At home reception?????

[pdcbride09]

rachel, I have the same issue about the invites for the AHR!! My main thing is because my sister is throwing my bridal shower and we need to invite other people that aren't invited to the destination wedding. It is so confusing. Although this part is stressful, I do not think it's as stressful as it would be planning a wedding at home! At least the wedding coordinator will be handling all those aspects.

 

We are paying for my mom to come down to Mexico..so I know how it is..but that sounds really pricey on your end. That's how we feel though too w/ the cost of the reception back here. I don't want to spend a lot because that was the whole idea of having a destination wedding..to save money!

[prairiegirl]

I think we all though the same thing... go to mexico.. get married and have a great vacation... my parents couldn't afford it.. so I am covering thier costs too..

 

eloping would have been cheap.. why didn't anyone tell me that??

[nibsmom]

We are getting married in July 09 and we are planning on having two AHRs - since I am from MA and my FI is from IL. He's planning his and I'm planning mine, but we both are thinking along the lines of doing something small. For mine, I was just thinking of renting out a room at a restaurant and renting some A/V equipment, showing the video and the slideshow, and FI and I would pick up the tab for dinner. Nothing fancy or too expensive. Really just family would be invited, so it would be kinda small too!

 

As for invitations...gosh, I haven't even thought about that! Eeps.

[rachelannmartin]

Found these wording options for an AHR invite on another thread that are kinda cute:

 

On Saturday, May 15, 2010

We slipped a ring on each

other's finger

And made a promise for life...

Join us as we celebrate

now that we're husband and

wife!

 

You are invited to attend a

Reception to honor the

newly married

Stacia and Kenneth Cole

 

At the Cole House

100 Main Street

New York, New York

on Saturday, July 10, 2010

from 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m

 

AND

 

We're getting ready to depart

on a romantic trip, which is only the start.

Kathleen XXX

and

Pawel XXXX

will be married on

11-May-09

On the beach in Bermuda

 

Together with our parents

We invite you to join us for a reception

May 31, 2009 at 1pm

The Terrace Room

Buena Vista Country Club

[prairiegirl]

This is what ours said:

 

On Friday, the sixth of February

Two Thousand and Nine

 

Nicole

&

Owen

 

will exchange marraige vows

in the Riviera Maya.

Together, we invite you to the

blessing and celebration

of our marraige

at six-thirty in the evening

on saturday, the seveth of March

Two Thousand and Nine

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church

[~*~Margie~*~]

We are using wording similar to the second one and sending them out at the end of February for a May wedding, June AHR. Figure that is plenty of time for RSVP to plan AHR and a "reminder" about the wedding for anyone that may want to book last minute. We are doing a backyard party, lining the driveway into the yard with tiki torches, renting a tiki bar and just gonna have fun. Still going to do some typical reception type things and going to wear my dress again, but for the most part we just want a huge relaxed party atmosphere.

[pdcbride09]

those are some good suggestions for wording for the invite! I love them!!!

 

Also, I think the end of February would be perfect to send out the invites for the AHR!! Thanks so much everyone! This forum is so great for suggestions.

 

I just hope we can work something out w/ our church for the "blessing" as my finance and I both would love that!

[DWandMJ]

We're having an AHR in early June to follow our April 2 nuptuals in Cancun, and its actually been pretty fun so far. Because only about a dozen people will be able to attend (and only 50 of our closest were invited), we're openning up the AHR invitation list to include more acquaintences and co-workers (approximately 120).

 

We're all faced with the consequence of missing a few people at our DWs, but it has some definate advantages as well. For us, doing the separate reception permitted us to have a differing ambiance at each event. I get my formal ceremony in a beautiful location, and he gets the laid back party reception, all the while keeping costs down. (a formal reception was never an option due to the expense). It provides you with more time for the DIY projects, and it even allows you to contribute to the set-up and food preparation that you wouldn't otherwise participate in when you're caught up in the hussle of the big day.

