite informal. We are having it at my future in-law's backyard, BBQ style and a catered early evening meal. It won't be sit down served style, just a bunch of tables and chairs so people can chat and hang out. Budget is around $5K. I won't be wearing my wedding dress again (too fancy!), but probably a cute white summer dress, FI will probably wear something comfy but not too casual. Our friends will take photos with SRL cameras. No DJ either. We want to show a slideshow of the wedding so need to figure out how to do that outdoors. Our DW is in Feb 2012 and we are planning the AHR for July 2012 so the weather is nicer. Decorations will probably be balloons, table runners, and plate/napkins of our wedding colour. We will also hand out wedding favours as we will have leftovers from the DW. Happy planning everyone

[shan0487]

i love the name "encore celebration"! I will be stealing that!

[Brenners]

KayCee, this sounds more in line with what we will be planning. 
 

Originally Posted by KayCee2117 

Our AHR will be quite informal. We are having it at my future in-law's backyard, BBQ style and a catered early evening meal. It won't be sit down served style, just a bunch of tables and chairs so people can chat and hang out. Budget is around $5K. I won't be wearing my wedding dress again (too fancy!), but probably a cute white summer dress, FI will probably wear something comfy but not too casual. Our friends will take photos with SRL cameras. No DJ either. We want to show a slideshow of the wedding so need to figure out how to do that outdoors. Our DW is in Feb 2012 and we are planning the AHR for July 2012 so the weather is nicer. Decorations will probably be balloons, table runners, and plate/napkins of our wedding colour. We will also hand out wedding favours as we will have leftovers from the DW. Happy planning everyone

 

[baileybutton]

I love the Encore Celebration idea! I want informal...no sit down dinner, just music and laughs! I would like to be able to show a video of our DW or maybe a slideshow.

[proti007]

Here's our AHR invitations! Ordered from Wedding Paper Divas:

 

[tamandrob]

Great  thread! Lots of awesome ideas!

[Brenners]

That is lovely!  Thanks for sharing!
 

Originally Posted by proti007 

Here's our AHR invitations! Ordered from Wedding Paper Divas: