What to Consider When Planning Your Wedding Reception

It’s been a while since I have done a education post so here’s one that’s super IMPORTANT! What to Consider When Planning Your Wedding Reception!

LIGHTING!

This statement is a multi step process. First question to ask yourself is:

What’s the lighting like in my venue?

Is the space super dark? Is is super bright? Are you going to have candles lit? All of these things will affect your photos. If you have candles lit you will chances are have a dimly lit reception space with the candles giving off the majority of the light. If you have chandeliers you will have light surrounding your guests from the ceiling. Does any of this actually matter? No. It’s just up to your preference! I highly recommend that you flip through some different pictures and see what your preference is! You also should figure this out and let your photographer know in case they need to bring extra lighting!

Does my DJ company supply lights? Will there be uplighting/disco lights?

This you NEED to figure out before your wedding. Otherwise during your first dance you may have green disco lights being shined on your face. While these lights may seem fun - I highly recommend requesting that all lighting be white during your dances and key moments. If this isn’t done your photos will have a tint of whatever color is being displayed during the reception. It causes everything to get that hue - even your wedding cake. Party lights are great and fun but save them for the party portion. Not the speeches/dances/cake cutting. I prooooomise you’ll regret it.

WHAT TIME DO YOUR VENDORS LEAVE?

This one is SO important! When looking at your schedule make sure that your photographer and videographer will still be there when the important parts of your wedding are happening. Some venues don’t do all the formalities right off the bat so that’s something you’ll want to check with your venue and dj! Something to consider is asking your venue if you can do all the formalities in one hunk. This way you only have to get your guests’ attention once and then you can focus on just partying for the rest of your night!

WHERE WILL YOUR VENDORS BE SEATED DURING THE RECEPTION?

Here’s an awkward but good one. It’s awkward because as vendors we feel bad telling you need a space buuuuuuut we need a space. I highly encourage that you have a vendor table in your reception. So frequently we get seated in rooms that are far away from you guys. When this happens we don’t see/hear moments going on. You can’t find us when you have a question for us and most importantly - we don’t have a space to put our things all day. This leads to us having to leave the reception to grab a lens or a battery OR even worse if we have to leave it in the reception space it can potentially be in your photos. Which is ugly and nobody wants.

ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE A CHOREOGRAPHED FIRST DANCE? OR PARENT DANCE?

Here’s one that as photographers we really need to know! We can’t capture that dip, flip, or pose if we don’t know it’s coming! If you have one of those things try to face towards a camera when you do it! So often I have couples dip away from me and kiss and let’s just say YOUR FEET LOOK REAL GOOD… because I can’t see anything else 😂 You don’t have to rehearse it for your photographer by any means but just let them know if you’re planning to do any tricks so we can capture it.

RECEPTION DETAILS. HOW TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE ALL CAPTURED!

Make sure nobody is allowed into your reception space prior to the reception starting. Most venues do this but if they don’t then you will have jackets on chairs and people sitting at tables. If you don’t do a first look then your photographer can’t get into the reception space before the tail end of cocktail hour so you want to make sure if that’s the case that there are still untouched tables when they get into the space.

If you think I forgot something or you have a question about a part of the reception feel free to leave it in the comments below! 👇🏻