Anyone not doing a private reception?

[magirl]

I was thinking of doing a group dinner at one of the restaurants because its about half the price, however this does not allow music or dancing but they will separate off an area for your dinner.

Has anyone else done this? Our budget is very tight.

 

[hat0112]

We considered this and we almost did it but we really wanted a first dance and parent dance and I also wanted to dance all night.

 

You can go to the restaurant for dinner and then go to a club or bar for music after dinner. Maybe the hotel has a casual bar that would play a song for you so you can still have a first dance.

[BecaJ]

I originally paid for the sem-private reception were they mark off a little section for you and your party, but I had a hard think about it and I do really really want a 1st dance.

 

Another thing we thought was that speeches will be a nightmare. If you're in a busy restaurant if one of you stand up to say a few words every one will be looking at you and listening in and that would really p*ss me off.

 

I recently just upgraded to a private reception on the beach which cost me an extra $15 per head but to me thats worth it. You get 3 hrs rather than 1.5, a dance floor, use of the sound system, decorations, etc.

 

We too have a very tight budget but the 1st dance and speeches was something that was really important to us so we had to find the money.

[~Nicole~]

I didn't do a private reception, and to fix the first dance problem, I did it at the ceremony site after the wedding since the sound equipment was all there.

 

I lucked out because I had such a small group and our hotel gave us our own little room in a restaurant so that solved the speeches problem, but otherwise I was just going to wing it anyhow.  We were a small group so its not like they had to SCREAM their speech for all of us to hear. 

 

We took an ipod and idock station to one of the outdoor bars and just set up.  We danced until the bar closed and then we moved to the disco. 

 

It was amazing and worked out perfectly for me, but we're all different!!

Good luck!!

[Lua]

I'm not doing a private reception.  I'm doing the free wedding package pretty much to the T! including the semi-private reception, which I hear though is on the upper floor of the steakhouse at our resort, so we'll still have our own area.  fI and I aren't big into the dance party parts of weddings so the dance stuff isn't really a big deal for us.  We figure we'll just get the whole group to go to the disco after supper then finish the night with a midnight swim in the ocean!

[mymnky]

I've opted NOT to do a semi private/private reception to keep costs down.  Personally, I think it's ridiculous how much they charge for them when the hotel is all inclusive!! 

What my fiance and I have decided to do is pay a small fee ($8 per person) to have a cocktail hour before and after dinner.  The first one before dinner will be under a private hut.  It will be immediately following the ceremony.  At this time, we are going to say a few thank you's in lieu of traditional boring speeches.  After an a la carte dinner, we are having another cocktail hour in a bar that will be reserved just for our group.  At this time we will cut the cake and have our first dance.  A far cheaper option and we still get the privacy for our speeches and dance. 

Hopefully your hotel offers this sort of option.  Good luck!!

[Aumuller]

I think if you're on a tight budget not having a private reception is just fine. Lots of brides have done it and are completely happy with their decision

[82turtles]

Agreed -- it's crazy how much the private events are! I go back and forth on that decision.. would love to have a private event, but is it worth all the extra money, just not sure!!

[loua4]

we are not doing a private reception. It is to crazy exspensive. Our WC said that before one of the bars opens we can set up our sound system in there and have our first dance, father/daughter dance. ect.  and then we can take our ipod and docking station outside and do what we want out there. so that is our plan. Glad to see that others did that too.

[alundy]

We haven't booked our resort yet so I'm not 100% sure what we'll end up doing, but I am definitely OK with not having a private reception. I hope to do something like the cocktail hour thing that others have described, and then a semi-private dinner. As far as the first dance and dance party stuff goes, I'll just see if the resort has any way of accomodating that without actually booking a private event... like a small sound system on the beach would be fun. If random people join in and dance with us on the beach I am fine with that!