Reception .. yes/no?

[swalsh]

Hello All,

My FI and I are debating whether or not we should have a reception after the wedding or just go back to our hotel room and party (we have a private pool). We have a big group coming down with us, but we feel its so expensive as to what we would get here in the states. Would it be bad if we just skip the reciption? Thoughts or ideas would be great!

 

Thanks!

Shauna.

 

[NaM]

This is a tough call...I think if you really don't care about the reception, don't do it. It's your wedding and traditional or not, things should be planned according to how you want.

That being said, we loved our reception! It was such a blast and we continued partying in a hotel room after it was over. Maybe you could compromise and have a dinner after and then have the informal reception back at your room?

Good luck planning!!

[Tifany]

It's definitely up to you. We decided to go with one, but went back and forth on it for some time beforehand. It's your day and you should do as you please!

[carolina24]

I think you should at least plan to have a dinner with everyone. Even if it's an AI, people are spending a lot of time and money to celebrate with you and it would be kind of weird to just go back to the room and party w/o some kind of food involved. I wouldn't want a big group kind of fending for themselves after the ceremony and then meeting up to just party later, imo.

[sweetiecat]

Shauna,

 

If you have at least 10 rooms booked under a group booking at Sandals, they do a complimentary champagne/cake/cold appetizers reception. Depending on the number of people, you should also be able to make a group reservation at one of the restaurants that evening - it won't be a private reception, but it will still show your guests some hospitality. Then you could party at the room or in one of the bars/clubs afterward.

 

Stephanie

[islandbride317]

Hi, Shauna --

 

To echo the rest of the girls, this is indeed a tough question to answer. It really depends on what you WANT to do vs. what you CAN afford to do with respect to your budget.

 

We are also getting married at SGOR (May 14, 2010), and instead of doing a full 2 or 3-hour reception (1 hour for cocktails/2 hours for dinner @ $75 pp including the bride and groom), we have decided just to do the $15.00 per person 30 minute reception Stephanie mentioned above if we end up not having more than 10 rooms (as it would be free at that point).

 

Since every case is different, we've discovered that the shorter reception will work out perfectly for our situation because our ceremony is at 2 pm (roughly 20 min), then we are having our 30 min. cocktail, cake and cold hors d'ourves reception, which will leave our guests just enough time to run back to their rooms to reshen up if they choose to join us when we and our parents leave the resort at 4:30 pm with our photographer (Ocho Rios local Alain Hottat) for a beach and waterfalls photo shoot, followed by our TTD session at sunset.

 

After we return, we might just grab a quick bite to eat and play it by ear, as the majority of our guests will be flying home the following day and would rather not party late into the night, and John and I will have to pack up for when we leave SGOR and head to Sandal Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay for our 3 day mini-moon.

 

Plus, we will be more than making up for the mini-reception we're having in Jamaica by having a full-scale AHR 3 months later on Aug. 14th, so ALL of our friends and family can celebrate with us back in the U.S.!

 

Good luck with your decision and feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

[super19]

Having a reception was really important to me, so I decided to have one. But, if it's not important to you I think you can do whatever you want on this one. It's your day and if you want to skip it, go for it!

[SuperKate]

My FI and I will have a semi-private reception in one of the resort's restaurants. I could care less about a big, private reception and I want to keep costs down. This seemed like a good alternative. If it is still early when dinner is done we may go to some of the clubs downtown with everyone.

[Girasole]

I have been going round & round with this too. For 2 hr reception with a meal & drinks (no music or anything) it's $50 pp. Our wedding isn't until 4pm so that would put us at about 6:30 pm when it's all over and people can just hang out. So then after talking with my mom she thinks we should just do the 1 hr cocktail reception then all go to one of the restaurants on the resort. I'm going nuts trying to decide too, ha! My biggest issue with the sit down reception is decorations, they charge a lot for additional tables/decorations and I don't want to go over our budget.

[Julie H]

If you have over 10 guest and want the 3hr reception they will comp you $15 from the included reception so your only paying $60.