 

The AHR itself will be a laid back, backyard fiesta (sans tacky cliche elements) with a few simple but pretty wedding decorations (votives/riverrocks/cymbidium orchids). We're trying to keep costs down so we're doing Mexican food (universally liked / it plays into the destination wedding) with enchilladas, a taco/tostada bar, chips and homemade pico de gallo, rice, beans, and fruit salad. The booze is being kept simple with two types of beer, tequila, rum, vodka, and whiskey for mixing, and then daquiris/margaritas as the 'signature' beverage(plus soda and water), and sparkling wine/cider for the toast.

Although it seems almost passe now, we're doing a cupcake tower because its cheaper, easier, and works better with the informal feel.

 

The total cost for everything wedding related, minus the all inclusive resort and airfare which can be coined 'honeymoon', we fall in right around the $5000 mark. Now I've just gotta call to get the rentals taken care of.

[Shires]

I'm getting married on Jan. 21, 2009 but I'm not having an AHR right away...we wanted to have a barbeque so we're going to wait for warmer weather...likely in May...need to set that date. I have a 4 year old nephew (I spoil him rotten) and several young cousins so I'm renting a couple blow up bouncies for outside and having it in my sister's HUGE garage and under a tent. I'm definitely not wearing my dress since it's very informal but I think it will be fun.

[klopez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairiegirl The blessed thing.... simply it is so that your marraige is recognized in the eyes of the church. For us.. to have the marraige done 'catholic' in mexico would cost us an extra $500... so instead I contacted our priest who was very happy that we 'cared' to have the wedding blessed up here. The priest prefers you meet with them prior to the wedding and suggest you take a marriage class. For us and the christmas season is was impossible to get into a marriage class, which would have cost about $160. The blessing will be about a 30min blessing of the rings, in the church. The priest requires the marraige certificate so I will be promptly getting into translated into english upon our return, as we return Feb 15th and the reception is March 7th. I figure the church blessing will be like a mini wedding.. and all of the reception guests kinda 'get to see the wedding' so it's a win-win for us, and everyone feels included. Invites we never really sent out any invites to the destination wedding.. just told close family and friends. And then sent out invites for the reception. Bridal Shower Typically where I am from the shower is organized by the community.. so I have no idea what is going on with that.. I would think to only have one BEFORE the actual wedding.. and that's it.. cause otherwise you won't get to wear all that lingerie on your honeymoon!!

We are doing the grand AHR as well a month after we get married in Jamaica. We are also having our marriage blessed through the catholic church....mainly because my FH's grandparents are too old to travel and won't be able to attend our DW. Our AHR is huge...bigger than I would have liked but he's got a big family and we have lots of friends so...oh well, that's that.

We had 2 separate invitations...one for the DW and one for the AHR. The invites for the AHR were sent out in November and our RSVP deadline is Jan 5...we don't depart for our DW until Jan 19 but we wanted to know our #s be able to contact all those who didn't send their rsvp's in before we leave. We marry Jan 24/09 and our AHR is Feb 28/09.

As for the church, we did notify them at some point during the summer. They told us we would have to attend a marriage class....we're acutally attending a weekend marriage preparation retreat that's costing us $350! Unfortunately, we were unable to do the classes through the church for $100 because we are not actually getting married through the catholic church (not sure why this is but whatever....they still want to make sure we took the classes). We are meeting with the priest once we get back from our honeymoon to discuss the ceremony. We still have attendants standing for us. We were told the ceremony would probably be about 20-30 mins (not a full out mass) where our rings would be blessed but we do not exchange vows again since we will already be married.

We are going to be playing our DW video at the formal reception that evening and I'm so happy I get to wear my dress again.

I am pretty much planning 2 weddings...the DW being the one I always dreamed of and the AHR being the one that enables us to celebrate with everyone who couldn't make it.

Also, here is the wording I used on my AHR invites.....

The honour of your presence is requested as
Karina & John-Paul
solemnize their marriage
on Feb 28, 2009
at 3:00 pm

etc.......

My bridal shower was Oct 24 and nearly all the ladies invited to the wedding were invited to the shower. I think 90 people attended the shower. I celebrated my bachelorette with my b-day at the beginning of december...so much fun! But we will have another small one down in Jamaica 2 nights before the wedding.


Anyways, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.