It is always the goal to have fun after the wedding ceremony and throw a great wedding reception party, but without breaking the bank. Weddings are expensive investments for that first step into your future and planning an inexpensive wedding reception can mean the difference in starting off on in the green or in the red.

Search For An Affordable Location for Your Wedding Reception

A place to sink your hands deep in those pockets is booking a wedding reception venue. Ask around and do your research when looking for somewhere to hold your wedding reception. Hotels, ballrooms, and large restaurant venues are often beautiful and sparkly, but they can break your budget before you get to the catering! Find a public location that is special and specific to your city to host your wedding reception outdoors. See if friends and family have a large yard or space to hold your reception. If you’re getting married at a church, they often have gathering spaces for wedding receptions. Find a wedding reception location that is interesting and inexpensive.

Cook It Yourself (Or With Help!)

Everyone knows that the food is one of the biggest elements in creating a happy and successful wedding reception. Depending on what kind of food you want to serve, try finding other options than simply hiring a wedding caterer. Although wedding caterers create amazing and scrumptious dishes, the price per plate can be more than a dinner at a fancy restaurant. Ask friends and family if they would help out and cook for the reception in advance. See if the venue you are hosting your wedding reception at offers a discounted party menu that might work to serve your wedding party. Mention having a potluck-style wedding reception. When wedding guests bring favorite homecooked dishes from home, this will bring a personal and touching element to your wedding reception. This will not only be a lot of home cooked food, but a lot of food to eat!

Narrow Down Your Wedding Reception Guest List

It is never easy deciding who is important and who is not because in all reality, everyone is important, right? However, when it comes to your wedding reception, the number of people you invite strictly influences how much money you will commit to spending. Pick a time to hunker down and cut that reception guest list down as much as you feel comfortable with. This will save you money because you won’t need as spacious a wedding reception venue and also will not need to fill it quite as much with food.

Cut Down The Alcohol For Your Wedding Reception

Although having alcoholic beverages at your wedding reception can bring life to the party, it can create stress on your budget. You might want to eliminate the bar completely from your wedding reception. But, if your heart is set on having a bit of the bubbly involved, serve beverages after dinner rather than during to cut back on the intake. Narrow down your personal alcoholic beverage choices to just a few that you both really like. Limit the choices down to what you and your fiancé enjoy and give the guests few, but still some, options.

Do It Yourself Wedding Reception Music

Yet another added cost to a wedding reception, professional disc jockeys can be expensive and pricy. As an alternative, write down all the songs close to your and your fiancé. Choose songs you and your wedding party all know by heart. Make a personalized playlist yourself that shows what is important to you. Designate a close friend or relative that is tech-savvy to run the show for the night. Have that person do his or her magic on your iPod and shake it with all your friends and family!