Sifting through stacks of wedding reception ideas and coming up short each time is bound to put a damper on the wedding planning excitement. Weddings are as old as time and it’s hard to keep ideas unique when a tradition has been in full swing for more than a couple of decades.
We love the classic princess weddings with pretty dresses, overly formal receptions, and magical moments however the real magic is in adding a touch of you and your partner’s personality into your big day.
Fortunately, with wedding planning, the traditional way isn’t always the only way! After all, it is your big day and you have complete creative direction to create the experience of your dreams while adding personality to your reception party.
Alternative Wedding Reception Ideas
If you’re out of ideas on how to plan to add a touch of uniqueness to your wedding reception, here are some great alternative wedding reception ideas to add life to your celebration without putting a dent in your pocket.
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1. A Backyard Reception
Everyone talks about finding the perfect venue, however, no one really goes into how tedious it can be to find a venue that you connect with. Besides, connecting with your venue, you have to think about your guests and how accessible the venue is to them and their comfort. Well, here’s an idea!
How about a backyard wedding in a location they’ve all visited and are comfortable in? If you are lucky enough to have a wonderful backyard setup, make use of the space to create a homely and welcoming reception party that stays within the budget while creating a great atmosphere for you and your guests to enjoy an evening of celebration.
2. Leave a message after the tone
Answering machines may have gone out of style but they are a nice way to add a vintage ring to your wedding. While there’s nothing wrong with the good old guestbook, nothing captures the excitement and emotions involved when wishing your childhood friends, children, or best friends the best in their new life journeys.
It’s also a wonderful way to hold the voices of your friends and loved ones frozen in one beautiful moment. Let’s admit it! We won’t sound the same in the next 20 years and it’s a great way to remember the once lively voices of your loved ones as they celebrated your big wins.
3. Talent search with Karaoke
Gone are the days when we could just get off work and head for a night out at a karaoke bar. Work schedules have become crazier and having all your friends and loved ones available for a night of karaoke may be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
So why not take it and open the stage up for a karaoke night and find the hidden talent within the crowd? It’s a great way to keep the party lively and have your guests in the fun on your big day. Who knows? You just might find the next wedding singer in a single night!
4. Bring out some custom cocktails
Everyone expects to enjoy a fair amount of drinks at your wedding however no one quite expects you to go through the process of creating and naming a custom cocktail to serve up on your big day.
It’s a pleasant surprise for your guests and a great creativity and team-building activity for you and your partner to undertake to find the perfect drink for your day! And if you’re too lazy to do all of that, then let your guests play mixologists and build their cocktails instead.
5. No wedding cake? No problem!
A wedding without cake? Well, how would that work? Pretty easy! If you and your partner aren’t that into cake, feel free to skip it altogether. It’s your big day after all and the only person who will miss it is the photographer trying to catch that centerpiece shot.
While pretty wedding cakes are traditionally a huge part of the reception, you can easily switch them out for a different dessert and even save money in the process. Great alternatives would be cookies, pies and if you’re wild you can bring out some cotton candy as a surprise childhood treat.
If you can’t imagine not having cake at your wedding but don’t want the waste, serve cupcakes instead. After all, by the time you get to the cake, everyone is well-fed, a little tipsy, and ready to head home.
6. How about a look change?
Everything about a wedding dress screams glamour and elegance. Well, until it’s time to use the bathroom, or fill up on the food at your reception. Wedding gowns are beautiful but they can be restrictive when you want to let loose a little.
Fortunately, you can fulfill your dream of walking down the aisle looking like a princess and ditching the weighted dress for a more elegant and simple dress for the reception. And you don’t even have to bring out the big bucks for the switcheroo because you can have your dress have a detachable train that makes the swap a matter of seconds!
7. Potluck Reception
Formal dining is synonymous with wedding receptions however not every couple has the finances to bring in caterers to serve up multiple menu items. While there’s an option to prepare all the food yourself, this can leave you too exhausted to enjoy your big day as most food items would have to be prepared overnight. No one wants to give their guests food poisoning anyway!
A potluck reception would be the perfect way to spread out all the tasks while still offering a variety of menu items. Let’s not forget the opportunity to let our friend’s culinary skills shine through. Enlist the help of your closest friends and ensure they bring their signature dishes to get the food table hearty and full of homemade meals.
When having a potluck reception, it’s best to keep it small and within your close circle because not everyone gets it and more importantly, forego the gifts! Slaving away in the kitchen to help you bring your buffet table to life should be enough.
