reception in your own home ?

[braille]

my fiance & i are getting married in august.  the wedding is 1920s/flapper themed & will be small (around 50).  we are having it in the church of our dreams, so that's all set.
the reception, however, is up in the air.
my fiance & i both want to have the reception in our new home.  we like the idea of entertaining at home, &, with a small number, it seems quite do-able.  we are planning an evening wedding, so the reception will be hors d'ouerves & desserts (possibly catered ?), with a bit of champagne & wine.
does a DIY home reception seem like an idea that's too overwhelming ? 

[beatluv]

I don't think it seems overwhelming if you have are organized and have a day of coordinator, good friend, or relative that is willing to take charge so that you can enjoy the event.

You need to figure how you will organize 50 people for food and drinks... do you need to order rental equipment, etc.

What kind of music will you have... band, dj, or ipod.  As well as where will people dance, who will MC.

I think once you have the nuts and bolts figured out then you can have all kinds of fun with the decorations and other DIY projects.

[march]

I think that a party at your home will be fantastic! I think that a caterer will make it less of hair pulling day-- unless you have some great cooks in among your family/friends who will help  you out.

Another thing to think about is cleaning! Now, I know that when I'm having any number of people over for anything I spend the day and morning of the get together maniacal cleaning. If you are in anyway like that it might be a good idea to higher a cleaning service to come in the day before to allow you to focus on yourself.

Since you're having a summer wedding, do you have a great yard/deck for an outdoor party? I think it would be so cool to have the inside of your house for eating/chilling and then have the awesome swing dancing (that's flapper right? d'oh.... whatever kind of dancing flappers do!) out on the deck with lots of lights. That would be the bee's knees!

Have a beautiful wedding! I can't wait to see pictures!

[nellum]

I'd book a hotel room for that night, so that you don't have to sleep in a messy party-filled house

[rainylakechick]

Friends of mine got married a couple of years ago in their backyard and had the reception in their home.  It was small (around 50 people), intimate, and a really nice time.

They cleared out the living & dining rooms.  The living room had about four long (8 foot maybe) tables, with white table clothes and folding chairs.  The kitchen was setup with take-out (catered) food from a local Italian restaurant and the moms were in charge of getting food setup and people in line to eat. 

For decorations, they hung white lights along the ceiling.  With overhead lights off, the white lights & candles on the tables cast a nice glow in the room. 

They forgot to plan out music, so they ended up playing the soundtrack to the Godfather over and over again!  It was nice insturmental music to go with the Italian food and wine, but a little disturbing too.   

The couple didn't have a dance (or even a first dance), but that wasn't part of their personality either.

Overall -- it was a great wedding!  Perfect for this couple.  If its what you want, I would recommend a reception at home.

[larabair]

My boy and I are planning something similar, also in August, except it will be in my parents' back yard in the early afternoon.  Therefore clean-up won't be an issue -- we just run off to our honeymoon and let the others deal with it.   If you have bridesmaids, groomsmen, and family... >

Some of the things we had to figure out...

About 60 people plus a septic tank in a 200+ year old house means we need to rent port-a-potties.  Fortunately there's a place around that rents them with running water!  I'm unsure what your house's condition may be for such things, so this might not be a worry for you.

We're having the wedding and reception in the same place, and are intending on having it all outside, so we needed to rent a tent.  This may not be an issue depending on the size of your house.  The tent we're renting also comes with a dance floor, tables, chairs, etc -- I think this is pretty normal though.

Do think about your music -- we're planning on leaving my Macbook on party shuffle, and asking people to gift us music they'd like to hear through the itunes music store.  If there's a way you can pipe music throughout the entire area it might be a good idea.  Otherwise you might have some areas that are really loud and others that haven't any music -- though having different music in different rooms might be an awesome idea.

Think about the timing of your reception.  Is it going to be late enough that people will already have eaten dinner or will they expect a meal?  We're having ours in early afternoon so people can eat lunch prior and go get dinner afterwards.   And that means we can have lots of delicious cupcakes instead of crappy fully catered uncooked turkey loaf (which I've had and it sucked)!

~Laura

[MichL]

The greatest thing about having your reception in your new home is that your wedding budget and your house decorating budget can be one and the same! (at least partially) Instead of spending money decorating a rented hall for a one time event, spend money decorating your house. So instead of buying expensive flowers that will die, spend some money on landscaping your yard, or buying potted houseplants. for example.

[goldfishhead]

oh, i know, i know! have a tester! Like, i kow i could have a party at my moms becuase i used to have newyears eve parties there- with about the same number of people as we plan to have at our reception. So, i know people can fit comfortably and move around smoothly. So..if you mean august 2008 (and i hope you do....), throw another big bash as a tester! Just a casual, potluck affair. See how your AC holds up with 50 hot bodies in the house. See how the bathroom fais. see how people fit.

plus...another party. bonus.

[heathersy]

Goldfishhead, that is a great idea!

[goldfishhead]

aw, shucks