The Katie Jane Photo

How to Add Personal Touch to Your Reception – The Empire Room

If you truly want your friends and family to remember your big day vividly for the rest of your lives, personalization is the key. Adding little personal touches to your wedding ceremony and reception party can create a more finished and thoughtful effect. And we are all about thoughtfulness.

So here are some unique ways you can stray from the out-of-the-mill, and foray into something made-only-for-you.

A quick note, to make the event memorable, some of these ideas include getting your guests involved in the activities as well. This makes them feel special and a part of your big love story!

Parade to the reception

If the reception venue is walking distance away from the wedding venue, invite your guests to follow you – and a boisterous band – from ceremony to reception.

Thank You Notes

Prepare beautiful hand-written and unique notes for each of your guests when they enter the reception. You can write anecdotes, a joke, or just a heartfelt thank-you for every guest. This makes it really personal and they feel super special because of that! Also, when you use these cards, you don’t have to receive each guest personally – more time for photo sessions!

Projector Slideshow

Play a slideshow of all the lovely pictures you are dying to show off. Rent a projector and have it present the slideshow on the walls. This creates a truly stunning effect throughout the reception venue.

Use the Music

What were your favorite songs while growing up? Play the music that brings back the memories of the moments you spent with your loved ones; the song you and bestie used to dance to all the time, or maybe that song your father was always humming? The trick is to include meaningful songs.

Group Fun

Plan something fun like a group outing to the zoo, museum, or planetarium. From the out-of-towner guests to adventure lovers, everyone will appreciate the unique experience.

Flower Power

Nothing says I care for you as well as flowers. Provide individual boutonnieres for men and flower hair clips for women in the party. You can make it more personalized by choosing everyone’s favorite flowers and including that in the floral accessories.

Invite Guest to Speak

Ask your friends and families to share their marital wisdom or funny stories with everyone. It could be surprisingly hilarious or deeply sentimental. Make sure to tell them (beforehand) to keep the speeches short.

Seating

Design the seating arrangement in a way that all the guests can see and interact with each other. To achieve this, make it a long round arrangement instead of small tables all over the hall.

Time Capsule

Take an empty bottle of wine and have your loved ones put handwritten notes in it. It could be marriage tips or funny joke. Hammer it shut and wait for your 10^th wedding anniversary to open it.

Plant a Sapling

Take a small potted plant and use the soil from both of your hometowns (or backyards) while planting it in your shared abode. You can plant it after you get home from celebrating the honeymoon.

7 Crucial Wedding Details You Need to Keep an Eye On – Empire Room

There are a ton of things that need your attention while planning for the big day. So, it’s quite understandable that you might lose sight of little details – little details that count a lot. To take care of this for you, we have compiled a list of such offending details that sometimes just escape notice.

The Grand Entrance

You pay so much attention to the décor of the ballroom or the main venue, then why not extend the same careful treatment to the entryway? The entrance is the first thing guests notice about the venue – don’t let the opportunity slip.

Decorate the entry way with hanging lanterns that line the entire pathway, or have your florist design a long-height table arrangement for the escort cards. You can also use floral garlands to hang around the door frames.

Spell out the directions for your guests

It might not seem a big deal but when dozens of guests keep calling you to ask for the venue directions…it can get daunting.

To avoid this, be proactive and put up huge signs for every wedding spot clearly specifying the directions. If you have a wedding website, that’s even better – use Google Maps to mark the right turns and let your guests know about this.

Speaking of Escort Cards

In the name of a minimalist wedding, many-a-bride do away with escort cards thinking it’s not worth the effort. Guess what? The escort cards can save you and, most importantly, your guests a whole lot of stress and hassle.

When you pre-decide the seating arrangement, you can be conscientious of the fact that your older guests like your grandparents and close family members, get to have an unobtrusive spot to relax and enjoy. At the same time, you can assign the seats closest to the dance floor to your friends and young guests.

Place the escort cards on a high table along the entryway, or simply pin them up on a board.

Don’t Neglect the Bar Décor

Not every guest might hop on the dance floor, but they will visit the bar throughout the night – remember this while decorating it. You can be as creative as you want; from fresh fruit infused ice cubes to printing out your signature drink recipe on the napkins.

Getting creative with the Guest Book

If you truly want all the guests to enthusiastically participate in signing the guest book, make the activity fun and creative. For example, you can ask each guest to jot down a marriage advice, or you can place a Polaroid camera and ask them to take a selfie and leave it in the Guest Book folder with their signature.

Don’t Ignore the Cake Table

This one is a bit tricky; you don’t want the cake table to appear carelessly decorated, but you don’t want it to shine so much that it takes the attention away from the cake!

To achieve a nice balance, decorate the table with beautiful linen and place little tea-light candles or small flowers in a scattered way. If you are having an outdoor cake-cutting, opt for a fabric canopy to cover the cake.

Menu Booklets

Depending on the theme – formal or casual – give your menu cards a stylish makeover by color coordinating them with either your signature drink or even wedding stationery. For example, if it’s a multi-course meal, you can choose cute mini booklets instead of card for the menu.