Beach vs Restaurant Reception

well, i had my welcome dinner as a sit down/plated dinner since my reception was buffet (no choice there). so it worked out well for me. are you having a welcome or rehearsal dinner?

i do as well, it's just easier to get what you want that way and offers more variety. that way it's not as big of a deal to worry about special dietary needs.

You know what, I'm glad you brought that up. We are having a sit down Rehearsal Dinner in one of the restaurants -- but not for everyone, just the wedding party and spouses since if we did it for everyone we would have to privatize the dinner and it would be an extra $2500.

However, we are doing welcome cocktail receptions each night as new guests arrive. Just very casual, meeting at the Lobby Bar.

So, I think that all helps me (us) lean towards the beach reception for after the ceremony.

We are getting married in the gazebo, so I asked about having a cocktail reception for 1/2 hour before and 1/2 hour after the ceremony in a garden area near the gazebo as well.

well, glad my babbling helped! lol not sure what time your wedding is, but in terms of heat, i bet it cools down a ton after the sun sets.

lol. It's never babbling b/c it's always helpful! :-)

Ceremony is at 3pm (tried to switch it to 4pm but Minister is unavailable). So, reception would start about 5pm I'm thinking... So it should be cooler by then. Just pray for no rain and no wind! :-)

i hear ya! i was afraid of rain too - but none in sight! just be sure people have access to water during the ceremony and reception, and they should be ok. another thing you could do would be to maybe provide some parasols?

Great! I just ordered parasols last week ... and I'm glad you mentioned water. I was thinking we could have BM's and parents hoard some water bottles in the days leading up to the ceremony and put on our own labels and then have a bucket with ice in it for the water at the gazebo. That way we aren't being charged a crazy amount of money for water at the private gazebo bar.

I guess it really depends on the climate of your wedding location, but I know that in Jamaica the bugs can get bad at night when you are on the beach, most people head inside when the sun goes down. But like I said, that's in Jamaica, so it depends.

I had my reception on the beach, like Ann it was one of the main reasons I wanted a DW, where else can you have a beautiful dinner on the beach with your family and friends. We had 51 people total and 4 kids, we just asked for high chairs for the kids. Everyone loved it and went on about how amazing the dinner and dancing on the beach was.

 

It was not windy for us at all, so I have no tips there. It was also perfect weather because it was cooler at the beach, so it was great to be down there for the reception.

 

I would suggest NOT getting tikki torches. I wanted them, but it was too windy for them (yet none of us noticed any wind), but it was a blessing in disguise because they had them set up the next night for a dinner and they really really stink. So just an FYI, I would not suggest you use them. They had lots of lights strung up for us and in the trees and we had candles on the tables. It was perfect.