Creative Reception ideas

The reception design is where we really put in the decor and floral effort! This wedding includes some of the most creative Reception ideas in our company’s 10+ years, and it stems from challenges.

This is a post in a series. Jump to the other links below for context:

Introduction and general design concept

Mehndi party

Garba + Raas

Ceremony

*This wedding occurred before Covid-19

Enchanted forest wedding in a ballroom

Sonia had a dream of an enchanted forest, and we had to create this vibe in a windowless hotel ballroom!

We also had to incorporate the paper planes, symbolic of their long-distance relationship and writing professions, in a way that didn’t feel juvenile. Or, like the paper planes were part of an entirely different event!

To do this, we focused on hanging installations. The room was filled with hanging flowers and paper plane garlands appearing to swoop up and down the room. We also captured the Boho aesthetic Sonia and James wanted, including using fruit, by mixing up decor and using tall and low flower centrepieces with fruit.

Even the seating chart was a hanging installation!

Hanging flowers at your wedding

If you’re dreaming of a creative reception ideas and want to hang flowers, or other items, keep reading! Hanging anything is a major look, but understand that you’re talking about installations. 

To make sure we could hang the flowers safely for Sonia and James’ reception, we had a review meeting early on in the planning with the following wedding pros:

• Florist
• Venue engineer
• Technician, licensed to operate a Genie lift
• Wedding planner
• Venue coordinator

You do NOT want to plan for an elaborate hanging design only to find out it’s not safe and have to scrap all your plans. Always let your venue know what ideas you have so that they know what to expect. While it’s disappointing if your grand ideas get nixed, at least you know you are not jeopardizing the safety of everyone at your wedding.

Hanging the paper planes

Paper planes are obviously significantly lighter than large florals, so we didn’t have an engineer inspect this. However, there were still things to figure out:

• The number of planes per fishing line
• How far to distance each plane on the line
• The length for each garland line
• How many garland lines needed to cover the room
• Where to hang the lines from (Ceiling? Hooks? Other fixtures?)
• …and how to make the whole thing work around the hanging florals without looking chaotic

The best method was simply to make a prototype and climb up the tall ladder to test it all out.

Logistics of hanging things at your wedding

What goes up usually needs to go first. Sometimes creative reception ideas require time and space.

In order to install everything, all decor and set-ups had to be removed, or pushed to the walls of the ballroom so that a Genie lift could drive in to hang the flower hoops. At the same time, we would be moving a 20’ ladder around to hang the paper plane garlands.

Remember, in this same room, on the same day, we already had:

• 10:30am – Garba dance event + lunch for all guests
• 1:00pm – Room flip (including dismantling that 10’x10′ all-flower Mandap)
• 5:30pm – Ceremony with Mandap and runway
• 9:30pm – Room flip to prep for Reception

It was a long day but it was worth it.

Unique reception floor plan

I knew Sonia and James were game for unusual ideas, so I proposed a diamond (angled square) dance floor with a mix of long and round tables. But this floor plan would only work if we had less than around 350 guests…and thankfully we did (just).

Even though the vibe of the reception was formal, I wanted to capture Sonia and James’ more Bohemian spirit by mixing and matching a lot of the decor. Mixing and matching also allowed more flexibility when renting items because we didn’t need such a high amount of the exact same things.

How to mix and match decor

An important part of mixing and matching is finding the balance of what to mix and what to match. What we did here is keep certain things the same and consistent, even if overall decor was mixed.

For example, we made sure that certain tables had 1 type of tablecloth, napkin colour, chair colour, and centrepiece style. To mix it up though, our candles were an assortment of styles, sizes and colour, but we made sure each style of table had a consistent amount of candles.

Entertaining your wedding guests 

The stage and dance floor were key not only for the band, but because of performances. Between James’ friends and family members to Sonia’s mom and her friends performing an Indian dance, guests were entertained every 30 minutes with something new. 

While not every wedding needs entertainment like this, we designed things this way because we needed time to flip Cocktails’ action stations to the elaborate dinner buffet.

As with any wedding, we shifted a few things around in the program to accommodate how things were actually playing out in real time. This is a key benefit of working with a wedding planner — we help move the day along, shifting things in the schedule to avoid weird lulls.

Donut and candy table

Sonia and James didn’t want a wedding cake, so they didn’t have one. Simple as that! They really only wanted pretty donuts and a candy table.

These tables were left open and guests were welcome to grab whatever they wanted at any point in the evening, making things feel casual and fun.

Wedding dance

One my favourite personal touches to this wedding was the live performance of the First Dance song. Although we had a DJ for the dance portion of the wedding, Sonia and James’ friend performed their First Dance. I love a First Dance with live music to make it extra special!

After several days of celebration, guests were ready to Get.Down. The dance floor filled up so fast, and this moment is always when everyone can take a big exhale. 

I’m going to be selfish and make this about me and our team, but this wedding will forever be in my memory! From digging deep into creativity and design skills, working closely with Sonia and James and Sonia’s parents, to planning this in 8 months and seeing it through before you-know-what happened in 2020, I am so grateful for this.

Planning, Design + Coordination: Evelyn Clark Weddings | Photography: Sarah Pukin | Venue: The Westin (downtown)| Flowers: Flower Artistry | Decor rentals: Modern Rentals and Special Event Rentals | HMUA: Roopstyle and MaisonBlu| Paper: Plush Invitations | Lighting and audio: Stardust Event Group | Henna: SKM Henna and Abeer and Henna by Raj and and Carefully Crafted | Band: Sa-Re Music