- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
I like your idea of splitting the reception. It's unique and it allows you to have the sunset ceremony that you want and I think it would be beautiful. I'm thinking of two different things: One, you wear a simple, white sundress during the dinner and then yes, go change in the bathroom before the ceremony.. or two, you wear your real dress the whole time, but you have to build in a "moment" where you reveal yourself to him so it's the same wow factor. I wonder if you could have all your guests seated at their dinner tables after say a coctail hour (which i guess you would have to miss) and then your groom stands at his/your table waiting for you and they play some kind of music and in you walk. (you could even put down some sort of an aisle, or simply a rose petal aisle). When you get to him you kiss, the best man jumps up maybe and gives a quick speech welcoming everyone, explaining the unique schedule for the evening, you guys eat dinner and then make your way over to where you'll have the sunset ceremony. Then drinks and dancing after.
Hope that helps, or at least gives you more to think about!! :)
I just went to a wedding with a split reception on saturday and it was a really nice idea. One piece of advice I have from a guest point of view is to have a set length of time for dinner. At the wedding, dinner started at 4pm and the ceremony was supposed to start at 5, but they didn't announce it until 5:15 and the ceremony didn't actually start until 5:30. So that might be something to think about.
I like monalisa's idea of wearing the dress the whole time but building in a reveal. Depending on how fancy your dinner is, you'll want to wear your wedding dress the whole time anyway! After all, it's your one chance to wear it. Plus, you might be rushed to get ready if you don't already have your bridal hair and makeup done, or if you look overdone in something other than a wedding dress.
Could you have a "processional" through the dinner tables to meet your FI at the head table, or something like that?
i Love this idea! you could also do a private first look with him before the dinner. My friend dit that and it was beautiful, a special moment that they had in private (except the photographers and us spying bridesmaids 
) and it just added to their special day!
I love the idea of a split reception, but I would maybe do a first look kind of thing before dinner and then wear your dress the whole time. You don't want to have to take time out from dinner/guests/each other to change before the ceremony.
I would suggest keeping your makeup artist {if you're using one} until the ceremony to do a touch up of your makeup after you eat. Or just make sure you do it yourself. You don't want to be caught without lipstick for the pictures and dancing afterwards.
@vistagirl: I love that idea! And then we could enter the dinner area together, which I would totally love. =) I also like the idea of having a "processional" into the dinner area, like mary-alice-me and monalisa670 suggested. I'll ask my fiance which one he'd prefer.
One thing I thought I'd mention is that we're planning a very casual (aka, cheap -- I mean, fiscally responsible) wedding. We're planning on having this AWESOME sandwich cafe cater buffet-style with build-your-own sandwiches, soup, and veggies (and maybe a couple more fancy hors-d'ouvres), and we're planning on TRYING to get people to sit on blankets on the ground for a picnic-style dinner (so that we can have everyone gathered together, rather than at separate tables. If that doesn't work, then we'll try pulling together as many picnic tables as we can into a square, with an opening at one end and food in the middle. =)
I'm also not going to be wearing make-up, besides maybe some lip gloss and eyeshadow, and MAYBE some foundation, because I haven't worn any since grade 8, and he and I both like it that way. (I'm so weird.) I'm going to be doing my own hair, and my dress won't be too fancy-shmancy. (I would describe it, but my fiance knows about this post, and he can't resist a "peek" -- he REALLY wanted to help design the dress.)
Thanks everyone for your wonderful suggestions! Keep them coming! =)
PS: For the people filling out the poll and not commenting, I would love to hear your reasons as to why you think what you do. I'm as guilty as lurking sometimes as the next person, but I'm really interested in hearing what you all have to say!
I voted for the first option...but I wouldn't recommend changing into a wedding dress in a car! ;)
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| ndreighton | 11 |
| rivierabridal | 6 |
| kate02121 | 4 |
| bonkeyball3 | 4 |
 turtles73 |
4 |
| jaguar | 3 |
| BMORE SEXI | 3 |
| texasbee | 3 |
| MrsOliveBird | 2 |
| fresitachulita | 2 |
Sorry, there are no users yet.
Hey guys! I've read so may posts where you had really good suggestions, so I was hoping you could weigh-in on this.
My fiance and I really really want an outdoor wedding. For various reasons, we are tentatively planning in for the end of August (2012, but that's not important). We're both really incredibly enamored with the idea of a sunset ceremony (which is at about 8:30pm at the end of August). Unfortunately, as we are on a tight budget, many of the outdoor locations we've looked at, while cheap, "close" at 10:00-11:00pm. This brings me to my debate about "splitting" the reception: having dinner before the ceremony, perhaps at about 6:30-7:00, and then starting the ceremony at 7:45-8:00, and ending it at sunset, and going into the whole dancing/cake part of the reception.
However, while I'm eager to shun tradition in most things...I would really like my wedding dress to be a surprise for my fiance. And I'm kind of confused about how I would be able to hide it from him if we're eating together before the ceremony. Should I hope that the venue's bathrooms are clean enough to change into a wedding dress in, or should I do the whole change-in-the-car thing, or should we rent some sort of Japanese screen that I can use to shield myself with in order to change? Or should we just abandon the idea of splitting the reception altogether?