8. Food Truck to the Rescue
If putting your wedding guests to work isn’t quite the way to go for you, you can outsource affordable food by bringing in your local food truck. There’s nothing better than good tacos, fries, and hot dogs while vibing with friends.
As a plus, you can have them stay until late to serve up anyone who gets hungry later in the evening. If it feels too strange to ride with; remember most of them need the cheat day anyway! It’s also a great way to support a local business.
9. Wedding Brunch
Brunches have become incredibly popular and would be a great way to provide a formal dining experience without spending too much. The menu items are conveniently priced, tasty, and filling for your guests. The only catch with this one is you’ll have to wrap up the ceremony early to have a brunch reception.
Better yet, save this one for small and intimate weddings so you can enjoy the experience of brunching with your favorite lot. And for the cake, how about waffles? Sounds just about right.
10. Have a gaming station
Weddings are great but at the end of the day, your guests are bound to get bored at some point regardless of how well you think you did with the table placement. So how do you keep a room full of adults entertained? A gaming station would work wonders! It lightens the formal atmosphere and is a great ice breaker, definitely better than sitting your cousin next to the guy you were hoping she would hit it off with.
Indoor games like chess, Jenga, table tennis, and pool are a great way to bring your guests together to socialize and keep them engaged when nothing is happening at the main table.
11. Bring in some live entertainment
A DJ is always welcome but if you can afford it, a live band would be a welcome addition to any reception. However, if you and your partner are big on art, you can invite a live wedding artist to capture some of your special moments while also wowing you and the crowd with their talent.
If you’re a bit more adventurous with a pool at your disposal, you can always opt for performers to steal the show for a minute while you catch your breath while everyone else is focused on the show.
12. The Good Ole Photo Booth
In a room full of people dressed elegantly and ready to give you the look for being goofy, a photo booth is a haven to capture all your fun and maybe even drunken moments with loved ones. The wigs and different props are a perfect addition to bring some laughs and a perfect place to steal kisses because weddings are meant to spread the love.
13. A Time Capsule To Look Forward To
If you and your partner are fans of a little mystery then switching the good ole guest book for a time capsule with notes from your guests is the way to go. It’s a great way to take the pressure off reading all the notes immediately after the celebrations. And more importantly, it’s something to look forward to.
Having to wait till your first or fifth anniversary to dig out the time capsule is bound to build some excitement around it and even inspire future conversations with your loved ones.
If you’re going to do this, make sure you mark the spot and do it in your backyard! You don’t want to come back and find an active construction site where you left your cherished capsule. Do you know what would tie the dig-up day together? Maybe saving a bottle of wine from your wedding to drink while reading the notes!
14. Not Your Ordinary Photographers
You’re spending thousands on a great photographer to capture all your magical moments but they’re always somehow missing some small and wholesome moments within the crowds because they’re simply focused on you!
Well, why not enlist the help of your friends to help you relive your wedding from the perspective of your guests? Now, how would you do that you ask? It’s rather simple! Your guests can simply upload all the little, goofy, funny, and wholesome moments, selfies included, by scanning a QR code and allowing you to add them to your wedding photography.
15. Entertain your guests with a performance
The first dance is always a welcome part of the reception however, it doesn’t always have to go the traditional way. The good ole dance to a love song is beautiful and delightful however breaking a few moves as part of your routine is bound to wow your guests and get them excited and maybe even surprised if both of you are known to have two left feet.
16. A spin on the classic bouquet toss.
The bouquet toss is an age-old tradition but you can always turn it around by scraping the toss all together and giving each of your maids a flower. Better yet, you can choose to honor all the married couples in attendance by allowing them a dance and gifting your bouquet to the longest-married couple.
Can you imagine it being either of your grandparents? It would be a sweet way to celebrate their union at the beginning of yours.
Final Thoughts
Your wedding day should always be built around your and your partner’s personalities. While there’s little you can do to spice up the wedding ceremony, the reception is a blank canvas waiting to be filled with little pieces that are uniquely you and your partner.
While our ideas are not entirely the newest under the sun, we sure hope these alternative wedding reception ideas will inspire your wedding planning, and feel free to take some for yourself and create your little bubble of perfection on your big day.
Serena & Dominic are a married couple and parents to 3 wonderful children. They plan weddings, run multiple small businesses, and curate wedding events.
By giving you everything you need to make your dream wedding attainable, you can eliminate stress, get the ‘wedding glow,’ and focus on spending this rocking day with the person you adore. Discover their podcast for more information
