Reception lasting the entire evening??

Hey Ladies,

I'm about to pull my hair out trying to finalize the details regarding my reception (mostly the after dinner portion). We were planning to have our entire reception in one of the open air restaurants near the beach. Unfortunately, due to time limitations the hotel will not let us extend our reception time past 4 hours. I am completely blown away by this as we really wanted to have a full reception (the same as we would here in Canada) Who wants to end their wedding reception at 10:30 pm to go to the hotel disco where anyone could come and go as they please? The only solution the hotel has offered is the have the reception in the convention center off the lobby.  The thought of doing this is killing me! All the way to Mexico and we're having a party in a ballroom - GAHHH!

The other catch is that we have had an amazing showing from our friends and family that want to come, over 90 people are fully paid! I think this is really the reason why the hotel doesn't want us in the restaurant but you can never be sure...

Anyone have any suggestions for me or has anyone experienced this dilemma?  What to do, what to do!?

I'd also like to add that I'm not trying to insult those who have chosen that route by any means, but the thought of dragging our guests across the resort right smack in the middle of a party seems absurd to me!
 

This is a major reason that I chose a villa resort. Fewer rules and regulations

I want to end my reception at 1030 lol  

Do you have the option of dinner outside, then dancing inside, or even the other way around?  Or cocktail hour outside?  I totally understand where you're coming from - that is so disappointing!  I think that whatever you decide will really be okay though.  Think of it like this - guests will have plenty of time to be outside.  I know it's not ideal, but if part of your day has to be inside, it will still be beautiful.

I agree. Some people may even enjoy the indoors after a long day outside.

Thanks. I agree it will be beautiful and my guests for the most part will probably not think anything of it, its just not how I've thought my beach wedding reception would be like. We are having a cocktail hour after the ceremony on the beach. I have also tried to push back dinner until 730 or 800 to try and get more time outside but that is also a no go so it looks like we are stuck with the convention centre.

The other thing is I wasn't really going to go crazy with decorations because I felt the restaurants would be enough atmosphere, but there is no way in hell I'm having a reception in an undressed banquet room. SIGH!

I just need to keep reminding myself that it will be amazing regardless of my disappointment, is just been hard. I feel like all I've done is compromise with my hotel on every aspect. You'd think with over 50 rooms booked for 7 nights (some are booked for 14!) that they'd be more willing to help us out.

Yeah I'm quite surprised there not being more accomdatng? Sucks you have to deal with this- and your wedding is getting close

Originally Posted by Trace2013 

 

Thanks. I agree it will be beautiful and my guests for the most part will probably not think anything of it, its just not how I've thought my beach wedding reception would be like. We are having a cocktail hour after the ceremony on the beach. I have also tried to push back dinner until 730 or 800 to try and get more time outside but that is also a no go so it looks like we are stuck with the convention centre.

 

The other thing is I wasn't really going to go crazy with decorations because I felt the restaurants would be enough atmosphere, but there is no way in hell I'm having a reception in an undressed banquet room. SIGH!

 

I just need to keep reminding myself that it will be amazing regardless of my disappointment, is just been hard. I feel like all I've done is compromise with my hotel on every aspect. You'd think with over 50 rooms booked for 7 nights (some are booked for 14!) that they'd be more willing to help us out.

Sometimes I wonder what these resorts are thinking.  I hear you.  Maybe you can do beachy centerpieces and bring some of the beach inside!  That would be less money on flowers, too.  And hopefully you can catch some of sunset during the cocktail hour.

We had a 4 hours reception and it was PLENTY! To be honest, you will be entertaining people all week and all day long, so it was nice to know an end point. Most of our guests were beyond ready to call it a night (most of our guests were partied out earlier in the week), so the few of us that wanted to continue the night went to the main resort bar and it didnt feel weird to be there at all. An open air restaurant for your reception sounds beautiful, so dont give that up because you cant have a longer than average DW reception. I think most places do receptions for 4 hours. If you have having a cocktail hour before your reception, that gives your guests about 6.5 hours of libations! I had a lot of guests telling me that they drank so much at the cocktail event that they were completely ready to be done when the 11pm reception end was finished.