Weddingbee boards

Hi Ladies! After browsing weddingbee's boards all night Ive come to the conclusion I need to start solidifying some of my reception plans. First, a bit of background:

 

We are having two (maybe three) receptions. Our first will include the ceremony where our families will meet for the first time. We are thinking no more than 30 ppl for this. Our venue? Our home!  Our second reception will be in the city we met, probably a year from now with extended families and all our friends. There is talk of a third reception hosted by Mr. W's parents in the country where they live, again, probably a year or more from now.

 

I have just moved in with Mr. W. He has a fabulous open concept formal living/dining room. We are thinking of clearing the room completely (dont worry, its pretty bare), repainting, and renting one long table to seat everyone at. Since we need to allocate our funds carefully, we need to keep this as low key as possible- without compromising the elegance of the wedding ceremony.

 

My thoughts: Brunch. Hire a caterer to come into our house and prepare eggs, omelets, Belgian waffles, and crepes for our guests. Our centerpieces will be a combination of flowers, croissants, muffins, decanters of juices, butters, and jams. Functional yet eye catching. I can prepare menu cards for each guest and the chef or server can take their order while they munch on the muffins/breads. The main point is to bring our two families together, with them living in separate countries there is a possibility they may never see each other again (although we hope they will once grandchildren come into the picture!!) Our families also have very different cultural backgrounds.. I know my family is more meat and potatoes. Mr. W's is all about the spice and rice. Breakfast, however, is pretty standard no matter where you come from. Condiments can spice it up for his side, or sweeten it up for mine.

 

What do you all think? Has anyone done something like this before? Any other ideas for me?!