The reception is normally held shortly after the conclusion of the main marriage ceremony.
It’s usually an average-sized ceremony often held immediately after the wedding to hold hospitality for everyone who showed up, but large gatherings for this purpose are commonplace as well.
The couple is tasked with receiving society in the form of friends and family for the first time as a fully married couple.
A reception party can be more meaningful if you keep it small among your close family members and few close friends.
If you are dealing with a sizable guest list, it only makes sense you invite them to a restaurant or park afterward, or organize a sizable BBQ in your own garden away from the church grounds.
However, if you plan to hold a lavish wedding ceremony minus a reception, chances are a significant portion of your guests will disapprove of it.
Remember that the guests may bring you gifts.
But, Is It Tacky To Have A Wedding Ceremony Without A Reception?
In one word – “No.” Reception is important, but you don’t really need it. I know of many memorable events that went down without a reception party.
You don’t need a post-wedding reception party in these situations:
1. You Eloped
If you elope, a reception ceremony is definitely off the cards.
You can embrace the traditionalist views and values of the institution of marriage and still dread the idea of being the center of attention.
For that reason, foreign nuptials give the best excuse for leaving out the whole concept of reception.
Running away to a sandy beach somewhere in the Caribbean to insert the ring and say your vows would be a great idea.
2. You Think Family Gatherings Suck
Let’s be honest here, large family affairs or gatherings are never dreamy occasions.
For example, every family on this planet has two or three feuding members that may not coexist in the same space.
Friend groups too – chances are you have two friends who don’t get along easily but who’ve all sworn to show up in your wedding.
Furthermore, if you are not a big fan of parties specifically dedicated to you, you dislike family events or don’t want even your closest friends to attend your wedding, you have a good reason to skip the whole reception thing in favor of something else or nothing.
3. You Plan to Wed On Budget
Let’s not forget that weddings are notoriously expensive affairs.
I have seen people accumulate crippling debts trying to throw posh weddings to impress the attendees.
Then there are those who’d ask their family and friends to contribute towards the big day.
Whether you really need a glamorous wedding is subject to debate, but it’s worth noting that a big part of the funds usually ends up at the reception party after the main event.
As you can tell, skipping the reception party translates to saving lots of money that you can avoid borrowing in the first place or appropriate it elsewhere if you already have it.
Also, put into consideration such things as food, decorations, entertainment, venue, and stuff.
4. You Don’t Recognize the Traditions of the Western Wedding
The reception ceremony is part of the sophisticated traditions that define the western Christian wedding.
A typical Christian wedding involves
- catching the flowers thrown by the bride
- cutting and feeding the cake to guests
- etc.
What if you don’t recognize all these not-so-essential shows and rituals?
Fortunately, there is no set of rules that spells out how to hold your wedding.
So, you can skip all these unnecessary parts, including reception, and let the guests munch the cake, get entertained, ditch the formal dress and suit, celebrate with a specific theme of your liking, and then walk home without thanking each other.
5. You Don’t Anticipate Many Guests
If you don’t anticipate many friends and family members, then you probably don’t need a reception.
You can ask some of the few friends and family members in attendance to prepare enough sandwiches and baked chicken drumsticks, and perhaps a few slices of quiche with glasses of punch, gobble them up afterward, and call it a day.
You can pre-package the food in resealable packages, distribute them to all guests after the ceremony.
It is recommended that you hold the ceremony in the evening hours after the main event has wrapped up.
You are not obliged to impress anyone in this simple gathering.
Witnessing the union itself is the most valuable part and your guests should recognize that.
6. You Want the Wedding to Keep the Wedding Short and as Precise as Possible
A reception is a time waster if you are thinking of a small and brief wedding that should focus on the main goal – getting the bride and the groom married.
A brief gathering somewhere outside your church hall should be enough instead of a large full-blown reception ceremony.
There’s nothing wrong with sparing a few more minutes to host a small, champagne-and- cake only mini-reception in the lawns of your church or even at home after the wedding, or perhaps somewhere scenic and lovely like a city park – it just needs to be simple and flexible.
Try to scout for inexpensive and/or free locations to have the champagne and cake afterward.
It is also recommended that you plan your ceremony for an early non-meal time, such as 10:00 or 11:00 AM when nobody would really expect a full meal after the wedding.
Wedding Without Reception – How Do You Go About It?
How do you hold a wedding with no reception and still make it memorable?
It isn’t even as hard as you think. All you need is a simplistic approach.
1. DIY A Small Party in Your Backyard
You can do away with a reception and settle for an alternative – a small brief party in your own backyard.
With fewer guests, and having saved yourself a lot of money, you have the freedom to make it as quirky as you please as long as you conform to your neighborhood’s rules.
2. Organize Your Small Party at Your Local Club
Another great way to skip a reception is to organize a small party at your local club.
Club parties and events are very much like restaurant parties and both normally have one objective: make guests have fun.
Club parties are advantageous for three reasons:
- they are cheap
- unique
- and offer a relaxed atmosphere as an alternative to a reception.
Whatever kind of bash you throw as an alternative to reception, keep it casual, music-filled, and family-style with an evening agenda that gives the few attendants plenty of room to mix and mingle.
Nevertheless, the reception is nothing more than a “thank you” meeting for all the guests who sacrificed their time to show up at your wedding.
While you may feel obliged to hold this meeting, it must not be huge to qualify as a real reception – a simple cake and a few attendees would be perfect.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, there’s no right route to getting married and celebrating it.
Sure, most of us prefer having a large wedding ceremony and then proceeding to a reception thereafter. But for others, things happen otherwise.
A couple can tie the knot in the alleys of a courthouse somewhere in Brooklyn and throw a lavish star-studded reception in the park nearby.
So whether you choose to get married at your local courthouse or choose to say those vows surrounded by a few members of your immediate family in an isolated far-off location, you still deserve proper celebrations, later on, at least one.
